After facing bans and other harmful policies for almost 100 years in Canada, these Inuit women are are keeping the tradition alive and well.Sisters Tiffany Ayalik and Inuksuk McKay were children when they first learned the Inuit cultural practice of throat singing.
Like many other Inuit and Indigenous traditions, throat singing almost went extinct due to colonialist pressures from the Canadian government and the Catholic Church. But today, it's being revived and even reimagined by a new generation of Inuit youth as part of a larger cultural renaissance to celebrate and spread awareness of Inuit culture.
This, she says, is the origin of throat singing. However, throat singing is not just a cultural practice. It's also an art form, a bonding activity and a game. It was not until they were older that the sisters learned that at one point, throat singing almost went extinct. For Komaksiutiksak, throat singing was a huge part of her upbringing until she landed in the child welfare system. She ultimately had to take on the personal responsibility of keeping up with the tradition by herself as she became more and more separated from her family and culture.