The Sallirmiut (formerly Siglit) are an

Inuit Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories ...

group residing in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region. Sallirmiut are considered

Inuvialuit The Inuvialuit (sing. Inuvialuk; ''the real people'') or Western Canadian Inuit are Inuit who live in the western Canadian Arctic region. They, like all other Inuit, are descendants of the Thule who migrated eastward from Alaska Alask ...

, who are the western Canadian Inuit. Inuvialuit is a modern political identity that brings together Sallirmiut with two other distinct Inuit groups, Ummarmiut and Kangiryurmiut. During the land claims process for the Inuvialuit Final Agreement, the Committee For Original People's Entitlement understood the importance of collective bargaining power and encouraged those from these three Inuit groups to recognize their similarities and fight for a land claim together. Sallirmiut speak

Siglitun ''Sallirmiutun'' (formerly Siglitun) is the dialect of Inuvialuktun spoken by the Siglit, an Inuit group of the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is mainly used in the Inuvialuit communities of Paulatuk, Sachs Harbour and Tuktoyaktuk. Sallirm ...

, a severely-endangered dialect of

Inuvialuktun Inuvialuktun (part of ''Western Canadian Inuit/Inuktitut/Inuktut/Inuktun'') comprises several Inuit language varieties spoken in the northern Northwest Territories by Canadian Inuit who call themselves ''Inuvialuit''. Some dialects and sub-dialec ...

. In this dialect, the name Sallirmiut means "the people located farthest along the coastline", referring to their historical occupation of regions around the Mackenzie Delta. The Sallirmiut are the original Inuit group who lived in this region prior to European contact. When Europeans arrived, the Sallirmiut were likely living in 5 socioterritorial groups, each specialized in an area or resource: * Qikitaryungmiut, living near and named for Qikiqtariak ig Islandor

Herschel Island Herschel Island (french: Île d'Herschel; Inuit languages: ''Qikiqtaruk'') is an island in the Beaufort Sea (part of the Arctic Ocean), which lies off the coast of Yukon in Canada, of which it is administratively a part. It is Yukon's only o ...

* Kuukpangmiut, named for Kuukpak ig Riveror the Mackenzie River * Kitigaryumiut, named for the large settlement or Kitigaryuit, whose translation has been lost * Nuvugarmiut, name for Nuvurak, a village at Atkinson Point, on the Tuktoyaktuk Peninsula * Avvarmiut, named for the village of Avak Europeans called the Sallirmiut the Siglit or Tchiglit, which was likely a misinterpretation of salliq, a term that means “Coastal People”.

References

Inuvialuit groups Indigenous peoples in Northern Canada {{NorthwestTerritories-stub