Kinauvit?: What’s Your Name? The Eskimo Disc System and a Daughter’s Search for her Grandmother

by Norma Dunning

From the winner of the 2021 Governor General's Award for literature, a revelatory look into an obscured piece of Canadian what was then called the Eskimo Identification Tag System


In 2001, Dr. Norma Dunning applied to the Nunavut Beneficiary program, requesting enrolment to legally solidify her existence as an Inuk woman. But in the process, she was faced with a question she could not answer, tied to a colonial institution retired decades “What was your disc number?”


Still haunted by this question years later, Dunning took it upon herself to reach out to Inuit community members who experienced the Eskimo Identification Tag System first-hand, providing vital perspective and nuance to the scant records available on the subject. Written with incisive detail and passion, Dunning provides readers with a comprehensive look into a bureaucracy sustained by the Canadian government for over thirty years, neglected by history books but with lasting echoes revealed in Dunning’s intimate interviews with affected community members. Not one government has taken responsibility or apologized for the E-number system to date — a symbol of the blatant dehumanizing treatment of the smallest Indigenous population in Canada.


A necessary and timely offering, Kinauvit? provides a critical record and response to a significant piece of Canadian history, collecting years of research, interviews and personal stories from an important voice in Canadian literature.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Indigenous, Memoir, Canada, Race, Politics

180 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 29, 2022

Reviews

[Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first time I'm hearing of the disk sistem, and seriously, it's high time Canada stopped flying under the radar when it comes to their treatment of indigenous peoples.

This book is a good starting point to learn about the issues Inuit communities still suffer from. Starting with pompous British officers not even bothering to ask someone with any knowledge how to best approach the people whose help they require, to complete ignorance (and unwillingness to learn) about Inuit society structure and rejecting those who don't fit the colonial norm, to forced relocations, to forcibly introducing a system that's supposed to make everyone's lives easier but in reality takes away the shred of humanity the people affected had been granted in the first place, to yet again refusing to listen.
And now it's in the hands of the ones who survived to try and rebuild the family trees.

The author had so much empathy for her mother, despite her harshness, despite her cutting off all the Inuit traces out of their children upbringing, when it became clear it all comes from her own traumatic experiences in a residential school. It was such a mature approach when it could have been so easy to blame her for making the journey for discovering their roots so much harder.

[Tina · Rating 5 out of 5]

KINAUVIT?: What’s Your Name? The Eskimo Disc System and a Daughter’s Search for Her Grandmother by Dr. Norma Dunning was very informative! In 2001, Dunning applied to the Nunavut Beneficiary System and was asked the question “what was your disc number?” even though the then-called Eskimo Identification Tag System has been retired for decades.
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I never knew that this system was used in Canada. I found this book to be well researched and shows how this dehumanizing system still has lasting impact. I really liked the inclusion of interviews with Inuit elders who shared their personal experiences with the disc system. This is an important book that taught me about Canadian history. I’m really excited to read Dunning’s fiction now! I have her short story collection Tainna on my unread shelf.
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Thank you to Douglas & McIntyre and ZG Stories for my gifted review copy!

[Colleen | Paperback.Portals]

This personal exploration from Norma Dunning of the Inuit disc system implemented by the Canadian government is very informative. Dunning’s research and personal experience with the disc system exposes the tragic ways colonialism changed Inuit communities and separated them from their culture and rights. I highly recommend this book to learn more about the Inuit experience of the disc system. It also references so many influential Inuk. Through reading, it has sparked and encouraged further research and understanding of the Inuit experience and reclamation of their traditions in Canada.

[Eavan]

A very accessible introduction to Inuit life and hardships during the 20th century. I appreciated how the author let her subjects speak for themselves and showed the complicated narratives around these discs. The author narrates the audiobook, so a big recommend all around!

[Alexis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bureaucracy sucks, and it especially sucks when it's a system made to make everyone's lives easier than yours ... because the people who randomly showed up on the land your ancestors have lived on for thousands of years can't figure out your actual names.

Lots of very educational stuff in here, including a lot of information on how the legal status of Inuit differs from Metis and First Nations in Canada.

[Tali · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really important book about little known, acknowledged, and talked about Canadian history. Inuit people were not part of the land treaties with Canada and were put through a tracking/surveillance that reduced them to numbers. The disc system disregarded Inuit culture, way of life, language, and self determination. It lasted 30 years and imposed colonial control on populations of people whose way of life is cooperation and agreement, they did not imagine what this meant for their lives. Decades later, families have no natural records of one another and lineages have become untraceable. Inuit people struggled with their status as Indigenous and maintaining their rights. And this has been largely undocumented in the history books. It’s an important awareness that was well researched and delivered through other writings and first-person accounts, including the author trying to find her own grandmother through this system.

[Eva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kinauvit? What’s your name? The Eskimo Disc System and a Daughter’s Search for her Grandmother is a nonfiction book by Inuk author Dr. Norma Dunning.

Norma begins the book by sharing how she had attempted to enrol herself and her sons on the Inuit Enrolment List in 2001 and ran into a roadblock when her mother who had never been documented and was now deceased couldn’t provide the necessary information required to show Norma’s Inuit heritage. This was when Norma decided to search for information about her grandmother and of the Eskimo Disc System.

Dr. Dunning presents a case for why the Eskimo Disc System was so harmful to Inuit people and how the Canadian government has not apologized to date for this poor decision born out of a laziness to learn Inuit names. She also discusses the importance of the naming of Inuit children and the tradition it is based on.

Kinauvit? reads like a well researched thesis with well documented supporting information. I did not previously know of this numbering system and the government’s insistence on the use of both Christian names and the use of surnames. While Dr. Dunning makes note that Inuit people do not display anger and are welcoming to everyone, it was clear that she had strong (and justified) feelings about this period of history and how it has impacted future generations.

Thank you to @zgstories and @douglasmcintyre2013 for an ARC in exchange for my honest opinions. This book is out October 29, 2022.

[Val Lem]

This is an informative and accessible history of one of the Canadian government's colonial activities in the far north where Inuit people were assigned ID numbers printed on discs that they were supposed to keep with them at all times. This began in the 1930s, long before the government began issuing SIN numbers to other Canadian people in the late 1960s. The two systems are not, as the author argues, really comparable due to the legal requirements and local identification of community membership associated with the discs. By the 1970s, the system disappeared as the government introduced a new system of colonization: a family surname project whereby all Inuit were expected to adopt a family name. Originally, these indigenous people only used a single name as their small communities had no need for a secondary name. This book will bring the reader up to date on another piece of little known history.

[Carolyn Bell · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Kinauvit? What’s Your Name? The Eskimo Disc System and a Daughter’s Search for her Grandmother” by Dr Norma Dunning, narrated by the author. I had heard of the disc system but knew very little about it, being an immigrant to Canada I am still learning a lot . I was shocked to learn that the Inuit were not included within the Indian Act. This is superbly researched and shows how colonialism disaffected Inuit communities. There are interviews with Elders that give insight into history and traditions. This is a definite read / listen for those wanting to learn more about Canada’s history and wrong doings.
This book was published in October 2022, audio book is slated for release on July 31st 2023.
Thanks to @talismanonpender @librofm @mcclellandstewart @douglasmcintyre2013 for the #ARC #ALC

[Enid Wray · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating exploration of the EIC system. Lots to be learned from reading this, but I will admit that more than once I felt like she was moving too quickly and glossing over some aspects.

At only 181 pages - 30 of which are bibliography, appendices and index - there was lots of room to dig even deeper.

I also wish that much of the content in the third quarter of the book - basically the transcripts of her conversations with some of her interview subjects - had been woven into the discussion in the first half of the book, instead of being presented as they were.

But, that is a stylistic preference of mine and should not dissuade anyone from picking up this title.

SCORE = 3.5 rounded up to 4

[Idiosyncratic · Rating 5 out of 5]

In my work as an advocate, I actually encountered an Inuk who still had her disc number as her name; she seemed to have been missed when Project Surname happened. I did try to offer to help her change that, but she vanished; no doubt I frightened her.

I am so glad someone (who is eminently qualified) has finally written a book on this shameful chapter of Canadian history.

I actually ended up buying two copies of it - one to give to a friend who worked with me when I was an advocate (and knew the story of the woman I encountered) and one for my daughter who, like me, seems very interested in the Inuit experience.

[Marlene · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title of this book is a question, because that’s how this author’s journey began. While it begins as a reclamation of identity, what that attempt leads to is a search for it – or at least, and with full irony as becomes apparent during the telling – a search for a very specific piece of government documentation that was intended, not to confirm but rather to deny the lived essence of an identity it was designed to repress if not, outright, erase.

That search for proof of her mother’s, and as a result her own, Inuit heritage led the author, not just to a multi-year search but also to a second act career in academia, exposing the origins and the abuses – whether committed out of governmental malice or idiocy – of a system that may have been claimed to be a system for identifying the Inuit population, but was truly intended to colonize them, divide them, and ultimately erase the beliefs and practices that made them who they were.

So on the one hand, this is a very personal story. The author had learned only in adulthood that she was, herself, Inuit. It’s a truth that her own mother refused to talk about as long as she lived. But when Dunning decided to apply for enrolment in the Nunavut Beneficiary program, she opened up the proverbial can of worms, discovering long-buried secrets that had overshadowed her mother’s life and the lives of all Inuit of her mother’s generation and the one before it. A history that was as poorly documented as her mother’s life and identity.

It’s a journey that began with a hope, middled with a question that turned into an obsession – even after that hope was answered – and led to the author’s search for a history that was long-denied but that needed to be brought into the light.

Reality Rating C: Kinauvit? is a combination of a personal search for identity with the intricacies of searching in records that were an afterthought for the government that recorded them, administered them and was, at least in theory, supposed to serve the people those records concerned but that the government obviously didn’t understand a whit. But the story of that personal search is mixed, but not terribly well blended, with a scholarly paper about the history of the Canadian government’s treatment and suppression of the Inuit peoples over whom the government believed it held sovereignty.

The two narratives, the author’s personal search and the scholarly paper that resulted from it (her Master’s thesis for the University of Alberta) both have important stories to tell, and either had the possibility of carrying this book. The issue is that the two purposes don’t blend together, but rather march along side-by-side uncomfortably and unharmoniously as they are entirely different in structure and tone to the point where they don’t reinforce each other’s message the way that they should – or was mostly likely intended that they should.

This book contains just the kind of hidden history that cries out to be revealed. But this attempt to wrap the personal journey around the academic paper results in a book that doesn’t quite work for either of its prospective audiences.

I listened to Kinauvit? in audio, which generally works well for me for first-person narratives, which this looked like it would be. Also, sometimes an excellent reader can carry a book over any rough patches in its text, especially for a work with a compelling story or an important topic that I have a strong desire to see revealed. Kinauvit? as an audiobook had both of the latter, a search that was compelling, combined with a deep dive into historical archives which is absolutely my jam, resulting in a true story of government neglect and outright stupidity.

But it is very, very rare that authors turn out to be good readers for their work unless they have some kind of performance experience. In all of the audiobooks I have ever listened to over the past three decades, I can only think of one exception to serve as an exception.

In this particular case, the author recites the book as though she was delivering the academic paper that forms the core of the book. But this publication of the work was not intended to BE an academic paper. The audience for this work would be better served with a narrator who is able to ‘voice’ the book, to use a narrative style imbued with the flow and the cadences of a storyteller.

The dry recitation that I listened to blunted the impact of the personal side of the story while the inclusion of the words “Footnote 1”, “Footnote 2”, etc., when one of the many, many footnotes occurred in the text was jarring to the point that it broke this reader out of the book completely. That the footnotes themselves consisted of the simple reference to the place in the source material from which the quote was drawn added nothing to the narrative but made its origin as a scholarly paper all too apparent.

In the end, this book left me torn. I wanted to love it. I was fascinated by its premise, and remain so. It’s important history and not just Canadian history. The truths that the author uncovered deserve a wider audience and more official recognition than has been achieved to date. But this vehicle for telling those truths doesn’t do them justice, even though justice is exactly what is needed.

Originally published at Reading Reality

[Isaiah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautiful, yet heartbreaking book to read. The first chapter is especially well-written and speaks to the challenges of growing up with Inuit heritage. The Eskimo Disc System is still very much an under-researched topic, so it was nice to have such an in-depth overview. This book is captivating and tells a story, while at the same time being respectful and accurate with the information it portrays. Well worth the read!

[Joan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely fascinating and another example of settler arrogance, and Canadian ignorance. Definitely a worthwhile read for me.

[Alice · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book that everyone should read. It should be taught in high school. Im a canadian who knew nothing about this chapter in our history.
Being canadian means learning about our history all of it.

[Elaan Zaleschuk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting. I needed to learn more about this. Thank you for helping me.

[caro_cactus · Rating 5 out of 5]

A bit repetitive, but very clear and thought-provoking, especially the distinctions that Dunning summarizes and explains at the end with apparently similar systems.

[Eric Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I very much enjoyed the interwoven prose of personal memoir, historic storytelling and interviews with cultural and thought leaders and elders. Dunning writes in direct and easy to understand language but doesn't speak down to the reader or over simplify either. The interviews are focused and well edited to convey the central ideas and stories. The connections of the historic information with visual examples of government agendas really brought the power of the story to the forefront, that the Eskimo number disc system was really a side thought, a blip on the mission of the colonial oversight of the vast territory of Inuit traditional land- to the colonial powers that is. To the Inuit peoples it defined decades of life and along with many other atrocities and injustices has shaped the "people of the North" to this day. It's hard if not impossible to truly convey how fast and inhumanely the changes came to the Inuit in less than half a century and especially in this volume which is not lengthy for a historical examination in book form but through the lens of the EDS and the author's own journey to discover her own heritage and pass that identity on to her children there is an impactful reckoning with this truly astonishing and shameful era of Canadian history that continues to this day.

I've taken one star off for the somewhat idealistic view of past and current dispositions and behaviour of the Inuit. I fully agree that the unanimous community based decision making of the Inuit and the fundamental teachings that have been passed down to the present day do reflect the gentler and kinder spirit of their traditional values but, as we all are, they are human too and have all the spectrum of emotions. Promoting the ways in which the traditional community and family ties made Inuit lives full and meaningful is nothing to scoff at but to say that an Inuk person would never hold a grudge or never be angry is an exaggeration that detracts from historicity and believability of the narrative. I have lived in an Inuit community in Nunavut and have experienced and seen the same conflicts and emotional challenges that will be seen anywhere in the world. There is a grain of salt here though to say that overall the Inuit demeanor and disposition is far more conflict adverse than in many other cultures but as a part of the continued legacy of forced relocations and forced governance practices like the disc numbering system the reconciliatory, collaborative and pacifist nature of Inuit conflict resolution has been distorted into toxic, back stabbing rumination that often comes to light via social media. I've never seen such open and hostile posting about others in your own community (not including the major shade thrown in political discourse on a platform like X) and even your own relatives. I guess their could be some advantages to throwing out your frustrations into the open rather than going behind someone's back but ideally dealing with a person directly as far as possible is the best route. The ways that colonial disruption throws off the equilibrium, however imperfect that balance may have been, in a community's self governance and decision making and justice keeping is a complex and far reaching legacy and it's unfair really to the victims of such forced alterations to say that an Inuk person never raises their voice or is always kind no matter what.

[Knitography · Rating 4 out of 5]

I knew nothing at all about the Eskimo Identification Canada disc system when I picked up this book, and it turns out that this is not merely a gap in what was, admittedly, an incomplete and inaccurate education in Canadian history, courtesy of the Canadian school system. Forty-odd years after the disc system was discontinued, very little official evidence of its existence remains (a perverse irony, that a system designed for documentation purposes was itself poorly documented).

In Kinauvit (What’s Your Name)? Dr Norma Dunning presents the results of her research into this system, threaded through with her own personal journey of attempting to find her maternal grandmother’s disc number (and along with an overview of other crimes committed against the Inuit by the Canadian government, such as forced relocations, residential schools and the banning of cultural practices).

As if it weren’t bad enough that numbering human beings in lieu of learning and using their actual names is fundamentally dehumanising and culturally offensive, the disc system was poorly thought out, poorly implemented and poorly run. The result was the erasure of the names and identities of Inuit people, disconnecting them from important cultural practices as well as from their own personal histories (as becomes clear through Dunning’s description of her efforts to find her grandmother’s disc number).

While I believe that the three threads in the book - Dunning’s personal journey into her family history, the history of the disc system itself and the broader context of the Inuit-Canada relationship - could have been woven together more skilfully, this is a very readable and informative book on a topic I think most Canadians are unfamiliar with. These are the kinds of histories we need to hear about directly from First Nations, Metis and Inuit peoples themselves - as Dr Dunning puts it, “it is time for the voice of the Inuit to appear and sing as loud as it can”.

[Jane Mulkewich · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an important book about the Eskimo Disc System which was instituted just before WW2 by the Canadian government to keep track of the Inuit with no consultation or fanfare, and Inuit people had to memorize their disc number and were supposed to wear their disc on a necklace at all times and not lose it, and their disc number was essential to receive any benefits or even to trade or buy food. Then eventually the disc system was discontinued again without consultation or apology or explanation, and even without much in the way of documentation, as the disc system is absent from many/most reports of the history of the Inuit. In 2001, the author applied to the Nunavut Beneficiary program and was asked about the disc number for herself or for her mother (who had recently passed away), and thus the author began an exploration that lasted over 20 years trying to learn about the disc system and the impact it had on the Inuit. I also read the award-winning book Tainna a few months ago by this same author - a 2021 fictional short story collection about the lives of modern Inuit - and I look forward to reading more of her work in the future.

[Keisha Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Inuk woman writes about Eskimo identification disc system in Canada , a bit about her own family history and struggles to get recognized as Inuit.
Disc system was in place 35ish years mid 1900s. Notably residential schools were ending for indigenous Canadians at the same time systems of control were increasing for Inui t people.

They had freedom of movement, but were forcibly relocated multiple times to uninhabited areas without proper supplies. Required the number to see a doctor or to buy food or to trade furs. Made tracking movement/income/ what they spent money on easy.

System was put in place largely due to white people not being willing or able to understand Inuit names/pronounciation, also to civilize/control/bring order to the north.

Book does address many similar situations through history- tattoos on largely Jewish prisoners during ww2, residential system in Canada and pass system to leave, modern SIN or drivers license.

Interesting to see how different indigenous people were treated by Canada gov compared to Inuit- Inuit were never covered under Canadian Indian act and there is (as of time of publication) no legal definition of an Inuk.

[Siobhan Ward · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like many Canadians, I know next to nothing about the disc system in Canada. I vaguely knew it existed, but knew nothing about the history or reality of it. Dunning explains that this is common, not only because it's rarely taught in schools, but because there is very limited information about it in general. Learning that made the book even more interesting, and I appreciated the amount of work and research Dunning put into it.

That being said, I wish there had been a bit more to this book. Dunning starts it off as a family history, but it quickly moves into a broader history of Inuit people in Canada and the disc system. Unfortunately, this meant that Dunning's own story kind of got shoehorned in at the end, which I found a bit disappointing. I was also hoping for a bit more insight into Inuit history and the story of the Canadian north. Dunning provides a great surface-level intro, but I wish there had been a bit more. I will say though, I appreciated how robust her citations were, as it gives a great starting point for anyone who may want to do more of their own research.

[Cheryl · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a book that started out with a quest to find her grandmother's name after her mother basically buried the information. Then it turned into how the Canadians basically took the indigenous people of northern Canada, introduced a Disc System as they didn't understand or want to understand their culture, nor did they know the language to pronounce the names. The Canadians didn't annihilate them exactly like the American Indians, but they did their level best to erase a culture.
In 2001, Dr. Norma Dunning applied to the Nunavut Beneficiary program, requesting enrollment to legally solidify her existence as an Inuk woman. But in the process, she was faced with a question she could not answer, tied to a colonial institution retired decades ago: “What was your disc number?” And then because the Disc System only recognized one wife, her grandfather's two other wives, (one of which was her grandmother) was basically lost.

[Sofia]

Very interesting dive into the disc system! The writing was a bit simplistic for me - I tend to prefer non-fiction with different prose. I just felt like there was a bit to much explaining and I wish the author had let us think more instead of telling us what conclusions to draw. It feels more rewarding to think for myself. I like how the author's wove her grandmother's story with others; the interviews with elders and their varied views on the system (and how future generations saw the system retrospectively) were my favorite parts. It was clearly deeply researched and even though I think this book was average in execution I still see a lot of value in having read it and learned more about the disc system.

[Mikje · Rating 3 out of 5]

The E disk system is a relatively unknown part of Canadian history - so any piece of writing that highlights the impact is really important! I appreciated learning some Inuit history and loved the first chapter as well as the section around the importance of names and birthing rituals that included tattoos on the inner thighs that acted as a symbolic gateway welcoming life into the world.

This book did however feel like a first draft - I wish there could’ve been some more editing to reduce redundancies and make the whole thing move smoother. At page 100 I was feeling like I had gotten the point and had to push myself to finish the last little bit.

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author was obviously very hurt by her childhood, and the book reflects that. Although it is a Master's thesis for a degree program, it tells a biased account of the way the Canadian government treated the First Peoples in the 1900's. Some multiple viewpoints were given, but the author interpreted everything Canadian in the worst light, and everything Inuk in the best light. She suggested that all Inuk relationships were loving--obviously not the case if you read other books by First Peoples authors.

[Holly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading about the Inuk experience in Canada as I felt this was largely missing from my formal education. It was interesting to learn about the differences between First Nation/Metis and Inuk people in terms of their relationship to the Canadian government, as well as the history of the disc system. That said, the format of scholarly research and personal account I found to be poorly blended, making it a tiresome read. I’d like to read more on this topic, but didn’t love the execution of this book.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

An informative history of the disc system, something that in my experience is not well known outside of the North, but also a personal story of reconnecting with Inuit tradition and community. Some of the history parts are quite dry, but Dunning's personal connections are definitely not, and she also includes personal reflections by other Inuit people on the impacts of the discs. I'd recommend to any Canadian looking to understand the history of government interference in the lives of Inuit people.

[Larissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Learned a lot about some specific topics - the entire existence and history of the Disc System, for one, but also about how colonialism manifested itself differently (on a structural/legal level) amongst the Inuit vs First Nations vs Métis people and lots about Inuit culture. Overall to me large sections of this book read sort of like a textbook chapter - this isn't a bad thing per se, but there is definitely less of an emphasis on personal narrative than I was first expecting.

[Kim Gausepohl · Rating 3 out of 5]

The reads like a compilation of conference papers, resulting in a repetitive, disjointed, and frustrating experience. The cover describes this book as exploring the “Eskimo disc system and a daughter’s search for her grandmother” so I expected a hybrid narrative of the author’s personal experience along with an academic lens. This book heavily favors the academic over the personal so it felt like I was reading someone’s master thesis unedited for an audience outside of their committee.