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IQALUIT
Malikkaat, an Iqaluit store specializing in all things Inuit, is closing its doors on June 25.

Karliin Aariak stands next to a display in the soon-to-be-closing Malikkaat store in Iqaluit. - Danielle Sachs/NNSL photo

"We've been open for almost eight years and I think Malikkaat has done what it set out to do," said the store's owner Karliin Aariak. "Other projects are demanding more of my time so I've decided to concentrate more on those. It was not easy decision to make but I had to do it."

In addition to raising two young children, Aariak is a passionate advocate for Nunavut's sealing industry. She is a sealskin designer who's work was featured during Fashion Week in Milan, Italy, this past spring. Added to her busy schedule is time for writing, working in film, and other creative outlets.

"I could give up my kids!" joked Aariak. "I had to give up something and, unfortunately, it was Malikkaat."

The store was opened in October 2006 by Aariak's mother, Eva Aariak, the current premier of Nunavut.

The goal of the store was to have a place where Inuit artwork and products important to Inuit culture.

"My mother opened the store almost eight years ago to have available and showcase Inuit art and craft because Inuit art and craft is more than just a carving," Karliin said. "There are so many other talented Inuit everywhere in Nunavut, Nunavik, Greenland ... and (we aimed) to have available products that were not, especially eight years ago, easily available up here."

An example of these hard to find products would be tools and materials used to make a qulliq – a traditional Inuit oil lamp.

Having the items available helps to maintain language as well as traditional practices, said Karliin.

The store's name also has cultural significance.

Malikkaat is a flowering plant that grows in the Arctic. In the summer its white and yellow blooms follow the sun and by the time fall arrives, the plant is distinctly twisted.

Karliin said Inuit used to use the malikkaat as way to tell time and the twisted flower was an indication for when it was time to head to the fall camp.

"In those times Inuit were in tune with nature, they had to be," she said. "(Malikkaat) was a time teller and was also used to mix with moss and used as a wick for the qulliq."

Popular near and far

With its variety of products, the store has become popular among both locals and tourists.

"It's been a great help for the local artists and even the transient artists in and out of Iqaluit as a location where they can sell their art," said Rowena House, executive director of the Nunavut Arts and Crafts Association. "With it closing there is one less place for them to have a location to sell."

But where one door closes another will hopefully open and Karliin said she hopes the store's closing turns into an opportunity for someone else.

"We proved that something like this could be successful, if we work hard at it." she said. "(Malikkaat) could be used as a model. It's now an opportunity for others to grow as a business or learn more about business ownership or their culture, it opens the door for them."

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