Content Warning: This section discusses colonialism, abuse, and anti-Indigenous racism.

The Inuit are Indigenous peoples who live primarily in parts of the Arctic, including far eastern Russia, Alaska, northern Canada, Denmark, and Greenland. While Inuit culture varies across the Arctic, most Inuit were semi-nomadic hunter-gatherers prior to the advent of European colonialism. Typically, Inuit lived in sod houses and other semi-permanent structures during the summer, and in igloos (ice houses) during the winter. A traditional Inuit diet consisted of marine mammals, Arctic land mammals, birds, and fish, along with small amounts of plant matter like berries and tubers. Because of the climate in the Arctic, it is not possible to cultivate crops. Traditional Inuit communities usually made clothing from animal skins, which provide essential warmth in the harsh Arctic environment. In the Arctic, winter darkness and summer sun both last for months uninterrupted, with extremely cold winters and short, mild summers. The climate poses many challenges to the humans and animals who live there.

Many Inuit speak one of several closely related languages. These languages exist on a continuum, and those spoken in close geographic proximity are typically mutually intelligible. Inuktitut is among the most widely spoken Inuit languages, primarily used in the Inuit-governed Canadian territory of Nunavut.