About Atik^u

A rich and multidisciplinary content

Atik^u. The Northern and Arctic Studies Portal offers the best international resource for northern and Arctic research: databases, dictionaries and encyclopedias, maps, atlases and geospatial data, statistics, archives and sources, online films, etc.

It was developed with a multidisciplinary perspective, covering the fields of natural sciences, engineering and technologies, health sciences, humanities, and social sciences, with an emphasis on the field of Aboriginal studies.

A resource for different audiences

This portal is intended for researchers and students as well as members of northern Indigenous communities, public and private sector stakeholders, and Web users of all backgrounds who want to learn about Northern and Arctic issues.

Interinstitutional collaboration

The Northern and Arctic Studies Portal is the result of a collaboration between the l’Institut nordique du Quebec (INQ) and the libraries of Concordia University, Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS), McGill University, Université Laval, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQÀM), Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, as well as Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ). 

Meaning of the word Atik^u

In Innu, Atik^u (Atikw in Naskapi and Cree) means Caribou.

An iconic northern animal, caribou are found in a wide variety of Arctic regions in North America, Europe and Asia, making them a truly circumpolar species. They play a central role in many Indigenous cultures, having long ensured the survival of northern communities. Caribou continue to be important in the intergenerational transfer of traditional knowledge, and are the subject of many research projects in both the natural sciences and the humanities.