Tanya Tagaq Gillis is a Canadian indigenous Inuk throat singer and instrumentalist. She hails from Nunavut (South Coast of Canada’s Victoria Island). Tagaq is not only a singer but has extensively represented herself as a cultural activist and the voice of her people. From her social media postings to songs and concerts, Tagaq has promoted and fiercely defended her culture.
According to Whiteman (n.p.) Tagaq’s community has long had inherent rights to hunt seal, one of their most valued cultural foods. Her homeland is submerged in snow for a better part of the year, and her people are inherently hunters. Nevertheless, animal rights' activists have opposed Tagaq’s attempts at advancing this cultural ideal, terming it against animal protection and rights. According to Whiteman, after her Polaris Prize Speech, Tagaq enthusiastically concluded her speech in “Fuck PETA,” as an opposition to the organization’s campaign against the hunting of seals. In 2014, she posted a Twitter ‘sealfie,’ showing her baby beside a killed seal that had been fed to a group of local elders (Delaney), as depicted below.