Unknown to most Canadians today, Joseph Idlout was once the world’s most famous Inuit. The star of films and books, Idlout was one of the Inuit hunters pictured on the back of Canada’s $2 bill. Like Nanook of the North, Idlout became a symbol of his people—the heroic myth that fascinated the White imagination.

Idlout’s son, Peter Paniloo, takes us on a poignant journey through his father’s life. Idlout, the great hunter, eventually becomes a fox-fur trapper and guide. Trying to improve his family’s fortunes, he gets caught up in the White world. The outcome being that Joseph Idlout does not know who he is or where he belongs. He is “Between Two Worlds.”