Inuktitut belongs to the Eskimo-Aleut family (also called Inuit-Yupik-Unangan) and forms part of the Inuit branch, a dialect continuum stretching from Alaska across the Canadian Arctic to Greenland. It is linguistically close to other Inuit varieties such as Iñupiaq and Greenlandic (Kalaallisut). The name 'Inuktitut' means roughly 'in the manner of the Inuit.'

Inuktitut is spoken by the Inuit of the eastern Canadian Arctic, above all in the territory of Nunavut and in Nunavik (northern Quebec), with communities also in Labrador and the Northwest Territories. It has several tens of thousands of speakers and is one of the most robust Indigenous languages in Canada. Inuit culture is adapted to an Arctic environment, with traditions of hunting, fishing, and deep knowledge of ice, snow, and marine wildlife.

European contact with the Inuit came through explorers, whalers, and traders, and later British and French-Canadian missionaries, in a process later than in the south of the continent. In the twentieth century, the Canadian administration imposed forced relocations, residential schools, and profound changes to the traditional way of life. These processes affected language transmission, though the Arctic's relative isolation helped preserve it in part.

Inuktitut enjoys a relatively strong official status: it is an official language of the territory of Nunavut, created in 1999, alongside English, French, and Inuinnaqtun. It is used in education, administration, media, and public broadcasting in the north. Although it is still classified as vulnerable due to pressure from English, it is considered one of the Indigenous languages with the best prospects for survival in Canada.