Career
Despite lacking any formal schooling, Qumaq published two seminal works to the Inuit culture: a 30,000-word comprehensive Inuktitut dictionary and an encyclopedia on Inuit traditional customs and knowledge. He was fluent in Inuktitut only. He understood Canadian and Quebec institutions and worked for their integration into Inuit lifestyle for the betterment of his community.
After spending some time to the establishment of Rankin Inlet in the Northwest Territories, he returned to Puvirnituq in 1960 and founded its first village council and acted as its chair from 1962 to 1968.
In 1983 he took part to the Quebec commissions on Aboriginal rights and on Nouveau-Québec’s self-government. In 2010, Presses de l"Université du Québec published his autobiography, Je veux que les Inuit soient libres de nouveau (I want Inuit to be free again).