Oonark's father Aglaguaq and her grandfather were said to be shamans. Aglaquarq used his shamanic powers infrequently but Oonark vividly remembered his helping spirit— "Uupitanaisuak." Aglaguaq had a daughter who is Oonark's stepsister, Kayuruq. When Janet Kigusiuk was still a baby, Anglican missionaries, Canon James and his Inuk assistant catechist Thomas Tapatai came to Oonark's hunting camp. She adopted the Anglican religion and they gave her a prayer book and a Bible. The arrival of Christian missionaries divided their small camp into two divisions—those who became Christian and those who held onto the old ways. Oonark did not participate in drum dancing nor did she follow the ways of shamanism. However she continued to depict the drum dance and aspects of shamanism in her artwork such as "Horned Spirits" (1970), "Shaman" (1970) and "The People Within" (1970).