Indigenous Success Stories: Inuit

Two photos of artwork on display as part of the Radical Stitch exhibit open now at the National Gallery of Canada. At left is Amazon Bag by Nico Williams, and at right is NDN Art by by Teri Greeves.

Windspeaker.com: The National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa opened its doors May 17 for the Radical Stitch exhibit. It features 101 beadworks by 44 First Nations, Inuit and Métis artists.

The exhibit, which runs until Sept. 30, focuses on beadwork that connects viewers with the past by showcasing artwork of the present, from wearable art to portraiture and more. It’s one of the largest shows of contemporary beadwork with artists from Canada and the United States.

Radical Stitch “includes some of the best of the best beadwork artists in Turtle Island,” said co-curator Michelle LaVallee, director of Indigenous Ways and Curatorial Initiatives at the National Gallery of Canada.

“It was really important for us to raise the profile of beadwork to show it as contemporary, as part of this age,” LaVallee said. It’s the continuance of something that’s part of Indigenous history.

“You know, art making is part of what our communities have been doing since (the beginning of) time but (we’re) really wanting people to see the skill and labour that goes into making these works, in addition to the aesthetic beauty of beadwork, and hopefully do our part to elicit some awe and respect for the practice.”

The concept of the exhibit became reality five years ago at the Mackenzie Art Gallery in Saskatchewan. The National Gallery of Canada is the exhibit’s fourth stop.

“It really stems from a spark of inspiration I had to, and desire to, uplift beading practices over a couple decades ago when I first started my position at the Mackenzie Art Gallery,” said LaVallee. “But it was really conceptualized… around 2016.”

LaVallee co-curated Radical Stitch with Sherry Farrell Racette, a professor in the department of visual arts at the University of Regina, and Cathy Mattes, associate professor in history of art at the University of Winnipeg.

The exhibit travelled to the Art Gallery of Hamilton and the Thunder Bay Art Gallery prior to the National Gallery.

Originally the number of exhibitors was quite extensive, explained LaVallee, but the list was reduced for touring purposes for the previous two showings. Due to the venue size at the National Gallery of Canada, the curators were able to bring back a number of artists for the current exhibit.

“We are really excited about the attention that the show has been bringing to artists and helping to celebrate their work and to celebrate their efforts,” LaVallee said. “And to bring beadwork into the contemporary sphere in a way that it’s never been exhibited before.”

A key element of the exhibit was to bring the art of beadwork from the stereotype of being a craft into a contemporary space.

“You have next generations of artists, like Nico Williams, who’ve really been creating new meaning and redefining representation and cultural determinism and experimenting with media, whether it be to play with pop culture or imagine new worlds to look at our complex identities,” said LaVallee.

Williams, a Montreal-based artist from the Aamjiwnaang First Nation, creates geometrical and sculptural creations of everyday objects that link to his own history and personal stories. One of the items in the show by Williams is titled Amazon Bag.

“My art is looking at different ways to approach these, trying to replicate sound objects and also responding to works created by our ancestors and bridging the two,” said Williams.

“For instance, the Amazon Bag in the Radical Stitch show, it was looking at bandolier bags.”

Historically, bandolier bags were modelled after European military ammunition bags. They were made using trade cloth, and hundreds of small glass trade beads would be sewn to the exterior of the bag. The bags were then worn as part of men’s ceremonial clothing.

“But we’d also use them as commerce, and we would sell it for, like, we traded it actually for ponies,” Williams said. When he started the Amazon Bag project he read many stories about the historical beaded bags, including one from the depression era when someone had to sell their beaded bag for $5.

“So then, you really think about what value is and… what it represents,” Williams said.

He incorporated an Ojibway pattern monochromatically on the back of his Amazon Bag art piece to address the history of trade.

“I’m looking at Ojibway patterns and I’m always trying to figure out ways to highlight them and to put them into people’s faces, because for so long it hasn’t. It’s been tucked away in drawers,” he said.

“I was responding to works that are in drawers and they’re still in those drawers, because up until the ‘50s it was illegal to practice who we are.”

Another element of the Amazon Bag by Williams is replicated bubble wrap, typically found on the inside of a shipping package.

“I’m always trying to replicate these colonial objects that sort of shower around our territories,” Williams said, adding he really wanted to draw viewers to how historically bags were adorned with flowers or other items that represented who Indigenous people were, but now bubble wrap and other substances are entering the communities from outside sources.

Being part of the exhibit is an honour for Williams, he said, because it’s important for Indigenous creators to bring beadwork back to the communities.

“It is an honour, because there has been so much work that has gone into getting beadwork where it is being appreciated today, and the show is really highlighting so many amazing artists from different communities all across Turtle Island,” he said.

“I love all the curators. They have done such incredible work for so many people and the beadwork exhibition is going to make an impression in people’s minds and it’s going to change things.”

For more information on the show or to purchase tickets visit the National Gallery of Canada website Radical Stitch | National Gallery of Canada

By Crystal St.Pierre
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Windspeaker.com

Local Journalism Initiative Reporters are supported by a financial contribution made by the Government of Canada.

Inotsiavik Centre in Labrador wins $1 million Arctic Inspiration Prize

APTN News: An Inuit cultural project based in northern Labrador walked away with this year’s $1 million Arctic Inspiration Prize (AIP).

The Inotsiavik Centre project is the latest Arctic Inspiration Prize winner to take home the organization’s biggest annual prize.

The AIP provides money for northern innovation projects with a focus on education, health and wellbeing, culture, arts and language, science and traditional knowledge, climate change and the economy.

Each year, it awards one $1 million prize, up to four prizes of up to $500,000 each and up to seven youth prizes of up to $100,000 each. This year more than $3.2 million was awarded to ten teams from across the North.

The 12th annual ceremony was held at the Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre in Whitehorse on Tuesday evening. According to organizers, the annual prize is the largest in Canada.

Nicholas Flowers, a team member with the Inotsiavik Centre, said he was “speechless” about the win.

“It’s incredible…we are very grateful,” he said.

The team plans to open a not-for-profit cultural centre in Hopedale which is part of Nunatsiavut, the Inuit territory in Labrador. The project aims to revitalize the Inuttitut language and culture by providing accessible education and programming to Inuit.

“The $1 million isn’t for us, it’s for Nunatsiavut, it’s for all Nunatsiavutvummiutut as a whole,” Flowers said.

‘A big win’

In addition to the $1 million prize, five teams received prizes of up to $500,000 each.

A therapeutic farm school based in Yukon received $500,000. The program is designed for K-12 students with disabilities, particularly those with neurodiversities such as Autism, ADHD, and other cognitive delays. The program will incorporate an on-the-land First Nations perspective.

Thay K’i Anint’I, also based in Yukon, was awarded $499,000 to offer recovery and wellness programming to support individual and community health recovery programs built around Indigenous culture and western practices.

Lena Onalik, team leader for Hebron and Nutak Reunions, is excited to put its almost $300,000 prize money to good use.

The project will help transport able-bodied Elders evicted from the communities of Hebron and Nutak in Labrador in the 1950s back to their homeland for a healing trip in July.

“To have actually succeeded in getting the funding is a big win for us,” she said.

Onalik said the prize will be used towards flights, securing ships, accommodations and other necessities.

“It’s time. It needs to happen. They’re not getting any younger. We already know Elders are not going to be able to make it home because of their health…Everyone is going to have the chance to be honored and acknowledged while we’re there,” she said.

Youth teams

Four teams were also awarded prizes in the youth category, including the Youth Coalition 4 Food Security North.

Its $100,000 prize will go towards connecting youth with food initiatives across northern Canada.

“This is a project of love and compassion and for youth to be leaders in their communities,” said team leader Meesha Wittkopf.

The AIP is funded by the Arctic Inspiration Prize charitable trust, which is made up of Indigenous organizations, governments, industry and other partners from across Canada.

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Murders of 4 Indigenous women in Winnipeg were ‘racially motivated’: Crown

Author(s) 

Sara Connors, sconnors@aptn.ca

After facing bans for almost 100 years in Canada, these Inuit women are keeping the tradition alive and well

Reclaiming Inuit Throat Singing

Unreserved: 45:38

Click on the following ink to listen to “Unreserved”:

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/unreserved/meet-the-inuit-throat-singers-revitalizing-the-tradition-and-engaging-new-audiences-1.7178956?cmp=newsletter_Morning%20Headlines%20from%20CBC%20News_1613_1522589

CBC Radio: Sisters Tiffany Ayalik and Inuksuk McKay were children when they first learned the Inuit cultural practice of throat singing.  

“If you ask a kid when they first learn to do ABC’s, they probably wouldn’t be able to tell you exactly when. It was just a normal part of childhood for us,” says McKay.

Together the sisters make up the electronic throat singing duo, PIQSIQ [pronounced pilk-silk]. The duo’s roots stem from Nunavut but they grew up in Yellowknife, N.W.T.,

Throat singing is a musical tradition, a bonding activity and a game that involves two women, standing face-to-face, testing their vocal agility and improvisation skills.

Like many other Inuit and Indigenous traditions, throat singing almost went extinct due to  colonialist pressures from the Canadian government and the Catholic Church. But today, it’s being revived and even reimagined by a new generation of Inuit youth as part of a larger cultural renaissance to celebrate and spread awareness of Inuit culture.

• Throat-singing sisters meld Inuit tradition with classic Christmas tunes
• Meet PIQSIQ, Inuit-style throat-singing sisters and inventors of a new instrument called ‘the death harp’

When people ask throat singer Nikki Komaksiutiksak to describe throat singing, she tells them the story that her grandmother told her. 

“One day when a group of men went out hunting … they never came back to the community to feed the women and children,” said Komaksiutiksak, executive director of Tunngasugit,  a resource centre in Winnipeg that helps Inuit from the North who are transitioning to life in Winnipeg.  .

“Two women went down to the ocean and they started mimicking different animal noises with their throats. That’s how they caught their food to feed their children.”

This, she says, is the origin of throat singing. However, throat singing is not just a cultural practice. It’s also an art form, a bonding activity and a game. 

“Basically the first person that laughs is a loser,” Komaksiutiksak joked. “So it’s a bit of a competition now.”

PIQSIQ and Komaksiutiksak are a small but vital part of a cultural renaissance that’s happening in Inuit cultures and it’s the younger generation that motivates them to keep going.

They say there’s a hunger there in younger Inuit audiences to learn whatever they can, reclaim this tradition and re-imagine it in new and innovative ways.

“Now people are doing some of the things that we’re doing like bridging or weaving throat singing with Celtic music or with rock’n’roll, country, folk and electronic stuff,” Ayalik said. 

WATCH: Improvised throat singing performance by PIQSIQ https://www.youtube.com/embed/dC6cTjT-n64%C2%A0

Shame and suppression

As children, Ayalik and McKay would often throat sing on camping trips when they ran out of things to do. However, when they asked family members to teach them new songs, they always noticed an element of discomfort.

It was not until they were older that the sisters learned that at one point, throat singing almost went extinct.

In the early 1900s, Christian missionaries set up a formidable presence in the North, banning cultural practices such as drumming and throat singing in schools and public spaces.

“It was heavily taboo and even illegal at one point and you could be fined or even imprisoned if you were caught practicing,” McKay said.

In the 1960s, Aisa Qupiqrualuk — an Inuit carver and storyteller who later became an Anglican minister — encouraged women in Nunavik to revive several traditions, including throat singing. 

Ayalik and McKay believe that this was the beginning of throat singing returning into daily Inuit life.

For Komaksiutiksak, throat singing was a huge part of her upbringing until she landed in the child welfare system. She ultimately had to take on the personal responsibility of keeping up with the tradition by herself as she became more and more separated from her family and culture.

Komaksiutiksak started throat singing with her cousins around the age of eight. Soon afterward, her aunt would take them on expeditions to travel the world and perform at showcases, all while educating others on the Inuit cultural tradition. 

But behind the scenes, Komaksiutiksak says the children suffered physical and emotional abuse. She and her sister eventually ran away, and ultimately landed in several group homes throughout the remainder of her childhood. 

• Matriarchal powerhouses lead the fight for the rights of MMIWG
• IN DEPTHLost in the South: How Nunavut’s child welfare system severs cultural ties

As part of the child welfare program, Komaksiutiksak was forced to take Indigenous cultural programs. However, none of the activities that they offered — such as powwow — reflected any aspect of her Inuit culture. To stay connected to her roots, she improvised.

“I would throat sing to the girls in the group homes and to the workers that were working because that was my identity and I needed to ensure that I did not forget where I came from and who I was,” Komaksiutiksak said. 

New generation

Today, more than 20 years after leaving the child welfare system, Komaksiutiksak said the power of throat singing saved her during her most challenging years.

Because of that, it was imperative for her to continue the tradition, but also to pass it down to her daughters, Chasity and Caramello Swan.

“When we were younger, we would fight and then we would start singing and after that we would be best friends again,” Chasity said. “It feels good for the soul.”

Caramello, 22, echoed her sister’s sentiments and said that she feels more connected to her family when Chasity, 20, sings with them.

“When I sing with my mother, I remember the vibrations,” Caramello said. “And I remember the feeling of being in her. It’s like a hug from my heart and my throat.”

Watching both her girls learn, thrive and understand the importance of throat singing has been rewarding for Komaksiutiksak to witness. As she looks towards the future, she hopes that the tradition of throat singing will empower future generations in their identity as Inuit.

Ayalik and McKay hope to see that happen as younger generations continue to explore and find joy in throat singing and other Inuit traditions.

“I feel like there’s a beautiful momentum that’s happening .. where people are seeing how beautiful it is as a practice and how complimentary it is to collaborate these sounds with things that you would never think of putting together,” Ayalik said.

“I’m so excited to see the shame melt away.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dannielle Piper

Dannielle A. Piper is a graduate of the UBC School of Journalism and a 2021 CJF-CBC Black Women’s Journalism Fellow. Born and raised in Jamaica and now living in Vancouver, Dannielle covers entertainment, identity politics and social justice. Twitter handle: @dannielleapiper

Immersing the audience in songs they already love, in an ancient language creates curiosity and alliances she says.

‘I think merging those worlds is just natural for me,’ says Elisapie about her album Inuktitut. Photo: Kerry Slack/APTN. 

APTN News: From the depths of the National Arts Centre, commonly called the NAC in Ottawa, trilingual artist, Elisapie, skips up the steps and into a quiet hallway for her interview with APTN News.

Spotting the camera crew, she smiles, and says, “Hi, I’m here.”

The 46-year-old is currently on tour playing cities in North America before heading overseas.

“Even here at the National Arts Centre, we are in places where it’s celebrating cultures,” she says. “I think it’s also a reminder everywhere we go.”

In 2023, the Inuk artist released Inuktitut, an album of 10 popular songs by artists including the Rolling Stones, Blondie, Led Zepplin and Queen. All of the songs are in Inuktitut – her first language.

On an evening at the end of March, in the Azrieli Studio – a 300-seat hall in the NAC, the ambient sound of a fire crackling set the tone for an immersive audio-visual experience.

The show starts with Taimangalimaaq the cover of Cyndi Lauper’s, Time After Time followed by a cover of Fleetwood Mac’s Dreams, Sinnatuumait.

Before transitioning into her original work, the stage lights darken and the audience is left in complete darkness with only a boom box reciting a narrative in Inuktitut.

People at the sold-out show sit holding hands and swaying with the music.

“I think that’s so beautiful we really do understand that people are sensitive to Indigenous issues [and] they care,” she says. “I think we just need a little bit more representation.”

Elisapie says language is not just a means of communication, but a gateway to storytelling and emotional expression.

“I’m really thrilled to know that people are able to find, maybe, that sense of belonging to a connection to Indigenous language or even narrative or story and bringing it to their memories,” she says.

“If it’s in people’s houses and being listened to by all people.”

Elisapie was the sole Inuk nominee for Contemporary Indigenous Artist or Group of the Year at the 2024 Juno Awards. Other nominees in the category included Aysanabee, Blue Moon Marquee, Shawnee Kish and Zoon.

“I’m just so proud knowing that we were all there to celebrate each other. I felt like there was not one winner, but we were all winners anyway because we saw a lot of us,” says Elisapie.

While accepting the award, Elisapie thanked her fellow nominees, friends, family and colleagues and dedicated the album to her family in Salluit, Nunavik – the Inuit territory is sub-Arctic Que.

That included her uncles who formed the band Sugluk, an Inuit rock and roll band active through the 1970s and ’80s.

“They pretty much formed me and made me who I am,” she said. “It’s really through their music and their eyes that I was able to dream and also allow myself to push beyond.”

Each track on her album Inuktitut is inspired by a person or memory from her past, reflecting the kinship she has to her culture and the significance of preserving Indigenous languages through music.

“For me, it’s always an opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate my uncles, my hometown and of course seeing my team who have been behind this album, behind my project, really taking care of every little detail to really make sure that my storytelling gets across. It was just really nice to celebrate it with them.”

Elisapie says she was charmed by how many people love hearing songs they know in Inuktitut.

“Something like this makes me feel good so that’s how it started. Listening to ABBA hearing Blondie and realizing, ‘Okay I need to do this. It’s right now.’ I realized I shed a lot of tears, and they were very deep tears, deep cries.”

By adapting popular songs into Inuktitut, Elisapie’s music becomes a bridge between different worlds, merging contemporary sounds with her ancient language in a seamless blend.

“I love it. It gives me a thrill actually, because it’s finally also making people aware that we too were part of these songs. We too wanted change. We too wanted to dance. We are free to love anything contemporary. I think merging those worlds is just natural for me.”

Inuktitut is the fourth solo album from Elisapie whose last release, The Ballad of the Runaway Girl, was nominated for Indigenous Album of the Year at the 2019 Juno Awards and shortlisted for the 2019 Polaris Prize.

“I’m a happy hopeful person but I’m also very connected to the past and it’s something that I usually use as a way to create,” she said.

“For me the past is very much present, and the present is very much pushed by the people before us so I think we must just acknowledge that, and I celebrate that.”

In addition to her win this year, Elisapie was also nominated for Album Artwork of the Year for Inuktitut’s cover art.

“Certain songs brought back really pointed memories and started taking on special meaning for me,” said Elisapie.

She chose the songs to include on the album based on the tracks that resonated with her youth.

“We love Cyndi Lauper as much as anybody in Canada, so I think it’s just a little bit of a statement in a sense. I’m really thrilled to know that people are able to find maybe that sense of belonging; a connection to Indigenous language and bringing it to their memories.

“I realize okay, they do tell a story. Not only a story but they tell moments that I remember that were triggered by these songs. Some sad times, some beautiful colours of spring in the north.”

According to the singer, adapting these works into Inuktitut became an act of healing, a personal and emotional project meant to offer the songs back to her community as a gift.

“I had to tell the story of that era. You know we were nomads not so long ago, so these songs really became our safe places for our emotions and Led Zeppelin, Metallica, Cyndi Lauper, Blondie and Queen, they were our friends when we needed them most.”

Elisapie is now touring France and Belgium for the month of April returning to Canadian shows at the beginning of May. According to Spotify, she has 103,000 monthly subscribers and her new record has charted in Canada, France, Spain and Brazil.

Fans can expect the tour for Inuktitut to continue into December 2024 with shows across Canada. She’s back in Ottawa on June 25 at the Ottawa Jazz Festival.

“I’m starting to write new songs, it’s time for a new album that is not a cover songs. I’m working on our celebration, Indigenous celebration that I produce for  Quebec TV. We’re really excited to have a bunch of great artists, I can’t say their names yet, and so many more projects also coming up.”

Through her music, Elisapie invites us to embrace the beauty of diversity and celebrate the rich tapestry of the voices that make up our world.

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Mi’kmaw harvesters say DFO officers took their shoes, phones and left them str…

Author(s) 

Kerry Slack, kslack@aptn.ca

Janine Lightfoot’s love of Inuktitut began with listening to her grandmother

CBC Indigenous: Janine Lightfoot was shocked when she picked up the phone and found out she had been named the Inuk Woman of the Year by Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada.

“It’s like my brain glitched,” Lightfoot said. “I couldn’t download what she was actually saying and I was just a little bit stunned.”

Pauktuutit is a non-profit organization representing Inuit women in Canada. The group awarded Lightfoot the honour due to her work in revitalizing Inuit language and culture.

“Inuktitut is so much more than just grammar and vocabulary,” Lighfoot said. “It’s like a connection to your community, to yourself, to your family, your history.”

For Lightfoot, who holds a degree in political science and native studies, that love of language began when she was just a child. “It all started with my Gram, who was originally from Hebron,” she said, referring to the abandoned community in northern Labrador.

“I was really close to my grandmother, whose first language was Inuktitut,” Lightfoot recalled. “Hearing her speak Inuktitut, that was the hardest I used to hear her laugh.”

“And I thought, ‘I need to learn this,'” she said. “Our language has eroded quite a bit and for a lot of different factors. Our history of colonialism, past government policies, and even current, have all impacted our ability to communicate in Inuktitut. Yet there are all these people who still speak Inuktitut and I wanted to be able to celebrate that. “

The 2024 Inuk Woman of the Year from Makkovik credits her grandmother for her skills; 5 days ago, Duration 2:37

Janine Lightfoot’s work in Inuktitut is one of the reasons she has been named the 2024 Inuk Woman of the Year by Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada. She tells Weekend AM host Melissa Tobin how her love of the language started at a young age in her grandmother’s house.

Click on the following link to view the video:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/janine-lightfoot-inuk-woman-of-the-year-1.7118714

Lightfoot’s work in preserving Inuktitut began a few years ago when she was living in Iqaluit. Her employer at the time encouraged staff to receive Inuktitut training at the Pirurvik Centre.  “Through that I was able to take their Aurniarvik program and it has given me so much,” Lightfoot said.

“I felt the responsibility to pass on what I know, to share what I know. Even though I’m not a bilingual person in Inuktitut and English, I knew enough that I knew I could share that with my peers and community.”

As a result of her desire to help teach others, Lightfoot has offered free weekly Inuktitut classes, established a memorial bursary for high school students prioritizing Inuktitut, and organized workshops on hunting and other aspects of Inuit culture.

“You’re creating a forum for hunters to be able to share their knowledge with younger people,” Lightfoot said. “Hunting and language, they’re all very critical pieces of our way of life here.”

But Lightfoot said it’s not easy work. “To be able to do this work, I had to work outside of the current systems,” she said. “Investment in language is something that’s needed.”

As for her Inuktitut classes, she said she bases them on what she learned at the Pirurvik Centre in Iqaluit.  “One of my favorite things about Pirurvik was that it was a safe space to learn because learning another language is not easy,” Lightfoot said. “You were expected to make mistakes so that you can learn.”

“Our values create a lot of room for people to make mistakes and to learn from those mistakes,” she said. “I just make a commitment to people who are learning with me that I’ll create as safe a space as I can as you learn and I won’t make fun of you. I recognize that we’re all learning, including myself.” 

With files from Weekend AM

The Globe and Mail: The Inuvialuk artist Kablusiak has won the $100,000 Sobey Art Award for excellence in contemporary art in Canada. It was second time lucky for the Yellowknife-born multimedia artist, who was also a finalist in 2019.

The announcement was made Saturday in Ottawa at the National Gallery of Canada, where, prophetically and cheekily, one of Kablusiak’s pieces showing is a stone carving of a kneeling figure with dollar signs attached. It is entitled TY Again Mr. Sobey.

“Winning this award is a dream, and being among amazing peers makes this award especially special,” Kablusiak said.

The other shortlisted artists – Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill, Michèle Pearson Clark, Anahita Norouzi, Séamus Gallagher – each receive $25,000. Their work is also part of the Sobey exhibition at the National Gallery.

Kablusiak’s pieces include Red Ookpik, a furry work of dyed sealskin, felt and fibrefill that represents the plush, wide-eyed owl Ookpik, first created by Inuit artist Jeannie Snowball in the early 1960s. Kablusiak’s Surprise Bag/Party City (where you belong) is comprised of soapstone candies, stickers, temporary tattoos, a keychain and an archivally printed bag.

Speaking with Inuit Art Quarterly recently, Kablusiak said, “If I’m going to be sad about colonialism and make art about it, I either want it to be so [absurd] that it sets people off or have it open enough that people can relate to it.”

According to the Sobey Art Foundation, Kablusiak’s art, though imbued with humour, explores community ties within the Inuit diaspora and the impact of colonization on Inuit expressions of gender and sexuality and on health and well-being.

“The 2023 Sobey Art Award jury felt compelled by Kablusiak’s fearless and unapologetic practice that confounds old categories and art histories and points to new imaginaries,” said the National Gallery’s Jonathan Shaughnessy, jury chair.

The jury, which judged the finalists on their careers to date, was comprised of Matthew Hyland, Vancouver’s Contemporary Art Gallery; Haema Sivanesan, Alberta’s Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity; Wanda Nanibush, Art Gallery of Ontario, Eve-Lyne Beaudry, Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec; Pamela Edmonds, Dalhousie Art Gallery; and Cecilia Alemani, New York’s High Line Art.

The Sobey Art Award is among the richest visual arts prizes in the world and one of the most generous cultural prizes in Canada. It was originally set up in 2001 to honour and encourage up-and-coming artists under the age of 40 whose work had been shown in Canadian galleries. In 2021, the age limit was removed.

Kablusiak’s work is found in the collections of the Indigenous Art Centre, the Art Gallery of Alberta, the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Walter Phillips Gallery, the Image Centre and the Art Gallery of Ontario.

The Sobey Art Award exhibition continues at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa until March 3, 2024.

BRAD WHEELER, Arts reporter

Follow Brad Wheeler on Twitter: @BWheelerglobeOpens in a new window

APTN News: An Inuk content creator from Greenland is showing the world what it really means to live in the Arctic on Earth’s largest island – a place she says many people have misconceptions about. “There’s even people who don’t know that there are people living in Greenland,” says Qupanuk Olsen, host of the educational social media channel Q’s Greenland.

Born and raised in a country of roughly 57,000, Olsen says she has the same issue every time she goes somewhere new.

“[I’ve] been travelling to many countries around the world. I’ve studied in the U.S., I’ve studied in Australia, I’ve done mountaineering in South America and Africa… Every time I go to new places I just realize that people have no idea about anything about Greenland.”

She decided to take things into her own hands and utilize video-sharing platforms like Tiktok and YouTube to get the word out about Greenland and her Inuit culture, and has amassed over half a million followers across platforms in the process.

Her videos cover topics like arctic cuisine, landscapes, the Greenlandic language and what it means to be an Indigenous person living in a country that was colonized by the Kingdom of Denmark. “We want our voice to be heard as well, “ says Olsen, “When you’ve been in a colony, it’s like you feel under pressure and we’ve been industrialized so fast that it’s like our culture [hasn’t] been able to keep up.

“I think that it’s important to show our culture, to tell our own story, and change the law regarding to our own needs instead of the European or Danish law requirements because the cultures are so different from each other.”

In her videos, Olsen is vocal about her support for Greenland’s full independence from Denmark, which still has control over the external affairs and defense of the now self-ruled, autonomous territory. “[W]e are not European, or we definitely don’t feel European, so maybe it’s time for our independence,” she says in one of her videos.

Similar to Canada’s own genocidal tactics, the 20th century saw the Danish enact a cultural assimilation strategy on Greenlanders – the term for Indigenous people in Greenland who currently make up around 89 per cent of the country’s population.

This assimilation included boarding schools for children who would inevitably lose ties to their culture. “It’s important for every nation to live after your own cultures so that’s just what we’re trying to do, to be heard, to be understood the right way and to be respected as we deserve it,” says Olsen.

Though politically considered European, the Inuit ancestors of Greenlanders migrated to the island through northern Canada and Alaska and share many similarities with modern-day Inuit in North America. “We have the same way of hunting, the same way of understanding the nature, being one with the nature – we have so much in common and our languages are almost the same because it comes from the same root,” says Olsen.

Inuit in Canada have flocked to the Tiktok star’s videos, celebrating the ways their cultures interact.

“It’s always such a great pleasure to meet someone from the northern part of Canada or Alaska and just recognize yourself in them,” says Olsen, “I really feel a connection and they also really feel a connection when I show my videos, especially when I say something in Greenlandic, they’re often commenting ‘We say it like this.’”

Her videos have garnered millions of likes and views leading to quite the fame in her current city of Nuuk, the capital of Greenland with a population of just under 20,000. “I’ve become really, really famous in Greenland. That is a bit annoying at the moment. I can’t go out my door without being recognized so I’m actually thinking to buy some caps today so I can just hide a little bit more. I’m getting so much attention at the moment that it’s getting a bit difficult,” says Olsen.

But Olsen says she tries not to let her new-found celebrity change her, as the 38-year-old still works as a mining engineer by day and is a mother to four children. “I’m trying to be the same person anywhere I go. If I go to conferences, if I’m home with my kids, if I’m on social media,” says Olsen, “It’s really important to be yourself anywhere you go instead of putting different masks on all the time.”

No matter where her fame or videos may take her next, Olsen says Greenland will always be special.

“I’ve travelled to so many places around the world and realized how lucky I actually am because our nature is so beautiful. We can go out hunting, we can feel like the original feeling we all are supposed to have as human beings out in the wild,” says Olsen.

“I just feel so lucky that I live in this so beautiful country that is stunning everywhere we go. I’m just so proud of it.”

Author

Sav Jonsa, Sav Jonsa is a proud Two-Spirit Michif with familial roots in the Parisien family of St. Norbert, Winnipeg as well as English on their mother’s side. 

sjonsa@aptn.ca

Yukon illustrator Susan McCallum is the recipient of the Council of the Federation Literacy award. 

APTN News: A picture is worth a thousand words to illustrator Susan McCallum – especially when it comes to language.

With a career spanning more than 40 years, McCallum is perhaps best known for her work illustrating dozens of children’s books focused on language learning. Her passion for language dates back to the 1970s when she first travelled to Yukon and began engaging with its First Nations people.

“I met many Indigenous people, Elders took me under their wing,” she said. “That’s when I started illustrating Indigenous languages and learning so much on how to respect the land and the Indigenous point of view.”

Her work has not gone unnoticed.

On Sept. 5, McCallum received the Council of the Federation Literacy award from Deputy Premier and Education Minister Jeanie McLean.

The annual award is presented in each province and territory by the Council of the Federation, whose members are the premiers of Canada. It recognizes those who have made significant strides in promoting literacy. “My heart is full, it’s wonderful,” McCallum said during her award ceremony.

With language at the forefront, McCallum wanted to share the limelight with young language speakers. All spoke of how her work helped them on their language journey.

“I’m grateful for all those illustrations that you drew. It’s beautiful artwork and it helps me understand Dän k’e (Southern Tutchone),” said language learner Äyįzhìa Cory Holway.

Daughter Sho Sho Esquiro credits her mother as an inspiration when it comes to her own art.

The Kaska-Dene fashion designer, whose work has been featured on runways and museums across North America, nominated her mother for the award. “I wouldn’t even be here where I am with what I accomplished,” she said. “When I was five I knew I really wanted to do fashion and she really nurtured that and encouraged me.”

Language and connection 

In addition to illustrations, McCallum is the creator behind literacy board games, flashcards and curriculum. Her work has been featured in productions for Sesame Street and the National Film Board of Canada.

More recently, her illustrations were included in the Hän language book Shëtsey – My Grandpa, which was selected for the Dolly Parton Imagination Library.

Author Georgette McLeod said it’s important for young readers to see themselves in the artwork. “You can pull images from people’s lives at fish camps, at hunting camps, in school, in the communities. I think people really feel they can connect in that way, and not only just little ones, adults as well,” she said.

As this year’s winner, McCallum received a certificate signed by the premier, as well as a Council of the Federation Literacy award medallion.

She’s hopeful her work will help promote language and literacy for young readers across the territory.

“You have to implant that in them, there are going to be speakers, there are speakers right now, and the more you speak and your friends speak, it’s just going to grow and grow and grow. It’s so important.”

Sara Connors

sconnors@aptn.ca

NationTalk: Toronto, ON – The Indigenous Screen Office (ISO) has confirmed its 1M dollar contribution to the building of a film and television production studio in Iqaluit, Nunavut. ISO was first-in-funder for the studio initiative, led by Red Marrow Media, which triggered a private partnership investment from fellow Inuk entrepreneur Cody Dean, and marks a notable milestone as ISO’s largest funding commitment yet. This is part of a larger investment in Nunavut through the ISO’s Sector Development program, which also includes support for two broadcast entities, Inuit TV and Uvagut TV.

The capital contribution to create the studio space in Iqaluit ensures Red Marrow’s as-yet untitled scripted series created and written by Inuit writers and producers Stacey Aglok MacDonald and Alethea Arnaquq-Baril will be shot in Nunavut rather than in the south, maximizing the benefits of the project for the Inuit production community. The project is majority produced by Red Marrow Media, in partnership with Miranda de Pencier’s Toronto-based production company Northwood Entertainment and is the first ever CBC/APTN/Netflix collaboration. Following production, the studio will continue to create economic development opportunities for Nunavut’s film and TV industry, and be shared for broad community use.

“ISO worked hard to negotiate terms with Canadian Heritage that would allow us to support capital costs because we know this is a critical component to building capacity in the Indigenous screen sector – particularly in the north,” said Kerry Swanson, CEO of the ISO. “We are incredibly proud to be able to help build much-needed production infrastructure in Nunavut that will create industry opportunities for generations to come.”

“We are so grateful to the ISO for supporting our vision for a space in Iqaluit. This studio will enable our production community to create content on a scale that has never been possible before,” said Alethea Arnaquq-Baril & Stacey Aglok MacDonald, co-CEOs of Red Marrow Media. “It is so important to us to be able to create content in our own homelands, which allows us to bring our community into our show, both onscreen and off. A studio like this would have been game changing for us at the start of our careers, and we hope its existence now will help spark the careers of many more Inuit creatives to come.”

In the last five years, the ISO has been a pioneering organization in the screen, arts and culture sectors, delivering over $24.6m directly to over 320 First Nations, Inuit and Métis recipients across Canada. Over 88% of ISO’s total budget has been delivered directly to applicants and projects over the last two years, with all funding delivered in both official languages. The organization’s work in advocacy, funding policy, program design and delivery, eligibility, narrative sovereignty and protocols have been replicated and advanced across the industry, where ISO is widely acknowledged as a leading organization.

The ISO is the first organization of its kind in Canada and abroad – an independent Indigenous-led and run funding organization that supports screen-based content owned and controlled by Indigenous storytellers on all platforms. ISO’s mandate is in line with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, ratified by Canada, which positions storytelling and self-representation in media as a fundamental right. With 67% of funding in 2022 going to projects with Indigenous languages, the ISO further supports the government’s Indigenous Languages Act and language rights affirmed by this government and by UNDRIP.

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About ISO
The ISO is the first organization of its kind in Canada and abroad – an independent Indigenous-led and run funding organization that supports screen-based content owned and controlled by Indigenous storytellers on all platforms. ISO’s mandate is in line with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, ratified by Canada, which positions storytelling and self-representation in media as a fundamental right. With 67% of funding in 2022 going to projects with Indigenous languages, the ISO further supports the government’s Indigenous Languages Act and language rights affirmed by this government and by UNDRIP.

For more information please contact:
Andréa Grau, Touchwood PR
andrea@touchwoodpr.com

Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated (NTI) IQALUIT, NU – Today, Meta is proud to announce Inuktitut is available as a language setting on Facebook desktop. The initiative to translate Facebook to Inuktitut is the culmination of a four-year partnership with Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated (NTI) to promote the daily use of the Inuit language spoken in communities across Nunavut.

The translated interface is now available to the more than 35,000 people across the Inuit Nunangat, the Inuit homeland in Canada, who list Inuktitut as their mother tongue. The translation is also accessible to people on Facebook globally. The launch aligns with the United Nations International Decade of Indigenous Languages, which designates this decade as a time to draw global attention to the critical situation of many Indigenous languages and to mobilize stakeholders and resources for their preservation, revitalization and promotion.

“Inuit expect to see and hear Inuktut in all aspects of our lives. Recognizing Inuktitut as an official language on Facebook, equal to English and French, reinforces the legitimacy of our language,” said Aluki Kotierk, President, Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated. “Being able to access Facebook in our own language is an important and concrete step towards seeing and hearing Inuktut in all aspects of our lives.”

In Canada, language revitalization is included in the calls to action by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The preservation, revitalization and strengthening of Indigenous languages is fundamental to advancing the process of Canadian reconciliation.

“Facebook is a vital tool for connection and community for Inuit,” said Debbie Reid, Indigenous Policy Manager at Meta in Canada. “At Meta, we recognize that language is integral to the Inuit way of being and identity, and we are honoured to play a role in supporting the efforts of NTI to strengthen and promote the vitality of their language.”

“The idea of translating Facebook into Inuktitut was born from a brainstorming meeting in Iqaluit we had with President Kotierk and NTI four years ago. We learned that many Inuit are Facebook power users, and we asked how we can make Facebook an even better experience for them,” said Kevin Chan, a Global Policy Director at Meta. “We are so pleased to be able to deliver on this long-standing project.”

Translating the Facebook desktop interface into Inuktitut

The translation of Facebook was led by the Pirurvik Centre, a translation and learning centre based in Iqaluit, Nunavut. Pirurvik ensured the translation was high-quality and consistent with existing technical terminology. As a polysynthetic language, Inuktitut words are longer and more complex when compared to their equivalents in English or French. In total, 2,000 strings of language on Facebook needed to be translated into Inuktitut, representing approximately 4,500 words. There were some new concepts created for the Facebook interface because there were no equivalents in Inuktitut. For example, “Facebook page” will now be known as “Facebook makpigaq” in Inuktitut.

“Pirurvik is honoured to have worked with Meta and NTI to ensure the new words created in Inuktitut reflect the nuances of our language and culture,” said Leena Evic, Executive Director, Pirurvik Centre, “The Facebook interface in Inuktitut will be a daily educational tool for younger generations to learn Inuktitut and a communication tool for Inuktitut speaking Inuit.”

According to Media Technology Monitor’s latest report on media technology penetration and usage in Nunavut, Yukon, and Northwest Territories, Facebook is the most used social network. Now, Inuktitut joins more than 100 other languages available on Facebook, and a growing number of Indigenous languages. In 2018, Facebook launched Inupiaq language settings. Inupiaq is a dialect of the Inuit language family, spoken in northern Alaska and the Northwest Territories.

Changing your language settings on the Facebook desktop interface to Inuktitut

While Inuktitut has multiple dialects, the South Baffin dialect is now available on the Facebook desktop interface. Facebook users can switch their language settings on desktop by following the steps outlined in the link: https://www.facebook.com/help/327850733950290/

Meta hopes by introducing Inuktitut as an official language on Facebook desktop, the settings will support unilingual Inuktitut speakers to create community online, while fostering greater adoption of the language amongst younger generations of Inuit. Meta is grateful to NTI for leading this initiative to add Inuktitut as an official language on Facebook desktop and give Inuit the ability to connect in their own language on our platform

Nunatsiaq News – A long-awaited all-Inuit-language cable and satellite television channel will launch at 12:01 a.m. this Monday, Jan. 18. Nunavut Independent Television and Isuma TV will operate the new channel, called Uvagut TV. In English, the word “uvagut” means “us” or “we.” The new channel, announced this morning, will broadcast 168 hours of Inuktut programming each week — 24 hours a day, seven days a week — from producers such as the Inuit Broadcasting Society, Isuma TV, Arnait Video, Artcirq, Kingulliit and Taqqut Productions, and the Inuvialuit Communications Society.
That will include five hours of children’s programming per day, including IBC’s well-known Takuginai show.
NITV, Isuma and the Inuit Broadcasting Corp. have been working with Shaw and Arctic Co-ops since last September to obtain an Inuit-specific television channel.Arctic Co-ops offers cable television in 19 Nunavut communities and two in the N.W.T., using Shaw’s satellite service. Shaw’s own direct-to-home satellite service is also available in the N.W.T. and Nunavut.

Kativik Ilisarniliriniq launches today the Nunavik Inuit-centered Education resource portal (Nunavik-IcE), a website dedicated to educational resources in Inuktitut, English and French. The Nunavik-IcE portal features lessons and other local resources collected and developed by the Education Services department in collaboration with teachers, elders and knowledge holders as well as staff and partners who support Nunavik education.
Content areas include:
• Arts
• Career and Community Development
• Health and Well-Being
• Inuktitut
• Land Survival
• Mathematics and Science
https://nunavik-ice.com/en/

Inuit Tapariit Kanatami have established a standard orthography to write their language to replace a patchwork of nine different, often mutually unintelligible scripts. Inuktuk Qaliujaaqpait writing script will allow Inuktut speakers across Canada to read their language. Since the 1970s the discussion around promoting and supporting the continued use of Inuktut in schools across Canada’s four Inuit regions has included a deeply rooted debate about introducing a unified Inuit writing system to promote communication across dialects and the development of common learning materials.
https://nunatsiaq.com/stories/article/national-inuit-org-approves-standard-roman-orthography-for-all-dialects/

Uqausirmut Quviasuutiqarniq – Inuktut Language Month: February, 2019. This year’s theme of Nunavut’s month-long celebration of Inuktut is Inngiusiit Innginnguarusiillu: Traditional Songs and Chants. Inngiusiit Innginnguarusiillu were traditionally used by generations of Inuit parents to teach their children about Inuit culture, traditions and language. These songs and chants often include sophisticated terminology in Inuktut, encouraging children to learn and strengthening the use of Inuktut at home and in the community.

The 2018 Assembly – held every four years – concluded with the Utqiaġvik Declaration which includes a section on Education and Language.
“Our languages are the foundation of our culture and identity. Legally protecting and revitalizing our languages is urgent and paramount.
For our languages to remain strong, lnuit language schools and learning institutions need to be established…Effective education requires new pedagogies that reflect our values, culture and languages. For our language to remain strong the lnuit language must be the primary language of instruction in our schools. Language and education support our culture and lnuit hunting, gathering and food practices are a way in which our culture is taught. ICC supports that indigenous harvesting practice should sustain and enhance Inuit cultural practices”
https://www.inuitcircumpolar.com/wp-content/uploads/2018_Utqiagvik_Declaration.pdf

CISION – Facebook Canada, in partnership with NTI and IUT, announced that it is opening Inuktut for translation so that the community can help translate Facebook into their language. Giving people the ability to connect in their own language on Facebook is essential to helping people build more meaningful connections on the platform. Providing an interface and allowing communications in our language is one of the ways we can encourage our people to use our language in all areas including the very widely used social media,” said Mary Thompson, Chairperson of the Inuit Uqausinginnik Taiguusiliuqtiit, Nunavut’s Inuit Language Authority.