Larry Audlaluk | |
---|---|
Born | 1953 Inukjuak, Quebec |
Notable works | What I Remember, What I Know: The Life of a High Arctic Exile (2020) |
Larry Audlaluk CC (born 1953) is an Inuk activist and writer from Canada who was among those forcibly relocated during the High Arctic relocation program. [1] He was inducted as a Member of the Order of Canada in 2007. [2] [3]
His memoir, What I Remember, What I Know: The Life of a High Arctic Exile, was a shortlisted finalist for the Governor General's Award for English-language non-fiction at the 2021 Governor General's Awards. [4]
Audlaluk was born in Inukjuak, Quebec in 1953. Audlaluk's family was one of several who were forcibly relocated by the Canadian government to Grise Fiord, Nunavut in the High Arctic relocation incident of the 1950s. [5]
His family struggled through poverty; Audlaluk sustained an eye injury in childhood and suffered pain for nearly four years before the federal government finally flew him to Montreal for medical treatment. [1] By 2008, Audlaluk would become Grise Fiord's longest-living resident. [3]
Audlaluk emerged as a community leader in adulthood, [6] and testified about his experiences to the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples in 1993. [7] Audlaluk unsuccessfully stood in the 2004 Nunavut general election in the Quttiktuq electoral district. [8]
In 1996, Audlaluk traveled to Israel and was described as "the Holy Land’s best known Inuk" due to his appearances on local television. [9] In an article about the 2004 Nunavuk election, Nunatsiaq News stated that: [8]
"Audlaluk is also known for his frequent visits to the Holy Land where he’s become Israel’s favourite Inuk and Nunavut’s unofficial ambassador."
What I Remember, What I Know was published in 2020. [5] In addition to the Governor General's Awards, the book was also shortlisted for the 2021 J. W. Dafoe Book Prize. [10]
In 2007, he was inducted as a Member of the Order of Canada to honor his record of community service in Grise Fiord. [11] [3]
Grise Fiord is an Inuit hamlet on the southern tip of Ellesmere Island, in the Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada. It is one of three populated places on the island; despite its low population, it is the largest community on Ellesmere Island. The hamlet at Grise Fiord, created by the Canadian Government in 1953 through a relocation of Inuit families from Inukjuak, Quebec, is the northernmost public community in Canada. It is also one of the coldest inhabited places in the world, with an average yearly temperature of −16.5 °C (2.3 °F).
Willie Adams is a Canadian Inuit politician who was a member of the Senate of Canada from 1977 to 2009.
Resolute or Resolute Bay is an Inuit hamlet on Cornwallis Island in Nunavut, Canada. It is situated at the northern end of Resolute Bay and the Northwest Passage and is part of the Qikiqtaaluk Region.
Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, previously known as the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada, is a nonprofit organization in Canada that represents over 65,000 Inuit across Inuit Nunangat and the rest of Canada. Their mission is to "serve as a national voice protecting and advancing the rights and interests of Inuit in Canada."
Kenn Harper is a Canadian writer, historian and former businessman. He is the author of Give Me My Father's Body, an account of Greenland Inuk Minik Wallace, had a regular column on Arctic history in Nunatsiaq News and is a former landlord.
Quttiktuq is a territorial electoral district (riding) for the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut, Canada.
The history of Nunavut covers the period from the arrival of the Paleo-Eskimo thousands of years ago to present day. Prior to the colonization of the continent by Europeans, the lands encompassing present-day Nunavut were inhabited by several historical cultural groups, including the Pre-Dorset, the Dorsets, the Thule and their descendants, the Inuit.
Nunavut is the largest and northernmost territory of Canada. It was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the Nunavut Act and the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act, which provided this territory to the Inuit for independent government. The boundaries had been drawn in 1993. The creation of Nunavut resulted in the first major change to Canada's political map in half a century since the province of Newfoundland was admitted in 1949.
Disc numbers, or ujamiit or ujamik in the Inuit language, were used by the Government of Canada in lieu of surnames for Inuit and were similar to dog tags.
The High Arctic relocation took place during the Cold War in the 1950s, when 92 Inuit were moved by the Government of Canada under Liberal Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent to the High Arctic.
The Lindstrom Peninsula is located on the southern coast of Ellesmere Island, a part of the Qikiqtaaluk Region of the Canadian territory of Nunavut. Across Baffin Bay to the south lies Devon Island. Harbour Fiord and Landslip Island are to the west, while the Grise Fiord is to the east. The highest peak on the peninsula is Mount Aqiatushuk 76°25′40″N083°15′00″W.
Looty Pijamini is an Inuit artist. He lives and works in Grise Fiord, Nunavut.
Simeonie Amagoalik was an Inuit carver from Resolute, Nunavut, Canada.
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David Akeeagok is a Canadian Inuk politician from Grise Fiord, Nunavut.
Johnny Nurraq Seotaituq Issaluk is an Inuk actor, athlete, and cultural educator from Nunavut. He is best known for his roles in AMC's The Terror, the film Indian Horse, and in the BBC program The Misadventures of Romesh Ranganathan. In May 2019 he was named Royal Canadian Geographical Society's Explorer-in-Residence.
Simonie Michael was a Canadian politician from the eastern Northwest Territories who was the first Inuk elected to a legislature in Canada. Before becoming involved in politics, Michael worked as a carpenter and business owner, and was one of very few translators between Inuktitut and English. He became a prominent member of the Inuit co-operative housing movement and a community activist in Iqaluit, and was appointed to a series of governing bodies, including the precursor to the Iqaluit City Council.
Qapik Attagutsiak is the last known surviving contributor to the war effort in Inuit communities during World War II, particularly the drive to collect animal bones and carcasses for the Allied munitions effort.
Johnny May is a Canadian Inuk bush pilot living in Kuujjuaq, known as being the first Inuk pilot in eastern Canada. He is credited with saving the lives of many Inuit in search-and-rescue missions and operating medevac airplane services to transport sick Inuit to health centres. May is the older brother of Canadian Governor General, Mary Simon.
Pauloosie Jamesie Akeeagok, commonly, and officially known, as P.J. Akeeagok, is a Canadian Inuk politician who in 2021 became the sixth and current premier of Nunavut. He was elected a member of the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut in the 2021 Nunavut general election. He represents the electoral district of Iqaluit-Niaqunnguu.
Larry Audlaluk of Grise Fiord travels to Israel and, thanks to Israeli television, becomes the Holy Land's best known Inuk.