CBC/Radio-Canada

09/26/2023 | News release | Distributed by Public on 09/26/2023 09:30

Echoes from our Puvirnituq journey

It all started with producer Pauline Holdsworth coming across Mitiarjuk Nappaaluk's Sanaaq, the first novel written in Inuktitut. Struck by its beauty and its distinct perspective, she saw an exciting opportunity to create a project with a public library. This initiative is part of Collab, CBC/Radio-Canada's Library Partnerships Program which aims to strengthen connections with underserved and underrepresented communities in collaboration with public libraries across the country.

This is how Pauline and a small team from CBC ended up in Puvirnituq, a village of about 2,000 people located in Nunavik, in northern Quebec. When CBC reached out to the library in Puvirnituq to ask if they would be interested in partnering to create an event on Sanaaq, they were enthusiastic - and asked for something in return.

At the community's request, CBC helped train a group of high school students to use their school radio facilities and host a live public call-in radio show. While the CBC team was in the community, they recorded interviews with locals about their deep history and traditions, providing a national audience with a look into a culturally rich part of Canada we rarely get to hear about. The team also invited Nappaaluk's daughter to Puvirnituq to discuss her mother's life, work and the leading role of women in Inuit communities.

The team, from left to right: Duncan McCue, Salome Avva, Pauline Holdsworth, Nicola Luksic and Nahlah Ayed

The making of a radio show

Housed within École Iguarsivik, the Puvirnituq public library hosted our team while they trained some of the high school students in how to make a radio show.

CBC Radio host Duncan McCue and Inuktitut-speaking Senior Producer Salome Avva led the training. They were all determined to support the teenagers in their learning, whether it was behind the microphone or operating the technical equipment. The students got to learn basic interview skills, research methods, on-air presentation skills, and more.

"We were so delighted to learn the school has a fabulous radio recording studio and plenty of radio gear," said McCue. "All the students needed was technical support and some broadcasting tips, and maybe a little inspiration. Then, we just set them loose with their ideas and curiosity."

"By the end of the week, the grade 10 to 12 students had broadcast a live two-hour show - mostly in Inuktitut - from the school. It was incredible," said Nicola.

On-stage event for IDEAS

While the rest of the team was focused on training, IDEAS Host Nahlah Ayed and Producer Pauline Holdsworth were handling an on-stage event, featuring Mitiarjuk Nappaaluk's daughter Qiallak Nappaaluk and École Iguarsivik principal Lucy Qalingo.

Sanaaq was the starting point, but Ayed and Holdsworth made the most of their time there, completing a number of interviews in the field, which turned into a four-part series on IDEAS. Two of the four episodes dive deep into Mitiarjuk Nappaaluk's legacy, both for Inuit readers and the rest of the world.

  • The People of Puvirnituq, Working Together for Themselves

    Outside the co-op store in Puvirnituq, an Inuit community on the north eastern shore of Hudson Bay, a sign reads "Puvirnitumiut Katujjuiyut Immiguutut": the people of Puvirnituq, working together for themselves. IDEAS visited Puvirnituq to learn how its residents have fought to shape their own future in a rapidly changing world.

  • Sanaaq: The First Novel Written in Inuktitut

    In the early 1950s, 22-year-old Mitiarjuk Nappaaluk began compiling Inuktitut phrases as a language guide for missionaries. Then she created fictional characters and began imagining their lives, loves and encounters during a period of profound change. Those stories would eventually become Sanaaq - the first novel written in Inuktitut syllabics in Canada.

  • Mitiarjuk Nappaaluk: What We Do With Words

    Mitiarjuk Nappaaluk wrote Sanaaq, the first novel written in Inuktitut in Canada. Over the course of her extraordinary life, she wrote more than 20 books, many of them aimed at young Inuit readers. Her work contains both rich philosophical insights and practical instructions for how to survive in the north.

  • Another Country: The Film

    Bobby Kenuajuak was a promising filmmaker with a grand ambition: to change the narrative about his people. A quarter century later, Bobby's remembered as a pioneer, whose tragic end confounds a hopeful beginning.

More content from this partnership

As for Duncan McCue, he recorded interviews for a documentary about a groundbreaking midwives' clinic in Puvirnituq. Hands of a Midwife aired nationally on The Current on September 7, and was accompanied by an in-depth digital story.

The IDEAS team is also working on a feature article about Mitiarjuk Nappaaluk's life and work, which will be published in early October, in Inuktitut, English and French. It will also be promoted through Radio-Canada's Eye on the Arctic.

Finally, we asked Pauline and Nicola to summarize their experience in a few words:

"I feel so lucky to have spent this time learning from Qiallak Nappaaluk and the community in Puvirnituq, and it was so special to meet the students and teachers at École Iguarsivik and watch them knock their radio show out of the park. It was also incredible to get to work with CBC colleagues in other departments and to learn from Salome Avva and Duncan McCue, two extraordinary journalists and teachers."

- Pauline Holdsworth

"It was a mind-opening, humbling and inspiring experience: the generosity and the kindness of everybody we met and the limited window we had on their culture. As for the library program,

I was blown away by the amount of care that they put into making the project a success. There are few times in my career at CBC where a seed of an idea was able to grow to such full potential. We can't thank you enough for the Public Library Partnership program support."

- Nicola Luksic

About Collab

Collab, CBC/Radio-Canada's partnerships program with public libraries, has been created to engage more deeply with Canadians - particularly those living in underserved and underrepresented communities. With 3,000 branches across Canada located near 90% of the population, libraries offer unmatched proximity to communities from coast to coast to coast. To reach and engage with these communities, we've rolled out a pilot program focused on forging partnerships with these public spaces that serve as purveyors of culture and spaces for connection - much like the public broadcaster itself.