New documentary probes lives of urban Inuit

Mosha Noah, who works for Tungasuvvingat Inuit, is pictured here with her daughter in downtown Ottawa. She is one of the urban Inuit featured in the new documentary Qallunaaliaqpallianiq, which filmmaker Guy Simoneau says helps convey the hope and drive of the Inuit. (PHOTO COURTESY OF GUY SIMONEAU)

Joey Flowers, a law student at Montreal’s McGill University, is one of the urban Inuit featured in the new documentary Qallunaaliaqpallianiq-Heading South. Flowers was featured for the work he did advocating for Inuit hospital patients last year in the Montreal neighborhood of Villeray. (PHOTO COURTESY OF GUY SIMONEAU)

The hope, drive and leadership of Inuit living in southern Canadian cities: that’s the subject of a new documentary film showing next week in Montreal.

Qallunaaliaqpallianiq—Heading South tells the story of five urban Inuit living in Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa.

The film grew from a conversation between a young Inuk man in Puvirnituq and Montreal filmmaker Guy Simoneau.

“Sure we need hunters and fishers,” he told Simoneau. “But we also need intellectuals, artists and leaders who can speak for us outside our milieu, in order that people will perceive us differently.”

Simoneau said that opinion led him to capture the determination of those who make up the southern Inuit community.

Qallunaaliaqpallianiq follows Iqaluit native Marie Belleau Veevee as she heads south to study in Ottawa, intent on acquiring the skills to “be able to serve [her] people.”

Simoneau also talks to Inuk law student Joey Flowers, who he met in the Montreal borough of Villeray last year, when the borough opposed plans to convert a local building into a boarding home that would lodge patients from Nunavik seeking care in the city.

Simoneau said he filmed Qallunaaliaqpallianiq to break down stereotypes of urban Inuit struggling with addiction and homelessness.

“I wanted to bring a different perspective to how people see Inuit,” he said. “I wanted to break down those prejudices and show these people’s strength, their drive, their leadership and their hope.”

Simoneau also films interviews with Toronto sculpture David Ruben Piktoukun, Ottawa mother Mosha Noah and Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami president Mary Simon.

In Qallunaaliaqpallianiq, Simon stresses how little Canadians know about their North.

“We don’t know much about our Inuit neighbours,” Simoneau admits. “As a filmmaker, you must be open to everyone you meet.”

Qallunaaliaqpallianiq isn’t Simoneau’s first Inuit-focused documentary.

In 2007, he made a film called Le voyage de Sara [Sara’s Journey] about a young Inuk woman, adopted into a Montreal family, who then decides to meet her northern family.

It’s estimated that almost 10,000 Canadian Inuit live southern cities, about 18 per cent of the country’s total Inuit population.

Qallunaaliaqpallianiq premières at the Montreal World Film Festival on Aug. 22 at 11:00 a.m., on Aug. 23 at 9:30 p.m. and on Aug. 24 at 2:40 p.m at the NFB theatre, 1564 St-Denis St.

The hour-long film runs in English and French.

Simoneau said no northern screenings of the film have been planned just yet.

See a clip from the film here: