Aukkauti, a Nunavik story made whole again

Puvirnituq’s elders took the front row, eager to see a story they have heard countless times be told on stage. (Photo by Cedric Gallant)

Updated on Monday, March 31, 2025 at 4:30 p.m. ET.

Aukkauti holds his friend’s dead son in his arms and looks out into the packed crowd in Satuumivik gymnasium, with elders sitting in the front row.

He’s the lead character in the namesake play Aukkauti, an adaptation of a story told across multiple generations in Nunavik.

Aukkauti premièred Thursday at the Puvirnituq Snow Festival, a production of Aaqsiiq Inuit Theatre. 

“What was important for me was to show the authenticity of the events,” the play’s author Lisa Koperqualuk said in an interview.

She has been working on bringing Aukkauti’s story to life for the past seven years. 

The story is a tragic one, and it’s true.

Aukkauti made the fatal mistake in 1899 of shooting his friend’s son, which led to a series of deaths. The incident created a shockwave at the time of such magnitude that it’s still shared to this day.

Aukkauti unfolds across the communities of Puvirnituq, Akulivik, Ivujivik and Salluit.

Some would say that Aukkauti was a monster, others say he is a victim of his circumstances, Koperqualuk said. She took all these points of view and tried to make the story whole.

“The way this story was told through this play I think is going to present even more possibilities, not just for tragedies but for more lighthearted stories as well,” Koperqualuk said. 

Through hours of consulting elders from all the communities who knew Aukkauti’s story, researching archives, asking Inuktitut language holders about the words used at the time, piecing the story together told through the points of view of multiple families, Koperqualuk said the goal was to stay “true to the facts, but also staying true to what the original Inuit said.” 

Lisa Koperqualuk, left, stands alongside her co-author Adamie Kalingo while they present their theatrical piece to the Puvirnituq crowd. (Photo by Cedric Gallant)

The cultural value of bringing Aukkauti’s story to life “brings a lot of pride to Inuit,” she said.

“Storytelling is the link we have with our ancestors, our land, our language, all the emotions and our Inuit way of life.”

Koperqualuk said she felt proud, after a decade of work, to see her play performed.

“I was so proud of the actors, they worked to prepare for this, and they took their roles seriously,” she said.

Daniel Gadbois plays the lead role, representing the troubled Aukkauti in all his complexity.

“Every time I went home after rehearsals I ended up with the Puvirnituq accent for a short while after,” he jokingly said, adding he thinks he will probably will have the accent for a few days after the play’s première.

Daniel Gadbois plays Aukkauti during the play’s pinnacle moment — when he accidentally kills his friend’s son. (Photo by Cedric Gallant)

One thing he said caught him off guard was to learn that some expressions have a female and a masculine version.

“I had to learn to differentiate when a man speaks, over how a woman speaks,” Gadbois said. “I had to learn that earlier this year, and it was amazing.” 

This was a first lead role for Gadbois. He said he wants to take this experience and teach other kids in Nunavik the art of theatre.

“We want more actors and actresses,” he said. “We’re always open, if you are curious, we want you to come and learn.” 

Aaqsiiq co-founder Gabriel Léger-Savard said his team counted around 700 people in attendance for Thursday’s performance.

The lighting equipment is all owned and made for this play by the Aaqsiiq theatre group. (Photo by Cedric Gallant)

“It was really impressive and it gives us a lot of confidence for what will follow,” he said in a French interview. 

Léger-Savard said the première needed to happen in Puvirnituq since so many families related to the story of Aukkauti reside there. The goal is now to bring that play to all 14 Nunavik communities, focusing on the villages with descendants from the story. 

“Aukkauti’s mission is for the language not to be lost,” he added. With a play, “we will be able to keep the rich vocabulary of the territory, which is endangered right now.”

The cast, from left to right, Tommy Putulik, Alaku Kulula, Dora Koperqualuk, Alasie Sivuarapik, Daniel Gadbois, Paulusie Nappaaluk, Caalai Ivilla, Minnie Ningiuruvik. (Photo by Cedric Gallant)

Correction: This article has been updated from its originally published version to correctly identify the actors in the cast photo.