Documentary film features six Iqaluit residents

MONTREAL — Canadians will soon get an intimate look at Nunavut in the upcoming documentary, Welcome to Nunavut.

The one-hour program will be broadcast on CBC Newsworld’s Rough Cuts on October 12 at 10 p.m. eastern time.

Welcome to Nunavut offers a glimpse into the lives of six well-known Iqaluit residents as they prepare for April l, 1999 and reflect on the past and future of the new territory.

The action starts with scenes shot on the day that Paul Okalik was selected as premier, and then seamlessly moves him and the other five people through — as narrator Abe Tagalik puts it — “one heck of a party.”

Tagalik, a former broadcaster and Inuit land claim official holds the production together with a skilled and credible narration. Tagalik is the chairman of the newly licensed Aboriginal Peoples Television Network

He weaves his own story together with those of Premier Paul Okalik, Iqaluit HTA President Sytukie Joamie, Iqaluit hairdresser Suzanne Laliberté, singer Lucie Idlout, Iqaluit cinema owner Bryan Pearson and administrator Bert Rose.

Not all of these six people appear on camera to the same degree or are revealed to the viewer with the same depth as others, so some viewers will probably disagree with the respective amounts of time devoted to each of the six.

But each one of the characters assumes a different function in the documentary — as the voice of the government of Nunavut, for example, or the colonial past, or the uncertain future.

The production makes it clear that these very different characters all represent integral parts of Nunavut.

“The people who live here are the people who matter most,” says Tagalik in Welcome to Nunavut.

Through the experiences of the six Nunavut residents as they move through the April 1 celebration, Welcome to Nunavut manages to go beyond the splendor of the fireworks, performances and political ceremonies, to add touches of humour, enough history to be relevant, a good musical soundtrack, and superb footage of Iqaluit.

The show ends on a reflective note, taking viewers past the hoopla of Nunavut’s creation to the next phase of its life.

“I wonder what we’ll be thinking in a few months after the honeymoon is over,” Okalik says.

Although most the shooting on Welcome to Nunavut was completed by April 1, it took three and a half months to produce, as nearly 100 hours of tape were winnowed down 40 minutes.

According to co-producer George Hargrave, this was no easy task.

“We’re trying to make the North real, but this is the nicest northern film I’ve done,” Hargrave said.

Hargrave has been an independent producer and director for more than 20 years and has worked extensively throughout the Arctic. His Montreal-based company, Nutaaq Media, also produced the documentary Broken Promises, on the relocation of Inukjuaq Inuit to the High Arctic in the 1950s.

Hargrave produced Welcome to Nunavut in collaboration with broadcaster Joe Moulins, who lived in Iqaluit during the year leading up to Nunavut’s birthday on April 1, 1999.

Welcome to Nunavut was also co-produced with the National Film Board of Canada, and in association with CBC and the Inuit Broadcasting Corporation.

Welcome to Nunavut will be re-broadcast on October 16. An Inuktitut language version is also in the works.