ITC celebrates 30th birthday with a seven-hour marathon

OTTAWA — Thirty years after the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada held its founding meeting in Ottawa, Canada’s national Inuit organization returned to Ottawa to celebrate its birthday.

There were more sealskin vests on display than could be counted when about 150 Inuit movers and shakers turned out for a grand party at Ottawa’s Museum of Nature last Sunday.

On hand was one sitting member of parliament, Nancy Karetak-Lindell, one former MP, Peter Ittinuar, and two senators, Willie Adams and Charlie Watt.

There were three Nunavut cabinet ministers in attendance, Peter Kilabuk, Olayuk Akesuk and James Arvaluk, plus four Makivik Corporation executive members and all of ITC’s living presidents.

In addition, there were assorted notables such as Arctic ambassador Mary May Simon, Inuit Circumpolar Conference President Aqqaluk Lynge, Canada’s ICC president, Sheila-Watt Cloutier, Labrador Inuit Association President William Barbour, Nunavut Commissioner Peter Irniq and

several Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. hopefuls.

No wonder ITC president Jose Kusugak called the get-together a “political science reunion,” while another invitee said the crowd was “living history.”

Among the rank-and-file invitees were students in the Nunavut Sivuniksavut program, and Inuit from almost every corner of the Arctic.

ITC wants core funding

But some high-profile federal government representatives were noticeable no-shows.

Prime Minister Jean Chrétien sent a two-minute video message, praising the organization but promising nothing.

ITC officials have been lobbying the federal government for “stable and predictable” core funding, and a new definition of its relationship with Inuit.

Keynote speaker Bob Nault, federal minister of Indian and Northern Affairs, cancelled out at the last-minute. First, he was late, and then finally said to be “delayed” on a flight somewhere between B.C. and Ottawa.

His absence clearly surprised ITC organizers, who kept on postposing the supper for Nault’s arrival.

Nunavut MP Nancy Karetak-Lindell ended up accepting a narwhal carving that was intended for Nault.

The carving, among other gifts handed out and the party itself, were all paid for with Inuit money.

At ITC’s annual general meeting in Nain, Labrador in September, Kusugak asked member organizations to commit $10,000 each to this birthday party and to sponsor 10 regional representatives each.

“This occasion will be used as a means to raise awareness, locally, regionally and nationally, not only of the organization itself, but of Inuit in general, where they’ve been, where they are now, and more importantly, where they are going in the future,” ITC’s annual report reads.

A new vision?

ITC wanted to use the marathon seven-hour party as a springboard for this new vision, but it was something Nault obviously wasn’t ready to confirm on Sunday.

Nault’s no-show meant the dinner started late and lasted for hours.

But the wine flowed, and no one complained about the skill of the musicians who played that evening: Charlie Panigoniak, William Tagoona and Colin Adjun.

Kivalliq elder Mariano Apilardjuk, accompanied by drummer Gino Akat, sang a ai-ya-ya song on the need for more love in the world, inspired by his encounter with a homeless man in New York City.

ICC president Aqqaluk Lynge, whose trip by air from Nuuk to Ottawa via Denmark took more than two days, presented Kusugak with a gigantic painting by Greenland artist Kiiu Olsen, which Lynge carried by hand from Nuuk.

During the evening there were some strange moments. Kusugak unveiled a bronze casting of ITC founder Tagak Curley, which looked eerily like a green Halloween mask.

Former ITC president Rosemarie Kuptana, who left the organization in disgrace, entered the limelight to briefly collect a plaque,while former ITC president James Arvaluk – whose career has been marked by a variety of criminal allegations and court cases, was also honoured.

Another former ITC president, Rhoda Inuksuk, took over the podium to deliver a sometimes bitter speech on women’s contributions to the Inuit “brother”-hood.

“I hope other women will never have to go what we went through,” she said. “We sacrificed our lives for the Inuit of Canada.”

John Amagoalik, speaking in an English-only introductory video at the party, said ITC grew out of the need to combat powerlessness.

By the end of the evening many of the partiers were more than ready to get up and go.

At midnight, Kusugak formally announced that the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada was adopting the Inuktitut version of its name, the Inuit Tapiriiksat Kanatami, and would be known as ITK.

Then, the entire ITK gang joined Charlie Panigoniak and William Tagoona for a final hoedown, and the organization’s 30th birthday bash was over at last.