Sadie Kakimat Hill remembered as ‘unsung hero’ of Inuktitut language

Described as a community role model for her work preserving the Inuktitut language, Sadie Kakimat Hill had a more than 45-year career as a translator in Ottawa.

She died Aug. 22 of a stroke at the age of 73.

“She wanted to ensure that the Inuit were well informed about the cultural changes that were affecting them up north, even though she was living in the south,” Hill’s younger sister, Joan Kashla, said of Hill’s work during an interview with Nunatsiaq News.

Hill was born near Baker Lake, in the Schultz and Aberdeen Lake area on Aug. 9, 1951.

She was around eight years old when the RCMP and missionaries came to her family’s camp. Those authorities sent her and her brother Basil away from their family to attend a federal day school in Baker Lake, said Kashla.

Her father’s wish before he died in 1959 was that his family live together in Baker Lake.

In 1961, after Hill’s mother remarried, Hill and her three siblings were relocated to Rankin Inlet so that their stepfather could work in the community’s nickel mine.

As a young teenager, Hill was sent to live at the Churchill Vocational Centre, a residential school in Manitoba. Hill would return home to visit her family in Rankin Inlet for two months of the year.

After nine years in Churchill, Hill was sent to Ottawa for her education in the mid-1970s. Her family had a telephone by then and Hill would often call her mother and siblings, Kashla said.

Hill’s connection with the Inuktitut language was reinforced after she took a translation course at an Inuit cultural centre in Ottawa. She became fluent in a variety of Inuktitut dialects spoken in Baffin Island and Kivalliq.

“After that, she never stopped translating,” said Kashla.

Hill learned to traditionally transcribe Inuktitut using syllabics (Qaniujaaqpait) and roman orthography (Qaliujaaqpait), first on an IBM Selectric typewriter and then on Macintosh computers.

“She could type with her eyes closed. She didn’t even have to look at the keyboard as she translated and proofread page after page in a day,” said Kashla, adding she was encouraged by her sister to take a syllabics course in Ottawa.

During her career, Hill worked as a freelance translator for the Department of Northern Affairs, the Inuit Broadcasting Corporation, Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., and the Nunavut Trust. She also did freelance work for Nunatsiaq News, Nortext Publishing and Ayaya Communications Inc.

“Sadie was a family friend and worked very closely with Ayaya since its inception over 20 years ago,” said Jason Roberts, managing director of Ayaya.

“She was one of our most dependable and trusted translators that we have worked with over the years. She has worked on countless files with us, including the [Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls] project. She was very kind-hearted and always a pleasure to deal with.”

Nortext Publishing president Michael Roberts agreed, calling her one of the “unsung heroes” of the Inuktitut language.

Hill also helped translate the Baker Lake-based illustrated children’s book Akilak’s Adventure into Inuktitut in 2017.

Her family hopes Hill is remembered as “someone who was a caring, loving and very spiritual person who wanted the world to know that there will always be better things in life to look forward to,” said Kashla.

“She was a well-respected role model in the community who took pride in her work and life with friends and family,” said Hill’s daughter, Pamela Kilabuk.

“Her grandkids were her everything, her world.”

Hill is also survived by her husband of 45 years, Leonard Hill, whom she met in Ottawa.

Her memorial service will be held at St. Margaret’s Anglican Church in Vanier, Ont., on Aug. 29 at 1 p.m.