Susan Aglukark to headline International Inuit Day celebration in Ottawa
Two-day event organized by Isaruit Inuit Arts to highlight theme ‘Where We Are From’
Susan Aglukark, seen here at the Galerie d’Art Vincent in Ottawa’s Chateau Laurier on Sept. 5, will perform at the Rideau Community Hub in Ottawa on Friday as part of Isaruit Inuit Arts’ International Inuit Day celebrations. (Photo by Nehaa Bimal)
Isaruit Inuit Arts, an Ottawa-based organization, will mark International Inuit Day this weekend in Ottawa with two days of celebrations under the theme, Where We Are From.
The events begin Friday with a concert by Juno Award-winning singer-songwriter Susan Aglukark at the Rideau Community Hub auditorium in Vanier, a news release issued by Isaruit said.
International Inuit Day, observed annually on Nov. 7, was established by the Inuit Circumpolar Council in 2006 to celebrate Inuit culture and amplify Inuit voices across the circumpolar world.
The date honours Greenlander Eben Hopson Sr., founder of the first Inuit Circumpolar Conference in 1977.
Aglukark will take the stage Friday at 7 p.m. for an evening of songs drawn from her 10-album career.
Originally from Arviat, she rose to national prominence in the 1990s with her hit single O Siem, which topped Canadian country and adult contemporary charts.
She has since won four Juno Awards and authored two books, including the recent Kihiani: A Memoir of Healing. While books will not be for sale at the concert, Aglukark will be available for autographs following her performance.
General admission tickets cost $100, with a discounted $30 rate available to Inuit community members.
Celebrations continue Saturday from 1 to 4 p.m. at Annie Pootoogook Park in Ottawa’s Sandy Hill neighbourhood.
The park, named after the renowned Inuk artist who died in Ottawa in 2016, is located in the Rideau-Vanier ward, which has the largest concentration of Inuit in Ottawa.
The free community event will include a qulliq lighting, traditional games with prizes, a fashion show, food for elders and the public, and a closing candy toss.
Participants are encouraged to wear a qalipaaq, or parka, for a chance to win a prize, the release said.
Both events are open to the public.
Criticism of a Halifax gym charging whites more got people across Canada and the USA questioning human rights. Discrimination based on race. The gym stopped the race-based pricing.
Now in Ottawa, an upcoming concert will charge whites, blacks and all other races $30 more than Inuit, $100 and $70 Inuit.
Though year after year we hear politicians and see students’ art posters that discrimination has no place here.
I can’t help but wonder if you are actually being real, or just don’t get it? This is by far way of the dumbest things I read this month! Now I feel dumber for reading it.
Boring.🥱🥱