Yoga, Trump and dentures: Aaju Peter takes the Proust Questionnaire

Aaju Peter, who describes herself as a “Canadian Inuit of Greenlandic descent,” has had a busy year.

The Iqaluit-based lawyer and activist received a Canadian Screen Award in July for her documentary Twice Colonized, which is based on both her Canadian and Greenlandic life and fight for Indigenous rights.

Twice Colonized, which was written by Peter and Lin Alluna, and directed by Alluna, was released Jan. 23, 2023.It won the Ted Rogers Best Feature-Length Documentary from the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television.

Peter became a member of the Order of Canada in 2012 for her work in preserving Inuit culture and language.

She recently talked to Nunatsiaq News to answer a Proust Questionnaire, a parlour game from the 19th century named for French writer Marcel Proust.

The Proust Questionnaire has since become a popular interview method that has appeared in the pages of Vanity Fair and on CBC’s The Next Chapter.

Peter talked about her state of mind, greatest fear and the most despised living person.

What is your idea of perfect happiness?

I think it’s being with friends and family, eating Inuit food where everybody’s needs and wants are looked after.

What is your greatest fear?

It’s that I won’t be able to look after myself when I’m old and that I will have to depend on others. So I’m 64, let’s say if I live to be 95 and I have lost it, I don’t want to burden my family with them having to change my diapers.

What is your current state of mind?

Well, that’s unfair because I just did my yoga. I feel completely energized.

What do you most dislike about your appearance?

The fact that I have dentures. My first two teeth are not there. And then if I leave home and I go, oh my God, I just left my dentures, I’ll run back in or I’ll put a face mask on. I don’t like the funny old look of a 90-year-old Aaju.

Which living person do you most despise?

I would say [former U.S. president Donald] Trump at the moment. He gets away with having been convicted of crimes and him being so racist. Things that he says just seem narcissistic. He’s a person who has no empathy. I just think the world needs less people like that.

Which living person do you most admire?

Gabor Maté, author of The Realm of Hungry Ghosts. His writing is very much in line with the ancient Inuit tradition of how to deal with people, of how not to inflict pain on other people and how to heal people from their past traumas.

I’ve read most of his books, and I’m not a great reader at all, but he’s amazing.

How would you like to die?

I would like to die peacefully and with my full marbles, preferably. Not gone cuckoo. Peacefully on a beautiful day.

 Once in front of God, what would you tell him?

Thank you for an amazing trip on Earth.

Nunatsiaq News is borrowing the old Proust Questionnaire parlour game to get to know people who are in the news. If you know someone in your community who our readers should get to know by taking this questionnaire, let us know by email: editors@nunatsiaq.com.