Theatre company brings Nunavik origin story to life in Aukkauti

CBC News

· Posted: Apr 12, 2025 6:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 10 minutes ago

Hundreds of radical showed up for the debut of Aukkauti, a play astir the root of Nunavik's communities, when it debuted astatine the Puvirnituq Snow Festival successful bluish Quebec last month. 

The accumulation was written by Lisa Koperqualuk, Daniel Gadbois and Adamie Kalingo and was performed by the Aasiq Theatre Company wholly successful Inuktitut. 

Aukkauti tells the communicative of a antheral named Aukkauti whose woman and children were murdered successful 1899 connected the seashore of Hudson Bay aft helium accidentally killed a young lad connected a hunting trip. Aukkauti past had a intelligence breakdown and carried out a bid of murders crossed the Nunavik tundra, causing families to fly retired of fear. 

It's based connected a existent communicative that has been passed down orally from procreation to generation, and which is said to person contributed to the migration of galore families passim Nunavik.

Gadbois, who plays Aukkauti successful the production, said that the penning process progressive listening to elders archer the story, listening to audio recordings of it, and speechmaking written versions too. He said they heard a batch of varying accounts of what happened. 

"There was definite families who ran distant northbound and definite families ran distant south, definite families heard of the communicative done a antithetic mode of however the feline died and whatnot." 

Gadbois said helium and the different writers decided to usage details that were agreed upon successful the bulk of versions of the story. After respective years of probe and staging work, helium said helium was arrogant of the extremity effect and the wide scope of enactment the institution received on the way. 

"We did a tremendous job. It was truthful good made," helium said.

The Aaqsiiq Theatre Company registered arsenic a non-profit enactment successful 2019, and was calved retired of Avataq Cultural Institute's efforts to revitalize the Inuktitut connection done theatre successful Nunavik.

Kalingo, different of the play's writers and besides the president of the theatre company, remembers a clip successful his puerility erstwhile students were punished for speaking successful Inuktitut. He's proud, now, of what the institution is doing to sphere it. 

"We did thing bully to person a instrumentality whereby our legends, which are from hundreds and thousands of years old, passed connected orally from rima to mouth, and we're utilizing them and turning them into theatre plays," helium said. 

He said young radical who are getting progressive successful acting with the institution are "learning what it utilized to beryllium like." 

"I tin spot that it tin lone get amended for the young people." 

Kalingo said adjacent though there's a deficiency of infrastructure, helium hopes to bring the accumulation to different communities successful Nunavik. Gadbois is hoping for the same. 

"I personally privation to spot it spell done each 14 communities [in Nunavik] – well, 13 near to spell – and afterwards … anyplace wherever radical privation to spot it, I guess. I wouldn't caput updating my passport, going to Greenland, going to Nunavut."