Latest news with #Inuk
Hamilton Spectator
09-07-2025
- Hamilton Spectator
Missing man in Kuujjuaq may have been ‘victim of a criminal act,' police say
After 17 days of searching by Nunavik police officers, Canadian Rangers and volunteers, the search for Sanaak Unatweenuk, a missing man in Kuujjuaq, has been turned over to Quebec's provincial police as a 'criminal matter.' 'Based on new developments within the investigation, the case is now being treated as a criminal matter,' Nunavik Police Service said in a news release Tuesday regarding the 31-year-old Unatweenuk, who was last seen on the night of June 20 as he was leaving the Kuujjuaq Inn. In an email to Nunatsiaq News on Tuesday, deputy Chief Shaun Longstreet declined to comment further on the new development because the Sûreté du Québec has taken over the investigation Unatweenuk is described as an Inuk man, approximately five-foot-six or five-foot-seven and weighing about 160 pounds. He was last seen wearing a black cap and black jacket with the words 'Solidarity Co-op' on it. Nunavik police began their investigation June 24 after receiving a report that Unatweenuk had not shown up at work. The investigation so far has revealed the 'missing person may have been the victim of a criminal act,' said Nancy Fournier, spokesperson for Sûreté du Québec, in an email Tuesday. Fournier did not specify if the case is being treated as a possible homicide and offered no further comment. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
National Observer
08-07-2025
- Politics
- National Observer
Inuit podcast takes us inside the Arctic meltdown
Siila Watt-Cloutier remembers gliding by dog sled across the frozen Arctic as a child — past landscapes that are now vanishing before her eyes. Through her new podcast, the Inuk leader and climate advocate is spotlighting Indigenous perspectives and the challenges facing the region. 'We are hit very hard up in the Arctic. We hear and see it every single day,' Watt-Cloutier said. 'Listen to those voices on the ground, not just the politicians.' The four-part, limited series, A Radical Act of Hope, produced by the BC-based Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions draws on her 2015 memoir, The Right to Be Cold, which frames climate change as fundamentally a human rights crisis, rather than solely a scientific or environmental issue. 'Not that many people read books today,' she said. 'With podcasts now being the 'it' medium, why not contribute in some small way a narrative that I believe needs to shift?' The podcast follows Watt-Cloutier's personal journey, from her early years in Kuujjuaq, a remote Inuit community in northern Quebec and speaking only Inuktitut, to her work negotiating the Stockholm Convention to ban toxic chemicals in the Arctic and leading the first legal petition linking climate change to human rights at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. 'This is just a small contribution from my perspective on what I felt has worked for me in terms of changing the minds and hearts of people through the work that I've done,' Watt-Cloutier said. The call for a new narrative comes as she voices concern about the current direction of climate policy. Watt-Cloutier is critical of the current political tone in the climate debate, describing it as 'eco-based, fear-based leadership that is creating even more chaos and more wars.' 'We are hit very hard up in the Arctic. We hear and see it every single day,' said Siila Watt-Cloutier, Inuk leader and podcast host. 'Listen to those voices on the ground, not just the politicians.' As governments fast-track mining and infrastructure projects in the North, she warns the Arctic is increasingly being viewed as a business opportunity rather than an environmental disaster. 'Don't see the Arctic issues — and the rich minerals and resources that are there as a result of the melt — as an opportunity,' she said. 'See it as an environmental disaster, and then work from there to build the economy of the Arctic that's not going to make things worse. It shouldn't be that the economy is going to be the trump card again. Building our economy should not be at the cost of lowering greenhouse gas emissions.' Arctic sea ice reached its lowest winter maximum on record this March, with the National Snow and Ice Data Centre reporting just 14.33 million square kilometres at its peak — more than a million square kilometres below the long-term average and the smallest extent in the satellite era. As the ice vanishes, new shipping lanes and mineral frontiers are opening, fuelling expectations of a scramble for oil, gas and critical minerals. The environmental toll is mounting: permafrost is thawing, releasing methane and carbon dioxide, while coastal erosion and wildfires are accelerating. The project is led by Ian Mauro, executive director of the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions, an environmental scientist and filmmaker who has worked with Watt-Cloutier for over a decade. Mauro said the podcast is a response to a 'green backlash' — the growing pressure to put climate action on hold for short-term economic fixes like expanding fossil fuel projects and accelerating resource extraction, particularly in the face of Trump's trade war. 'We cannot afford to backtrack on our climate ambition at the expense of these other issues,' Mauro said. 'We have to figure out how to multi-solve and be holistic in our approach, which is why leadership matters right now.' Mauro said the series comes at a time when Indigenous knowledge is finally being recognized as essential to climate solutions, both in Canada and around the world. 'We still live in a deeply racist society where people will quickly dismiss these types of knowledge,' Mauro said. 'But we are also in an era of reconciliation where there is a deeper appreciation and respect that has formed culturally in this country, and someone like Siila Watt-Cloutier rises to the surface in that conversation.' Each episode features Indigenous women leaders, including Lena Evic, founder of Iqaluit's Pirurvik Centre, and Nicole Redvers, a planetary health expert. In the final episode, former Greenland premier Aleqa Hammond joins a discussion about Arctic geopolitics and Indigenous sovereignty. 'I didn't want these podcasts just to be my take on conscious leadership,' Watt-Cloutier said. 'I wanted to invite other Indigenous women to share this platform, to share their stories — women that I feel are already leading from that space of consciousness and wisdom.' Co-host Janna Wale, the institute's Indigenous research and partnerships lead, who is Gitxsan and Cree-Métis, called the series 'long overdue.' She said the podcast was designed to break through the 'eco-grief and eco-anxiety' dominating climate news by centring Indigenous knowledge and climate optimism. 'Indigenous people have been climate leaders since time immemorial,' Wale said. 'We have had relationships with the land that have helped to foster sustainability and practices that have contributed to bringing balance to our ecosystems. Centring these voices, centring those ideas, and inspiring the next generation of leaders using that kind of knowledge is so important.' Watt-Cloutier said Indigenous knowledge and leadership are essential as Canada faces accelerating Arctic change. 'The land and culture offer more solutions, I think, than most institutions can,' she said. 'I believe strongly that Indigenous wisdom is the medicine the world seeks in addressing these issues of sustainability … Rather than seeing us as victims to globalization and to pollution and to climate change, we can become teachers if given the opportunities of respect and equality and equity on every front.'
Associated Press
03-07-2025
- General
- Associated Press
Siila Watt-Cloutier Offers Radical Hope in a New Podcast Series
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA, July 3, 2025 / / -- The Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions (PICS) at the University of Victoria is proud to present A Radical Act of Hope, a new podcast featuring the story of Inuk climate and human rights advocate Siila (Sheila) Watt-Cloutier, PICS' inaugural Indigenous Climate Fellow. This limited series podcast explores the life, work, and wisdom of one of the world's leading voices on climate change, human rights, and Indigenous ways of knowing and being. Watt-Cloutier calls her approach to climate advocacy 'conscious leadership', which she developed through her experience as an Inuk woman rooted in tradition and culture, and refined as she became a global thought leader on environmental issues and climate change. 'Indigenous wisdom is the medicine the world needs,' says Watt-Cloutier. 'Our values, experience, and relationship to the natural world help us to imagine and tell a different story for humanity and the planet, which can guide us towards a more sustainable and equitable future for all,' she says. The podcast blends memoir and advocacy, showing how lived experience can be a powerful tool for both personal transformation and policy change. It is hosted by Watt-Cloutier, along with PICS Executive Director Ian Mauro, her longtime colleague and friend, and Gitxsan and Cree-Métis climate researcher Janna Wale, PICS' Indigenous research and partnerships lead. 'Siila Watt-Cloutier's pioneering work to connect climate change and human rights changed the way the world thinks about and addresses climate change; her message comes from the Arctic and has global impact,' says PICS Executive Director Ian Mauro. 'In this podcast, we take a deep dive into Siila's leadership, how it developed, and how it can be a model for current and future generations.' Over its four episodes, the trio of hosts are joined by Indigenous women leaders and changemakers Leena Evic, Nicole Redvers, and Aleqa Hammond. Together, they discuss climate conscious leadership as Watt-Cloutier models it — an approach that prioritizes consensus, intergenerational wisdom, and long-term stewardship. Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, the PICS website, or wherever you listen to podcasts. 'Working alongside Siila Watt-Cloutier and the PICS team to bring this story to life has been one of the most impactful projects of my career. Siila's voice is a beacon — clear, grounded, and profoundly needed in today's world. This podcast is more than a series — it's a movement built on respect, wisdom, and the power of storytelling to change hearts and minds.' — Jennifer Smith, President & CEO, Everything Podcasts A Radical Act of Hope is produced by the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions and Everything Podcasts, with support from The Gordon Foundation and the University of Victoria. Watt-Cloutier's work with PICS, including the podcast, supports the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), specifically #3 (Good Health and Well-Being), #5 (Gender Equality), #10 (Reduced Inequalities), and #13 (Climate Action). Learn more about the SDGs at UVic. The Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions (PICS) catalyzes and mobilizes research, partnerships, and knowledge that generate climate action. PICS is hosted and led by the University of Victoria (UVic) in collaboration with Simon Fraser University, the University of British Columbia, and the University of Northern British Columbia. Media contacts: Cindy MacDougall (PICS Communications) at 250-853-3626 or [email protected] About the University of Victoria The University of Victoria is a leading research-intensive institution, offering transformative, hands-on learning opportunities to more than 22,000 students on the beautiful coast of British Columbia. As a hub of groundbreaking research, UVic faculty, staff and students are making a significant impact on issues addressing challenges that matter to people, places and the planet. UVic consistently publishes a higher proportion of research based on international collaborations than any other university in North America. Our commitment to advancing climate action, addressing social determinants of health, and supporting Indigenous reconciliation and revitalization is making a difference—from scientific and business breakthroughs to cultural and creative achievements. About Everything Podcasts Launched in 2019, Everything Podcasts delivers innovative, creative, and award-winning audio production and global distribution. It features strategic planning infused by research, and partnerships designed to launch, grow, and accelerate the expansion of content across multiple platforms. Everything Podcasts is a world-class podcast production and media company dedicated to enabling businesses to harness the power of podcasting for communication, engagement, and growth. Everything Podcasts offers comprehensive podcasting solutions and strategies that empower brands to connect with their audience in a meaningful and memorable way. Led by Founder & CEO Jennifer Smith, and fueled by their team of passionate storytellers and award-winning media experts, Everything Podcasts brings innovation and expertise to a new media frontier. Everything Podcasts is also the recipient of numerous accolades including 2023's Quill Award for Best Podcast Agency, Most Creative Branded Podcast and Best B2B Branded Podcast. And the 2024 Quill Awards for Most Creative Branded Podcast, Best Business Podcast, Best News Podcast, Best Interview Podcast, and Best Medical Podcast. Plus, the bronze Circle of Excellence from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) for Podcasts (Occasional) and the gold 2024 Prix d'Excellence from the Canadian Council Advancement of Education (CCAE) for Best Podcast. Media Contact: Theodora Jean Coldwater Communications Inc. [email protected] Jennifer Smith Everything Podcasts +1 604-377-7922 [email protected] Visit us on social media: YouTube LinkedIn Instagram Facebook Bluesky X Legal Disclaimer: EIN Presswire provides this news content 'as is' without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.
Hamilton Spectator
30-06-2025
- Health
- Hamilton Spectator
‘I cannot keep quiet or hold back': Manitok Thompson retires
After a decade at the Inuit Broadcasting Corp., nearly two decades in territorial and federal politics and many years working as a teacher, church pastor and outspoken advocate for Inuit, Manitok Thompson is ready to retire. For now, at least. 'I just need a breather. Give me two months, and I'll probably show up again,' Thompson said Thursday in an interview in her nearly cleaned-out IBC office in Ottawa. It was her second-last day as executive director of the corporation she has led since 2020, after nearly five years of being its archivist. Thompson, 69, was born in a house about five kilometres from Coral Harbour, in a little place known as Snafu. She said the name came from a small ship grounded on the shore that someone had scrawled 'snafu' on. She worked as a teacher in Coral Harbour, Rankin Inlet and Naujaat. In 1995, she was elected to the Northwest Territories legislative assembly as MLA for the region until the creation of Nunavut in 1999, when she was elected as the first MLA for the newly created constituency of Rankin Inlet South/Whale Cove. Thompson was the first and only woman to be elected to the first Nunavut legislative assembly, and says she had to stand up for herself when some of her male colleagues in the assembly doubted her competence. 'Mr. Speaker, I want him and me outside right now,' she recalls saying after one of the members said that as a woman, she shouldn't have been trusted with a ministerial portfolio. The speaker, Levi Barnabas, had to declare a health break, Thompson said with a laugh. In 2004, she left territorial politics and ran in a federal election, finishing second to incumbent Liberal MP Nancy Karetak-Lindell (now Nunavut's senator), and then retired from elected politics altogether. Shortly after, she moved to Canmore, Alta., when her adopted granddaughter was diagnosed with leukemia. She said she 'quit everything and concentrated on her health.' Thompson joined the Inuit Broadcasting Corp. in 2015 and moved to Ottawa to work as an archivist, viewing and describing thousands of hours of footage for a 'student wage,' she said. Five years later, she became the corporation's first Inuk executive director. She made her mark by changing its programming, often making it more politically minded, and touching on the most pressing issues Inuit face like food security, housing and mental health. Under her tenure, the corporation started several new shows, and in the past year she helped shepherd a new broadcasting training program for Inuit that will likely launch next summer, she said. But Friday is Thompson's final day at IBC, with the corporation's director of communications and content, Karen Prentice, named as her replacement. Though Thompson might not have the energy to run for office again, she still has the passion and said she is prepared to be labelled 'negative' if it means she can speak her mind about the happenings in Nunavut politics. 'I'm a volunteer politician — I am not elected, but still very much involved with the issues across the territory,' she said. And that's the job she is never retiring from. 'I cannot keep quiet or hold back. I speak out and I really don't care what anybody thinks,' she said, adding that if you can't take criticism, 'you're not a leader.' 'So I'm not going to sit down in a rocking chair and knit. There is still so much to do.' Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
Yahoo
24-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'True Detective,' 'North of North' Inuk star Anna Lambe on taking risks and telling Indigenous stories with humour
In recent years, Anna Lambe's acting career has skyrocketed. The Inuk actor from Iqaluit got her start at 15 years old on the film The Grizzlies, then went on to star alongside Alfred Molina in the Prime Video series Three Pines, and worked with Jodie Foster in True Detective: Night Country. Most recently, Lambe starred as Siaja in the CBC and Netflix series North of North, with the first released to rave reviews. Next up for Lambe? She will star alongside Brad Pitt in David Ayer's movie Heart of the Beast. "It's pretty surreal. It's really, really cool," Lambe told Yahoo Canada about being cast in Heart of the Beast. "Every new project just feels so exciting. But I mean, the caliber and the size of Heart of the Beast is just, I feel very honoured to have the trust of the team to hop in and do my thing." Lambe's acting career started at her Nunavut high school, where there were posters put up to attract students to join a workshop for The Grizzlies, and Lambe's drama teacher recommended that she participate. In an interesting turn of events, Lambe almost "backed out" of the workshop, feeling too shy and anxious to participate, but her dad was already on his way to pick her up, so she went. And the rest is history. "Every time I get a new job, it's something that my dad always makes sure to remind me of is, 'Can you imagine if you never went and did that audition?'" Lambe said. "It's really humbling and it just makes me think about it in the big picture." "I am grateful that I just took the chance. I mean, it was a low risk chance, but it has kind of led to so many bigger things. I've had to take risks over and over again along the way, that's just how this industry rolls. And everything's a bit of a roll of the dice, but I've embraced that a little bit more, and I'm really curious to see what what comes next." Lambe would go on to work with the team behind The Grizzlies again on North of North. "They took a chance on me when I was 15 and then they took a chance on me again when I was 23, and I am so grateful for the way that they always lead with the community at the forefront of their minds," Lambe said. "And that it's always about how they can give back and how they can tell stories with nuance and complexity, and appropriately and authentically." The Grizzlies is a film about a group of teens in Kugluktuk, Nunavut, the town with the highest suicide rate in all of North America, who connect by playing lacrosse. Lambe plays the only female player on the team, Spring, and was tasked with taking on particularly difficult topics, like domestic violence. "In playing Spring and taking up space, she really goes through this arc where she finds her strength after such significant loss and trauma, and how she, as a young woman, was like, 'I'm not going to be scared out of things that I want to do,'" Lambe said. "We're so often encouraged to make ourselves smaller for other people, and recognizing that your story and your strength and your resilience is valid, and is important, and is, I think, something that we all deserve to hear, to see." When Lambe was filming The Grizzlies, she didn't fully grasp what being in a movie meant. She was just excited to make friends and tell an important story, and that desire to have fun and attraction to storytelling is still what drives her. "I just get to move through this industry with a smile on my face, because I'm just having the time of my life," Lambe said. Once Lambe got to Three Pines, the story of the show was particularly emotional, and difficult for the actor to both work on and watch. Adapted from Louise Penny's best-selling book, the show is centred around investigations into murders in a Quebec town, including the disappearance of an Indigenous girl, Blue Two-Rivers, played by Lambe. While Blue's family is adamant she wouldn't mysteriously leave, and certainly wouldn't leave her daughter behind, the Quebec police are quick to dismiss her case. "Three Pines was a heavy project and I think there was a lot happening at the time that made it that much harder. And it's a deeply personal thing to me, and something that I was struggling with at the time and trying to kind of deal with all of these different feelings that I was having," Lambe said. "But the very real issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women is something that, I think, we can never stop talking about, and something that I think deserves that space and that platform." "It was very much a difficult one, and one that I really also struggled to watch. Violence against Indigenous women is a very real threat and also something that many of us have experienced, or have loved ones who have experienced. Three Pines was so different from anything else that I had done up until that point, and continues to be different from anything else I've done since. ... Because of how difficult it was for me, I don't know if I would choose to do that kind of thing again. But those kinds of stories are so important in continuing to highlight that crisis that very much is still happening within our communities." While Lambe shared the screen with great talents like Alfred Molina, Rossif Sutherland, Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers and Tantoo Cardinal in Three Pines, the celebrity of her collaborators certainly grew in True Detective: Night Country. "Stepping into True Detective was such a dream," Lambe said. "The cast on that show was so incredible. I mean Jodie Foster, of course, but Kali Reis, Finn Bennett, John Hawkes, Chris Eccleston, Isabella LaBlanc, what an incredible cast and lovely people. Really such a great group of people to work with." "[Showrunner] Issa López, I adore her with my whole heart. And she put so much attention to detail into everything that she did, everything she wrote, everything she directed. She was such a powerhouse. And I admire her work so dearly. And as well as the Alaskan producers, Cathy Tagnak Rexford and Princess Johnson." In True Detective: Night Country, set in Alaska, Lambe plays Kayla Prior, whose husband Peter (Finn Bennett) is a rookie detective working under Foster's character Liz Danvers. Lambe has said the relationship reminded her of her own parents. "[True Detective: Night Country] gave me a taste of what could be and something to chase for the rest of my career," Lambe said. "It allowed me the time and the space, with the acting coaches and the dialect coaches and everything, to try and do my best, to level myself up." "That shoot was just such a privilege and getting to meet everyone on it was such a privilege. And the story that we told was one that was deeply important, again about missing and murdered Indigenous women, but also about empowerment and reclamation, and taking back and justice, whatever that may look like, or whatever that might mean. And whether you agree with that or not is always something that can be debated. It was just really exciting and empowering, and it's a point of my career that I often look on and I'm like, 'I can't believe that happened. That's so cool.'" Lambe moved into comedy in a big way for North of North, a show that's outrageously funny and balances its emotional moments with perfection. Lambe plays Siaja, a young Inuk woman who goes through a very public separation from her husband in their small town, having to reevaluate her life under the close eye of her community, while also providing for her daughter. "The amount of people that have loved it has been just really humbling, overwhelming, heartwarming," Lambe said. "I'm so grateful that so many people have been open and receptive to seeing the story in a place they might not have seen before, and allowed themselves to kind of fall in love with these characters and the show that we created." But it was the light-hearted nature of the story that really appealed to Lambe, versus having to work through a lot of trauma-based storyline in her previous work. "It was going to be hard and it was going to be really long days, and we were going to be battling the cold, and that definitely posed challenges throughout filming, but in terms of content it was like, this is going to be fun," Lambe said. "And there were so many times where, in approaching episodes and scenes that we were filming, amongst the cast and amongst the crew, we'd be chatting with each other like, 'I can't wait to do this part. Oh my gosh, I can't wait to do Inuk Bridgerton. That's going to be so beautiful. I can't wait to do the underwater sequences. That's going to be really cool.' So just getting to kind of exist and play in so many different forms and moods and and tempos was really nice. Because we can go from like really high comedy, clown-esque comedy, and we kind of break your heart a little bit. ... I think to have that full swing is really fun and a huge privilege as an actor." Another highlight from North of North is how the show really uses costumes as a tool to tell this story, particularly if you look at how Siaja dresses, versus her mother Neevee (Maika Harper), and Siaja's daughter Bun (Keira Cooper). "The costumes played such a huge part into how I understood Siaja. Her love of colour and fun cuts and fun patterns, and fun prints," Lambe said. "And even more so, I think what I loved was how Bun was dressed. She had such bold parkas, and she wore whatever she wanted, and these kind of cool, little funky outfits. I think there was something really interesting about going from Neevee's colour palette to Siaja to Bun's, because there is a kind of gradual shift into into bright and bold colours and expression, and fun. And that, to me, really exemplified the intergenerational healing that happened amongst those those three generations, and that with each generation people get to express themselves a little bit more. That we create safer spaces for our children to grow and be who they are. And I think the costume department did such an incredible job of representing that." But when the show does have to lean into its more emotional moments, including a scene where Neevee tells Siaja that before she was born, she had another child who was taken by her white father, it's handled with so much care and adds such a richness of the storytelling in North of North. "I think at the core of the show, what was most important for us was the authenticity of it, and the experience of living in the North, and the complexities of our communities and our family dynamics," Lambe said. "And something that's very real is how our community really struggles with the trauma from colonialism and how we navigate that." "But for the most part, we do it through humour. ... From really dry humour to really silly like fart joke humour, the coping exists within all of that. And those moments where you do just break open, those are real too. And I think defining the show as one thing or the other, as just a comedy or just a drama, doesn't do it the service of, it's just a human experience, and just a human story. So it was nice to feel like we weren't needing to exist in one or the other, and that we can have both at different moments, and they both serve the story equally importantly."
