At a celebration today honouring Indigenous leader, Julia Haogak Ogina in her hometown of Ulukhaktok, Canada Post unveiled an upcoming stamp
The news announcement by Canada Post is also available to read in Inuinnaqtun.
The accomplished Inuit drum dance teacher has worked for decades to maintain and revitalize the culture and language of her ancestors. Ogina is known for her efforts to retrieve and preserve drum dance songs and the creation of a regional language framework and programs promoting oral learning and knowledge transfer.
Recently, Ogina told True North FM she was “surprised” and “honoured, at the same time” upon hearing news.
Music and language are closely connected in Inuit traditions and culture.
“It’s the oldest form of documentation of language and stories of our ancestors. So the songs that we sing, the drum dance songs that we sing today, are ancient songs. We don’t know how old they are. They are a window to a lifestyle that our ancestors lived in all the different seasons on the land, on the ocean, around the coast, Inland, at the rivers, at the lakes,” said Ogina.
Ogina explained she grew up around a family of singers and storytellers and that’s how she learned Inuit languages.
“Language was always around us, it was natural. Drum dance in our family, in our homes, when people visited, the singing would take place and sharing of stories. My grandmother, my great-grandmother were natural songwriters. My grandmother, my mom’s mum, she would just on a whim, just start singing songs that she would create if she felt the need to start creating a song, that urge to create a song,” explained Ogina.
In an announcement today, Canada Post honoured Ogina’s legacy and acknowledged her history and the history of Inuit communities in the North.
“As more people in her community began moving into centralized communities, children were sent to residential schools and people had to learn English to find work, Ogina began noticing gaps in her own knowledge,” said representatives from Canada Post.
Ogina worked as a translator and research assistant on The Northern Copper Inuit: A History (1996). The project, carried out through consultations with community Elders. The project took an extensive focus on the early history of the Ulukhaktok region spanning into the present.
In 2006, Ogina became the programs coordinator of Elders, Language & Culture for the Kitikmeot Inuit Association. The organization’s mandate is “to manage the lands and resources that support traditional and cultural values.”
As a leader at the association, she concentrated on oral learning and the transfer of knowledge via community.
In 2017, she helped publish Huqqullaarutit Unipkaangit (Stories Told through Drum Dance Songs). The project brought forward the fruits of a decade-long consultation with Elders to commemorate drum dance songs. Ogina explained she sees these as a channel for ancestral knowledge and “a window into all the strengths of our people.”
Also in 2017, Ogina was honoured with an Outstanding Achievement in Language Revitalization award from the Inuit Uqausinginnik Taiguusiliuqtiit and in 2020 was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal.
The stamp features a photograph of Ogina in her drum dancing attire at the festival, QAGGIQ 2021 in Iqaluit, Nunavut.
“It is designed by Andrew Perro, featuring photography by Matisse Harvey for Archives Radio-Canada, and printed by Lowe-Martin. The issue includes a booklet of six Permanent™ stamps, an Official First Day Cover and a souvenir sheet, “ said a representative from Canada Post in the announcement today.
“The cancellation site is Ulukhaktok, N.W.T. (Ogina’s birthplace), and the cancellation mark bears an image of a traditional drum,” they added.
The new stamps and collectibles will be available at canadapost.ca and select postal outlets across Canada starting June 20.
