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inuk artist susan aglukark: 'my music became my healer'

aglukark recently received the 2022 humanitarian award as a tribute to her dedication to the emotional health of northern inuit, first nations and metis youth through art.

by karen hawthorne

jun 14 2022

7 minute read

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inuk artist susan aglukark: 'my music became my healer'

susan aglukark has been a long-time advocate for the healing powers of art. credit: eric alper pr

canadian music icon susan aglukark is a powerful voice for indigenous people, sharing their stories through her songs and her activism. her new album, the crossing , is about journeys and belonging, looking at the deep connection people have to their heritage and cultural identity. like much of her celebrated work over 30 years, there’s a message of self-discovery and hope for new beginnings.

the acclaimed inuk artist, and nunavut’s first juno award-winning singer-songwriter (she has three and an additional seven nominations), is passionate about bringing this same message to indigenous children and youth.

she received the 2022 humanitarian award presented by music canada at the juno awards this may as a tribute to her dedication and hands-on work as the founder of the arctic rose foundation that she created in 2016 to support the emotional health of northern inuit, first nations and metis youth through indigenous-led after-school arts programs and initiatives.

aglukark talked to healthing.ca about the award, how art can heal people, and what she hopes life will be like for an indigenous person in 10 years.

this interview has been edited for length and clarity.

you’re an officer of the order of canada. you received a governor general’s lifetime artistic achievement award in 2016. what was it like to be honoured with the humanitarian award?

i did not expect this at all! when things start to settle down, you just feel very proud of the recognition. the work is great, anytime that we can give back to our communities, to our youth, it’s a blessing. and it was the opportunity to share the award. we brought some of our youth workers [who run the after-school programs] with us for the ceremony and it made it that much more special because we could show them just some of the possibilities in their lives.

what has your experience been as an inuk woman in canada?

i have to start with my upbringing. i’m one of seven children and my parents said that life is going to be very hard without an education. even though i was never a good student in terms of academics, they insisted on school or work. so there was always that work ethic ingrained in us. i have to acknowledge that because when the opportunity came along in the music industry to get involved in singing and songwriting in the company of artists, as much as i didn’t know really anything about the industry, there was less fear around learning it. i know that comes from my childhood and upbringing. so my opportunities and the lenses through which i saw them are very different. they’re small-town, inuit, indigenous, but they were very different because of how our parents brought us up.

i’ve experienced racism, whether people intended it or not, it’s always been there. as an artist, i’ve been in those very uncomfortable places, but i’ve also recognized what an opportunity i have to work through them. i had to navigate them to keep doing what i was doing, to be a singer, to be a songwriter, to be an artist.

and you decided to start the arctic rose foundation.

arctic rose is the title track of that first album [ arctic rose , 1992]. that song was written around my first loss of a dear friend to suicide. when we began the songwriting of the album, i was very clear with that first producer that i could only write about what i knew, and what i knew at the time was heartache and all these other things that i had left at home. he was very open about writing those things and it started with arctic rose. that’s why, when i decided to pursue charitable status versus partnering with organizations, i knew i wanted to call it the arctic rose foundation to honour what the song was about and what that loss was — that loss continues in the work we have to do.

our current program, the messy book program, is an after-school expressive arts program. from 3pm to 5pm every day, participants come to our partner space. we hire and train high school students to run the after-school program. the other thing that’s very exciting about it is once a month we send trained and contracted indigenous artists to facilitate their art and to tell their story and how the work in their art heals them. so the participants and our youth workers are shown those possibilities as well. it’s all about bringing them these stories, mentorship and healing.

one of our workers in the first year of our program, 2018, was a grade 12 student who has high anxiety still to this day. she’s getting the help that she needs, but she let us know that there are days that she just can’t function. she shared that on a really difficult day, she remembered that she had the arctic rose room to go to. and that knowing that we have one consistent space that these students know is going to be there for them, that was enough for her to finish her school day and then go to the arctic rose room and do her job there. that was a success story.

how can canadians help support the arctic rose foundation?

there’s always a huge need for funding. the goal is to be in every high school in northern regions in first nations and metis communities. the money helps a lot with that. and it also is supplemental income for our artists. i really believe in arts as a long-term career. so it is very exciting that we are able to give our artists a supplemental income to keep doing their work. the best way to support is to go to the website to donate .

you have been open about the sexual abuse you experienced as a child in nunavut. tell us about your own personal healing.

i left home because i needed to change my personal circumstances. shortly after moving to ottawa, a cbc northern services producer who recorded northern recording artists contacted me at my job and asked if i was interested in participating. there was a series of happenstances with the right people, right time, right everything, that introduced me to expressive arts. so the company of artists, songwriting conversation in the recording studio with musicians, i didn’t know at the time — and this is the work we also do now — that this is how we can heal. and we have access now to resources. i was exposed to the art, the creating and the singing and songwriting as a resource for me to begin to open up where things had gone stalemate or closed. my music truly became my healer. that’s been the journey the last 30 years, constantly exploring expression and writing and sharing as a way to stay on the healing journey.

what are your thoughts on reconciliation? is canada headed in the right direction?

one of the things that the pandemic has forced us to do is slow down and re-evaluate. i feel strongly that healing needs to go before or in tandem with reconciling. there is no reconciliation without healing, and healing is not something you can put a timeline to. there isn’t going to be 12-month or two-year schedule, or five-year plan. it’s not going to work that way, so i think we haven’t created that space yet. we need to do that. we need to acknowledge that, and we need that space where everybody who is invested in reconciling has to be as equally invested in healing as well.

i’m in nova scotia right now on a first nations reserve called millbrook. we’re here to work with a small group of service providers, indigenous and non, and the non-indigenous side of it is a united way group out of truro. as long as organizations like them and corporations continue to pursue those relationships and partner with us, i think we’re all on the right track.

what do you hope life as an indigenous person looks like in 10 years?

it’s been incredibly heartwarming and gives me great hope when i see the leadership in politics and in the arts, and the community leadership, our youth, becoming more comfortable in academia. with our educated indigenous youth, we have more teachers, we have more doctors, we have more lawyers and more politicians. we have more experts in all of these sectors. if the last 10 years has been any indication, all i can say is how exciting it is to know that in the next 10 years there’s going to be even more. there will be less need of the healing services that are being developed and provided, meaning more people are well.

what’s next for you?

i’m still very active in my music and we’ve been working toward creating our own touring act. we want to have all indigenous acts on a nationwide tour where we just go out and play our music to share our art. i think of it as sort of an all-indigenous lilith fair.

click here to donate to the arctic rose foundation .

karen hawthorne is a toronto-based writer.

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karen hawthorne

karen hawthorne worked for six years as a digital editor for the national post, contributing articles on health, business, culture and travel for affiliated newspapers across canada. she now writes from her home office in toronto as a freelancer, and takes breaks to bounce with her son on the backyard trampoline and walk bingo, her bull terrier.

inuk artist susan aglukark: 'my music became my healer'

aglukark recently received the 2022 humanitarian award as a tribute to her dedication to the emotional health of northern inuit, first nations and metis youth through art.

you’re an officer of the order of canada. you received a governor general’s lifetime artistic achievement award in 2016. what was it like to be honoured with the humanitarian award?

b.c. residential school survivors get mental health funding

hip hop song triggers drop in suicide rates

what has your experience been as an inuk woman in canada?

and you decided to start the arctic rose foundation.

how can canadians help support the arctic rose foundation?

you have been open about the sexual abuse you experienced as a child in nunavut. tell us about your own personal healing.

what are your thoughts on reconciliation? is canada headed in the right direction?

what do you hope life as an indigenous person looks like in 10 years?

what’s next for you?

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inuk artist susan aglukark: 'my music became my healer'

aglukark recently received the 2022 humanitarian award as a tribute to her dedication to the emotional health of northern inuit, first nations and metis youth through art.

you’re an officer of the order of canada. you received a governor general’s lifetime artistic achievement award in 2016. what was it like to be honoured with the humanitarian award?

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what has your experience been as an inuk woman in canada?

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and you decided to start the arctic rose foundation.

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how can canadians help support the arctic rose foundation?

you have been open about the sexual abuse you experienced as a child in nunavut. tell us about your own personal healing.

what are your thoughts on reconciliation? is canada headed in the right direction?

advertisement

what do you hope life as an indigenous person looks like in 10 years?

what’s next for you?

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