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Welcome to A Radical Act of Hope. In this series, Inuk climate advocate Siila Watt-Cloutier brings us into her world. A world where melting ice isn’t just a symptom of climate change—it’s a disruption of memory, identity, and rhythms of life in the North. She takes us from her home in the Arctic to the frontlines of international climate justice, alongside those who have been speaking up—and holding steady—for decades.
Siila Watt-Cloutier is one of the most important climate justice voices of our time. Her work with the Inuit Circumpolar Council helped get the Stockholm Convention signed, ratified and enforced in record time. It's one of the most successful UN treaties that has ever been made to protect the environment by banning the “dirty dozen”––the persistent organic pollutants that contaminate food and human bodies. She then went on to pioneer linking climate change and human rights in a way that has completely revamped how the world thinks about climate justice.
Don’t miss this important conversation with Siila and the Indigenous women leaders who have inspired her journey. This isn’t just a climate story—it’s a story about the connections between people and place, and all that sustains us.
A Radical Act of Hope was produced in collaboration with the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions with support from The Gordon Foundation and the University of Victoria.
We acknowledge with respect the Lək̓ʷəŋən-speaking peoples on whose traditional territory this podcast was produced and the Songhees, Esquimalt and W̱SÁNEĆ Peoples whose historical relationships with the land continue to this day.
Welcome to A Radical Act of Hope. In this series, Inuk climate advocate Siila Watt-Cloutier brings us into her world, a world where melting ice isn't just a symptom of climate change. It's a disruption of memory, identity, and the rhythms of life in the North. She takes us from her home in the Arctic to the front lines of international climate justice, alongside those who have been speaking up and holding steady for decades.
When we are teaching our children to be out on the land, to become proficient providers and natural conservationists, the land and the ice is teaching them their character skills, their life skills. When they're waiting for the animals to surface or the winds to die, the snowstorm to come through, the skies to clear, all of those things, they're learning about themselves, the character building skills of patience, of to be bold under pressure, to withstand stressful situations, to not be impulsive.
My name is Janna Wale. I'm Gitsan from Gitamax First Nation on my dad's side and Cree Metis on my mother's side. I work as the Indigenous Research and Partnerships Lead at the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions. I'll be joining you on this journey with Siila, who reminds us that climate work isn't only technical or political. It's also spiritual, emotional, and deeply personal. Together, we'll reflect on her incredible legacy and explore what it means to carry wisdom forward across generations and through this moment of global transformation. This isn't just a climate story. It's a story about the connection between people and place and all that sustains us.
In this episode, we return to my Arctic childhood. and remember the experiences and teachings that shaped my climate leadership journey, all the way to the signing of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants. We also hear from my dear friend Leena Evic, founder of the Pirurvik Centre in Iqaluit, on the importance of preserving the rich Inuit culture and knowledge the world needs to face the climate challenges of today.
A Radical Act of Hope is a collaboration between Siila Watt-Cloutier,
and the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions, or PICS, at the University of Victoria. My name is Ian Mauro, and as the Executive Director of PICS, I'm honored to join you as we listen to the powerful voice of my friend and colleague, Siila. We acknowledge with respect the Lekwungen-speaking peoples on whose traditional territory this podcast was produced, and the Songhees, Esquimalt, and WSANEC peoples whose historical relationships with the land continue to this day.
Siila Watt-Cloutier was born in what was known to settlers as Old Fort Chimo, a Hudson Bay Company trading post. She and her family, mother, grandmother and siblings lived humbly. No running water, no electricity, traveling by dog team in the winter and by canoe in the summer in one of the most northern areas of Nunavik, Quebec. The community is better known as Kuujjuaq, which means big river. It is here that we will learn about Siila's childhood in the Arctic, how community was forged through country food, family, hunting, and the rites of passage. Within these territories, traditional wisdom and lessons are connected to and understood from the land, observation, and sharing of knowledge through storytelling and hands-on experience.
The earliest memories, of course, are of us being on the dog team, being bundled in fur, and in caribou hide, and so on, are down.
In our region, we have lots of down because of the geese that we pluck and take the down and we fill our blankets, we fill our clothing with that for warmth and sheepskin boots for the babies and the children that we would use. And we would be in, you know, covered in what we call the qamutik, which is the sled that my brothers would prepare. I would look out the window and watch them prepare the sled. The meticulous way in which they were focused in making sure that the sled that they were not just building, but that they were preparing with the peat moss and the layer of ice on it on the runners with the caribou tuft, you know, that they were using the caribou skin or the fur to glide and make it smooth. And then the plane and all of that taught me how patient Inuit culture is and our men preparing the sled to be extremely safe for all the family to travel on the next day or the following days or whatever the case may be. And so through observation, as a little child, much younger than them, 10 years and more younger, I would learn how patient our culture was in that way. So the youngest in the family that couldn't sit outside of, you know, on the qamutik safely would be in a box and I would be in a box all covered up and bundled. And those were my earliest memories of listening to
to as we're traveling on those icy highways is listening to the crunch of the sled going on the ice or the snow and my brothers leading those dogs in a remarkable way to our hunting and fishing grounds and looking up at the sky, because I would be in the box looking up at the sky. And to this very day, I have an affinity with sky. In fact, I meditate with sky almost on a daily basis.
For Inuit and for many of us who have been raised on the land, hunting is more than just a way to provide. It's a practice rooted in responsibility. It asks us to move with patience and care, to pay close attention, to walk softly, and to practice humility and respect. It reaffirms our interdependence, the way that we all shape each other's fates.
Much of my time in the Arctic was spent in Pangnirtung in Nunavut or Panniqtuuq in Inuktitut. Basically every summer for over a decade I was immersed within Inuit community, culture and language. Making films, teaching on a bush school and learning from Elders, Knowledge Keepers and community members. During my time in the Arctic I witnessed profound environmental and cultural change and that changed me. I was particularly inspired by Inuit Elders and their Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, or their traditional knowledge and ways of knowing and being. How their knowledge was fiercely local and simultaneously global in its relevance. Inuit knowledge that is deeply holistic and weaves profound cultural and environmental lessons into action and words. It's all interconnected and intergenerational.
I remember the first time, Joanasie, this elder cut open a seal.
And he started talking about a seal, the insides of a seal, like it was like an encyclopedia. The different organs, all the things. And there's teachings inside these animals. one of the teachings was that you give the best meat to people that you love. It's like giving a rose.
As I always say and half jokingly say, seal meat, which is so important in our culture, keeps us warm in 30, 40, 50 below. It's not going to be a cup of soup.
keeps you warm out there on the land. So the nutritional value that gives us the health that we need and the warmth that we need when we're a hunting culture out in the land is really important. But the cultural value and the educational value of our country food, for example, when we are teaching our children to be out on the land to become proficient providers and natural conservationists and the land and the ice is teaching them their character skills, their life skills. When they're waiting for the animals to surface or the winds to die, the snowstorm to come through, the skies to clear, all of those things, they're learning about themselves, the character building skills of patience, of to be bold under pressure, to withstand stressful situations, to not be impulsive, and the ingenuity.
The ingenuity of our world, you know, and I do say this, we are not just victims and we must never feel ourselves being brought down as not being able to learn, you know, in systems that are not even made for us, designed for us. And this is Rosemary Kuptana writing this. Did you know that Inuit had the knowledge of geometry to build igloos?
That Inuit traditionally traveled and navigated by the constellations, that Inuit have intimate knowledge of marine and ocean currents, that Inuit are architects, for instance, no one else has been able to perfect the design of the kayak, that the qamutik is the best design for carrying babies long distance, that we have the warmest parkas and footwear anywhere in the world, that young girls and boys did not eat certain parts of the animals, because of hormone changes, that Inuit have an intimate knowledge of all living creatures around, including their mating seasons, that Inuit believe everything in the world is interrelated, interconnected, and interdependent, that every individual had a role in the family and society. She said, mine was to read the weather. And so these are remarkable, incredible ways of living for us Inuit that very few people know about.
because I've just learned more about and more comfortable with the victimizing of Inuit and not seeing our strength. so Indigenous cultures are so undervalued for those kinds of incredible skills that they teach and what the land teaches. The emotional value, connection to identity, the grounding that we have with our country food, the connection to the family, to the hunter, to our ancestry.
I want to make clear that when I talk about the importance of our traditional Inuit hunting culture, I'm not being nostalgic. Our hunting culture is not a fondly remembered relic of the past. It's not history. It's continuing contemporary way of life. And it's perfectly compatible with the modern world.
Being present with family and matrilineal role models, the richness of cultural teachings and the complexity of being a traditional person in an increasingly modern world shaped by colonial thinking and policies. All of these experiences shape Siila's pathway to leadership.
I come from the humble beginnings of my grandmother and mother who went through a lot themselves and who modeled for me strength and focus and calm and gentleness and not to become bitter and not to become a raging person. I just keep that and I honor that always. They were just strong survivors, resilient, and they taught us that. I mean, for me, my grandmother was this very calm, gentle woman who I was, you know, the expression at her skirt tails for the first 10 years of my life and very traditional. She didn't know any English and ate country food with her, visited elders with her. The elders visited us.
It was a very small knit community. And my mother learned English through the Roman Catholic missionaries. And she was a feisty, determined woman. So that part of her lives in me as well, but it's more that kind of gentle, calm person that my grandmother was that really has gotten me through. And the determination of my mother, no doubt about it. And the feistiness that got me through all of these life challenges that I've been through and the leadership.
that I was being groomed to do in this world. I was very fortunate to have had not just my grandmother and mother being the role models for me, but for my extended family as well, my brothers and my uncle and others in the community that always looked out for us, the elders that I grew up with and they remain with me. And I honor them by respecting how they were. And I honor my authenticity towards and the respect towards the way in which I was raised the first 10 years of my life.
And then boom, it was a different story after that. But nonetheless, I've kept that.
At the age of 10, Siila was sent away from her community to attend school. This was during the residential school era in Canada, as well as the time of the 60s scoop. Far reaching policies that resulted in the removal of Indigenous children from their families and communities and led to the widespread loss of cultural practices and traditions.
I'm still not to the bottom of that story, but I think it was part of that 60s scoop movement that was happening with First Nations because we were obviously supported and sponsored by the federal government to leave and live with this family that had been a nursing couple and they had moved back to Nova Scotia where they were from and they sent us there. And we did what we could to share our stories about some of the things that we went through as little girls away from home.
with a very, very strict family. And then we were sent to residential school with our sisters, our older sisters in Churchill, Manitoba, where 200 Inuit kids were sent for a period of 11 years that residential school existed. It was government-run, not mission-run. So for us, coming from that experience, the first two years as little kids to the residential setting was not as bad as most residential schools were.
that were mission run where abuse was rampant and it was just horrific. And I'm not suggesting that there weren't some abuses that were happening, but which we only heard about decades later when everything was being brought out about abuses. I spent three years at Churchill at the residential school and then another three years in Ottawa, Ontario as a teen and almost finished my high school there. We went home only in the summertime for that period of time that we were sent away.
So I saw Christmas and winter with my family for the first time in five years when I was about, I guess I was about 16 or 17 at that time. And by then the dog teams were gone and these very noisy snowmobiles were there, which were kind of terrifying because they were so noisy and I wasn't used to them. So the changes have been tremendous in one lifetime.
In the north, another Inuk leader was stepping into her own
Leena Evic was born to an Inuit family, traveling by dog team on a small island in Cumberland Sound, in what is now Nunavut.
My name is Leena, Leena Uvanga. I'm originally from Panniqtuuq, Nunavut. I was named Tatiggaq when I was born, a namesake given to me after my maternal great-grandmother. And I was born on this little island called Qijuttaliminiq across Pangnirtung in Cumberland Sound. Well, my family's traditional camp was called Illungajuit. The traditional camp families would go out and camp in various places that were within vicinity of their traditional camp. And Qijuttaliminiq was a summer camp for my family. So while they were traveling by dog team, during the month of June, my mother went into labor.
And so they pitched up their tent on this island and there I was born. And right after that, they continued on to their traditional camp with a newborn, Uvanga.
With similar childhood experiences in the North, Leena and Siila have grown to share a complementary outlook, a deep knowing that Indigenous teachings are the medicine that the world needs. Today, Leena is the visionary founder and president of the Pirurvik Center in Iqaluit. With programs accredited by the University of Victoria, the center partners with Elders, Knowledge Keepers, and universities in support of Inuit expressions in many forms.
Leena Ngai.
Eee, tamaniipunga.
So wonderful to have you on this, Leena. And we have known each other, I think, now close to what, 25 years or so. And I have always felt that the work that you have done, of course, feeds into my wellbeing and my focus on the work that I do globally with you on the ground doing the remarkable work that you're doing in teaching culture and language and creating the next generation of remarkable ambassadors and leaders of the younger generation in our world.
Lina is really truly a visionary Inuit educator. And as the founder and president of Pirurvik Center in Iqaluit, Nunavut, Lina has spent the last 20 years manifesting her vision into full color reality. I'm in awe of her and the work that she does. And the Pirurvik Center is an institute dedicated to the teaching and learning of Inuit language, culture, and wellbeing. And Pirurvik means a place of growth and indeed,
It certainly has been a place of growth for so many for the last 20 years. Pirurvik's purpose is to build new learning programs that are grounded solidly on Inuit pedagogy and protocol. And it gives space and opportunity for Inuit to gain a renewed sense of confidence and purpose by reclaiming their connection to Inuit language, wisdom and skills.
Thank you so much for having me here through this wonderful approach to sharing, even if we're in distant spaces at the moment. It's pretty magical these days. So like you mentioned, Pirurvik focuses on Inuit well-being, language and culture. And in a very quick nutshell, I will share that we offer a series of Inuktitut language training programs that are geared for specific target groups and learners.
Since we started about 20 years ago, we have up to date developed three full-time certificate and diploma programs and one ad hoc Inuit to second language program for non-Inuit that we offer through non-accredited courses. So these programs are accredited through our partnership with University of Victoria, which is a great partner. So our students can access student financial assistance beach they are recognized in accredited programs.
Yeah, and then we have another program in the making, and it does aspire to be like a PhD program and we call it Ingalangaittukuurvik.
Ingalangaittukuurvik means a high elevated level, like if I stood on a mountain top, I'm on that Ingalangaittukuurvik level and I can see way out into distant vastness. So that's the concept for the programme because it aspires to be a programme for learning at the highest level of Inuktut articulacy. Very fitting title for that. Yeah, yeah. So attached to this, we have Makima program, which is Inuit Wellbeing Program.
And the two branches that we have been developing for that is reclaiming the whole woman and reclaiming the whole man.
For many Indigenous people, rebuilding that sense of generational continuity and care is a part of the work. Connecting back to culture, community, and the knowledge that's always been there.
So who would you say, Leena, were the key individuals and visionaries who shaped you as a young Leena? Who did you look up to and what is it that brought you to these spaces that would make you who you are today as an incredible visionary?
I would have to say that my parents were my biggest inspirations who shaped me really, living a traditional life cycle and very based on seasonal movement and cultural livelihood and proactive measures and everything. That's where I got grounded as who I am, believe. When we would spend the whole summer, sometimes it would just be my mother and me, because the boys and the men would be out there on hunting trips, like every day, basically. So I spent many, many hours out on the tundra.
making my playhouse out of rocks, making it as beautiful as possible. I loved every moment of those days. And you know, just the big sense of safety around family, but also being able to get a sense of being independent at such a young age. And of course, my mother being a great storyteller, she would take some time off from her busy chores and have some little bit of fun time with me, telling me wonderful stories, not just about legends and things like that, but also about our family background.
Like Siila, Lina found great strength in family and community. They both looked up to the Indigenous women around them who modelled strength, courage and love.
The modelling from my grandmother and mother remain with me.
And when I think about our ancestors, it's really that, it's they who help us to carry on in times of great struggle or challenge.
Well, it may be a good timing to share another short childhood story of mine. So one year while we were crossing back to our camp from Panniqtuuq by boat, my mother pointed out to that space where there was no land, which is like the David's Strait, the Atlantic Ocean direction because there's no land between here and Greenland and Europe. And she said, in my language, Leena, that's where white people live, where there's no land, like that direction. And she said, you know, they have a tradition after their evening meal, they like to eat chocolate. I think she was referring to dessert in general, but it's not about the chocolate, but it's about what she said about that's where white people live way out there in my heart, my little heart. I said to myself, I am going to go out there one day. And here I am a tiny little in the girl having seen only a few white people in and not a word of English, but not fearing, not, not sensing a fear because that's how I was brought up.
you know, feeling extremely safe and no fear. And in need, do not fear like today, we teach this in our courses, especially on management practices and leadership practices that we don't fear the unknown. If we fear the unknown, we're not going to make changes. We're just going to be there staying put on things that should be evolving. So I use that as an example or a metaphor for that matter when I do my Qulliq lighting ceremonies and stuff that and I even compare it to our young Nunavut leaders of the day who embarked on Nunavut movement to take back control after the impact of the colonial era that did not show good future for Inuit. So I admire such their caliber as young leaders that had just come out of one of the most resilient cultures of the planet into residential schools to be educated and became bilingual leaders. But they did not fear something bigger than them because it's always in us as Inuit. We don't fear going out into unknown charter territory right across those mountains. Our guys don't fear. The hunter doesn't fear. So I think for those generations, that we come from. Inuit survived many centuries because they did not fear. And they embodied always the hunter spirit.
For 20 years, Leena has been fearlessly reimagining and rebuilding Inuit approaches to teaching and learning at the Pirurvik Centre, working to pass on the traditions and knowledge that are essential for the next generation. In doing so, she discovered this work was needed more than she had imagined and it's been making an impact with Inuit youth and elders alike. It's been like weaving a tapestry that I knew right there in the first year when we got our three highly esteemed Elders to come in through our doors to deliver the very first high level Inuit knowledge training course to DMs and ADMs to presidents and managers and
We allotted for 24 seats around the table and we had a waiting list on the same day. And that told me that, yes, there is this hunger. It's not just me. It's these generations that are ready to remember again, remember back, to grow forward, to gain confidence into making better spaces for Inuit empowerment.
And I would say that my team members, the key players of manifesting the vision, which are staff and students, are really the beautiful silver and gold strings of that beauty of the product that's holding it together. That is so absent in any other educational or schooling system that allows for that personal growth to happen through culture and language. And then you are creating that incredible
pool of those ambassadors and with a lot of confidence and self-worth that has been oppressed and suppressed through colonialization in our world. So you're creating the next real championers of those who will protect our lands and our culture and our way of life and combat the bigger global issues that we're faced with in terms of climate change, in terms of the politics that are happening today. So that's the remarkable work that you have created here and that you are definitely a visionary. I've seen your videos, I've seen the remarks and the expressions, the emotional way in which your students appreciate what they have learned and how they feel about themselves as young Inuit who lost their language, who lost their culture, and now that you're creating those spaces for them to reclaim and regain it back.
Listen as student Alexia Cousins cleans a seal skin at one of Pirurvik's land camps and shares what this learning experience has meant to her.
My own mother was sent down from her home community here to Iqaluit to attend high school. And she never had the chance growing up as a teenager to learn these things from her mother so she can pass them on to me. Which is sad, but I am so grateful for these opportunities to be able to learn. So it's soul-filling.
When I was here last year, I spent every day crying. And it's very easy to think about it and cry again, because it is. It's not something I'd ever get to do if it wasn't for Leena and her vision. And it's just incredible to be able to do it alongside other women, other men, other people just trying to do the same thing and take back what's ours, take what we lost, reclaim it and own it. Yes, I'm an Inuk without this, but I feel more connected as an Inuk with this.
The biggest impact has been for our students and our Knowledge Keepers, our Elder professors. So because we've had those two gaps for so long, right? Inuit having no space to learn more about who they are, where they come from and our knowledge keepers, our natural teachers having no space to be teachers, to teach, to leave knowledge to the younger generations like they once used to. It's very humbling for me to see it. You know, that one strong impact that I have wanted to share as well is celebrating our rites of passage that never happened at its rightful place during our life cycle of the past because, well, many Inuit were taken away from their families to go to school far away from home. And so they never had the opportunity to learn to do cultural skills at the rightful time of their life cycle.
Leena's been instrumental in bringing home a traditional rite of passage, the lighting of the Qulliq, the Inuit oil lamp.
Pirurvik's Makima Inuit Wellbeing Program visits all 24 Inuit communities in Nunavut to teach about its significance. So the Qulliq almost disappeared from our life, along with many of our Inuit traditions that were forbidden to be part of a new world by our colonizers. But we also dropped the use of Qulliq when we got relocated into settlements and moved into these public units, public housing for our walls that had electricity and furnace or heaters and stove. And the Qulliq is our Inuit oil lamp that provided us the means for heat, the means for light, because we come from the Arctic seasons where for some parts of our region, it's 24 hours of darkness in the winter. So the light was extremely important.
No one on this planet can survive without water. And so in our winter season, everything is frozen out there. Without drinking water, without being able to melt ice, we would not have survived. But the Qulliq was our stove to melt our ice and to cook our meat so that we can be nourished. And then as a Inuit culture, we come from the snow environment, from ice environment and our clothing needed to be dried on regular basis. So the Qulliq, providing the immense beautiful heat, would dry our clothing. And so that's the Qulliq, which is beautifully invented ingenuitively by our ancestors. Open flame, but contained. Amazing. Because the stone, the plant from the tundra as the wick, and the oil from our mammals,
It all works together. Yes. So that's a Qulliq and we regard it with such honor. And so it's come back to our culture, but in a form of ceremony. And so we teach Qulliq lighting courses we call bringing the Qulliq home. And bringing the Qulliq home actually is literally bringing it back to Inuit homes. So the impact of this course alone is immense.
It's so powerful because a flame has always carried power and the women being the center of the home, the matriarch, the center of the community for that matter held that flame. And so today it's come back and it's very powerful.
As the power and impact of Pirurvik grows under Leena's leadership, she has an even bigger vision for the legacy she is creating. Now Leena's efforts are focused on the long-term sustainability of her programs and the Inuit cultural knowledge they represent and support. What do you think are the next steps for Pirurvik so that the world can hear? How do you see it evolving in the world that we live in today? My hope for Pirurvik as a legacy entity in its time looks like this. Fully accredited on its own without a need to partner with a southern institution.
But having said that though, I just want to acknowledge UVic as our great partner. mean, like probably the best partner we could have ever asked for. And then the ultimate facility itself houses the ultimate vision of Pirurvik in its full bloom. And on the land campus that we are even today talking about to expand also runs year round, not just seasonally.
Inuit Elders and Knowledge Keepers contribute their teachings through our satellite campus spaces or sites in different locations of Inuit Nunangat without having to travel to teach in person. As we know, the cost of travel in the Arctic is three times the south. And stable core funding allowing for long term sustainability. That is the huge one.
And then of course, student success is supported by having adequate student housing. It's a big barrier for us today. We have, we get so many applicants, but there's no student housing here in Iqaluit for them. then multitudes of Inuit graduates, of Inuit higher learning is a norm in that time. What's required to make it all happen, like I just mentioned, is a core funding, stable funding, but also
acceptable or unwavering political will to support Inuktut language. When people ask me, what can we do to help? Well, this is one way that can be extremely helpful for the long term goal of Pirurvik and the long term goal of creating back that sense of pride and building back the resourcefulness of its people that will be the natural guardians because we've already been the stewards of the land forever, but not recognized for it. And so we need to focus more on that as well. So, Leena, I just want to be so grateful that you have been able to share your journey as a visionary for Pirurvik and the important role that it has on the larger issues that we're faced with today in the current world that we live in that has become even more precarious. There's just no turning back when you get empowered in your own world, to create a better world for our tomorrow's children and to become good ancestors for them. Today, as we speak, it's very empowering. You feel that hunger inside you being fed. Reclaiming one's language and cultural or Inuit identity is a great medicine for our state of despair. And we all recognize that we're struggling.
We've been struggling for a very long time trying to create and find our space to be equally recognized, accepted as equally skilled and so forth in our own environment. I mean, our workplaces. And the ingeniousness that we possess culturally is so key to even the challenges we face today in the world.
Those values and principles, but the ingenious way in which we have survived and thrived in one of the harshest environments in the world. That's an untapped resource for the world to experience and see. This will be out there for people to hear and listen to in terms of the richness that we have to offer as Inuit. And in fact, it's not just, of course, the elders and the students, but there's a ripple effect of the work that you've done that you perhaps
We have shared it, you and I, but the work that I do globally, your work feeds me deeply as well. And it strengthens my resolve to do what I do because knowing that you are doing this work, which is, as you say, and I say this all the time too, is our culture is our medicine. It's not so far away or far removed from us. It's right in front of us. And the work that you do is deeply important and helpful to me in relaying that kind of messaging. And I always say, Lina teaches culture. I teach the importance of culture. There's a slight difference there, but it is a different audience and a different way. So I want to thank you on that, Lina. And you are definitely a visionary.
Ilaali, you're very welcome and thank you for, you know, creating this space to share with me.
It's work like Leena's that has helped Siila to stay grounded and also to dream big. Both proved necessary for her international work. Guided by the land and carrying the strength and spark of her ancestors, Siila's journey began in the quiet of the North. Bundled in a box on the qamutiq behind the dog team looking up at the Arctic sky. That path eventually brought her all the way to the United Nations––a place shaped by different traditions and expectations, but a place where she used her voice and where she carried her wisdom, knowledge and the experiences of her community with her.
oing from a dog team all the way to negotiating at the United Nations for the rights of people, whether it's toxins in the food chain or the melting of the Arctic and the impact that this has on people's human rights. It is a profound story.
It is truly one of the most remarkable stories in Canada. You know, that this person also subjected to residential school, the 60s scoop comes out the other side of this process and the leadership that she has demonstrated is just truly remarkable and it shows what is possible with the human spirit. Her life demonstrates that you can be thrown incredible curveballs.
And with integrity, a focus on your community and yourself and a commitment to your land and culture, that you can change the world. The changes were tremendous from the time that I was growing up and I was just really starkly in shock about how fast my whole community and my whole way of life as we lived it as children was gone. And there wasn't a lot of safety. There was a lot of addictions that had kicked in and a lot of violence that had kicked in. And so I was witness to a lot of that. But when I got into the school board as a student counselor, that was like a, it became the start of, think for me to step up a bit more in terms of the leadership roles that I was to be led to.
Siila's path continued. She left Kuujjuaq, moved to Montreal and became a student counselor for post-secondary students with the Kativik School Board where she quickly realized the school system was not serving the unique needs of Inuit youth. Their academic skills were falling behind and many were dealing with addictions and trauma. Similar to her friend Leena's work, Siila saw an opportunity to make things better through culturally informed and focused education. After 10 years of working with the school board, she stepped into a role with the Nunavik Education Task Force to explore solutions for building a more supportive school system.
And it was after that work that I started to really think about giving myself a platform on the political arena and decided I was going to run for a position in the Makivik Corporation, which is the land claim organization that is beneficiary focused, Inuit focused, economic development kind of corporation. So I ran for the corporate secretary. I didn't get in. Three years later, I ran again because I think the reputation that I was somehow of a troublemaker throughout that process of calling our education system out, or our schooling system out, people were kind of seeing me negatively. So I had to prove, not necessarily prove to them, but the next three years allowed people to understand why I did what I did. And so after three years, I reran and then I got in and that was my first elected position.
The same year Siila was elected, she went to Alaska to the Inuit Circumpolar Council Assembly or the ICC, which brings together the four countries representing the Inuit at the international level in Russia, Alaska, Canada, and Greenland. She was now advocating for the rights of Inuit on a global scale. And so I went to that assembly. I was verbal about things at the table. My first big conference as an elected official with Makivik Corporation.
And at the end of that week, I came out with a second mandate, an international one, where I was elected the ICC Canada president.
Siila got to work quickly, making a name for herself as a powerful speaker, just as international organizations were beginning to turn their eyes to the North. Soon, Siila's experiences in the realms of health, environment and education––combined with her deep sense of community––would give her an incredible opportunity to change the course of the world for the better.
Just shortly after that, the United Nations negotiations, what was called the intergovernmental negotiating sessions on persistent organic pollutants. For 10 years, the data had been built between Health Canada, industry, and all the players that there was a major problem happening with these persistent organic pollutants. And there had been comparative studies in the South when they realized in the South that these toxins were coming from far away and that they were cancer-causing, you know, many of these toxins for a byproduct of industry and pesticides from coming from very far away, they decided that they should do some comparative studies in the Arctic where it's pristine and then check things out. Well, they, lo and behold, the research showed that it was even higher. It was not pristine anymore in the Arctic Sink where our marine mammals live and eat and so on. And then we eat the marine mammals avidly in the Arctic as part of our nutrition. And lo and behold, they were in higher levels than anywhere else in our food chain. And we're seen in high levels in the nursing milk of our mother, Inuit mothers, and in the blood cord. And I was thrust into that international arena. Montreal was the first session. I delivered a keynote address.
which resonated with the audience with a standing ovation.
At this time, Siila was a mother and about to become a grandmother. She felt she had an incredible responsibility to communicate the urgency to act, not tomorrow, but today. Her homeland, the Arctic, is the health barometer for the planet. Inuit well-being in the Arctic meant a healthier world for all. To capture the world's attention, and conscience, Siila put the human face on complex negotiations focused on science and helped the world to understand the human dimension and implications for decisions that were about to be made. Her leadership and ability helped to connect people and planet at a critical moment for both. What I've always said about leadership is it's through the heart space that you're going to have people resonate.
these issues, not the scientific data, not all of these things. Those are really important. But to make change, has to be, people have to be moved and touched to see this as a real human health issue. Because again, as I say, I brought it from that perspective and not just making sure that it was not just going to be a scientific story or a chemical story or an environmental story, even though those are really important. But for me, it was really important for them to see that this was an urgent.
health matter and that can you imagine a world we've created when Inuit women had to think twice about nursing their babies with the very same chemicals ending up in the nursing milk of our mothers was the same chemicals like such as DDT that African women were using to protect their babies from dying from malaria. What a world we'd created when the mothers of the world carried the brunt of these kinds of toxins. And so for me as a mother,
And again, it was that maternal instinct as a mother and soon to be young grandmother in those days at 44. I ran with it and it just captured the attention of the world in that sense of what's going on here in the Arctic.
Siila became a spokesperson for the Coalition of Indigenous Peoples of the circumpolar north, including the Dene, the Athabaskan, the Gwich'in, the Russian Indigenous people, Yukon First Nations and the Metis.
Though Indigenous peoples faced challenges in holding their place in a globalized world, Siila knew they had an important role to play. As she advocated for the safety and security of these cultures and communities, she also recognized this coalition had the power to contribute to the well-being of all peoples.
It was a no-brainer for me, you know, as a mother and as soon to be grandmother, and this was a matter of health and our country food. Can you imagine being in that place where we would have to choose between our country food and our cultural heritage. How could this be? And for me, an avid country food eater, and just as all of my people are, it was just one of those moments of I just went and got really mobilized and I think I was being groomed then to start the process with this under my belt and with that under our belts as the circumpolar indigenous peoples that we're working together.
It was during this important journey that Siila got to meet a leader who would influence her greatly, Nelson Mandela. A hero in his home country of South Africa and abroad, he was South Africa's first president, its first black head of state and the first to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. He was a key figure in dismantling the racist and segregationist policies of apartheid that had cleaved his country in two for decades. He had also risked his life and sacrificed much in his fight.
He was imprisoned for his activism for 27 years before a domestic and international campaign led to his release. For Siila, Mandela was proof that one person grounded in their people's truth could shake the pillars of power and reimagine the future for all of humanity. We learned that the last negotiations was going to happen in South Africa. And I thought, wow, wouldn't this be a moment to meet Mandela if he's there in Johannesburg. And so I said to my advisors, I said, let's try this, try to reach his office, try to reach him or however we can do this and make it happen. And the first initial answer was no, he's not available to do this. But I'm very persistent. And I said, we have to keep trying, you let him know what this is all about. His advisors have to know what this is about and how important this would be. We persisted.
And then the answer came, saying yes. And Paul Okalik was the premier at the time. And I knew that Mandela was his hero, you know, his role model. And I invited Paul Okalik to come down if he wished, if his government was willing to send him down to meet Mandela with me. And then we selected a couple of other people from the Dene and the Gwich'in and the Yukon First Nations that were going to be there with me.
Mandela's change of heart may have had something to do with the fond memories he had of landing in Iqaluit. His plane had stopped to refuel in the Nunavut capital while on a tour after his release from prison. But even before that, when I was on the radio saying, I'm going to be in South Africa, going to meet Mandela, I received a call or a message from somebody from Iqaluit who, during the period of time when Mandela had been released from prison and was on his way back from Europe as they landed in Iqaluit,
He starts to hear singing and he hears kind of like drumming happening. So he asks whoever his assistants or who are beside him at the top of the stairs of the plane, who are those people? And somebody says, Eskimos. And this goes way back, right? And he goes, I must go to them. Somehow the word got out, plane mandala is landing in Iqaluit.
So they raced up to the airport and with David Serkoak, who is a well-known drum dancer, a drummer, was drumming with the traditional Inuit drum, Inuk drum, and others who came. And so he goes up to them and he starts to hear them, you know, talking about how pleased they were about freeing him from prison, that he was freed from prison and so on.
Listen as Mandela touches down in the Iqaluit to friendly greetings from residents who turn up in the middle of the night for a glimpse of a human rights hero.
Audio from the CBC Archives, July 1st, 1990.
How are you? Very nice. Nice to meet you. My name is Ken Harper. I came out here because I heard that Nelson Mandela was landing here. And what was the scene once you arrived here, Mr. Harper?
They were on their way from the plane into the terminal and we started waving to the party that was on their way to the terminal. So they changed direction and came over to the fence and talked to us and signed some autographs. Someone asked him a question about what message he would have to give to Arctic peoples in their struggle for self-government and he said he supported people's right to self-government wherever and whoever they are.
He said, I was amazed that Inuit knew of me. I thought they were just seal hunters and yet they're so worldly and global and they knew of me and they had been protesting for my release, you know, as part of the world was. And so this was his introduction to Inuit and the Inuit homelands. So we're meeting Mandela. I mean, it's been approved. We're going to meet him. And his first question to me was, are you Inuit?
He said, you know, because of my skin color, I said, yes, and immediate respect for who I was. accepted. She's, she's a Nino leader and that's who she is. And, and we talked, it was just a dialogue. And I asked him, is there a possibility of you supporting us publicly for what we're trying to do here? And he said, you know, unfortunately, all of my advisors are in Cape town.
They're not here and I cannot sign anything without their expressed advice and approval of what goes out to the public. But he said, of course, morally, he supported what we were doing. Meeting Mandela was like standing in the shadow of a mountain. His quiet strength reminded Siila that the path to justice is carved not just by courage, but by compassion. It gave her the confidence to push forward with her groundbreaking human rights advocacy.
It was my 47th birthday that week that I met him. And I felt like after meeting him, was like knowing what he's gone through, having met him in person, feeling his energy. I felt strengthened by the fact later on in really moving forward with the human rights petition. So he was a great inspiration for me. And I am grateful that I was able to meet him in those circumstances when we were in South Africa.
Siilas mission to reframe climate change as a human rights issue had not yet begun, but the vision was taking shape during the negotiation of the POPs treaty. As a leader, she looked to a strong support network of colleagues, advisors, experts and advocates. In those days, ICC Canada and the chair's office, we were like five people doing this, you know, but we were, in my opinion, a dream team. had I had incredible support. They were just remarkable people that I could rely on for their expertise and their wisdom to really just lift me up into those spaces of leadership and be clear and focused. Teamwork is key to success of any leadership roles. And I had Terry Fenge, bless him that he's gone today, an incredible advisor that he was for me. And he was very astute as a political advisor on these issues. And then I had Stephanie Meakin.
who was a biologist and had done a lot of the research in this area as well. And she would come to these international meetings either expecting a child or pushing a child in a stroller. And that would always signal who we were doing this for, right? And John Buccini, the chair, was just a remarkable leader from Ottawa, a Canadian scientist who really was really a wonderful leader in leading the world to come to...
the right space and place of signing on and finishing these negotiations in the middle of the night, when the last session. So we were able to signal to the world and of course at the United Nations Environment Program, Klaus Topfer was the head of the United Nations Environment Program and he was so supportive, so supportive of my leadership and so supportive of the coalition that we had created and the voices that were coming through.
Perhaps one of the most profound examples of Siila getting her message through by telling the human story during the negotiations was when she gave Klaus Topfer a special gift, a symbol to remind everyone why they were there. I presented him with a carving of an Inuk woman and a baby carved by an Inuk woman from Sanikiluaq, from our regions. And he presented it back to John Buccini, the chair, and said you will hold this until the negotiations are over and we'll sit in front of you or they both decided would sit in front of the chair. At every country we negotiated this treaty and John Buccini would say, every time I would get very tired or fatigued and just, you he said, I would look to this carving sitting in front of me and it would remind me why we're doing this and it would give me strength to carry on. And so it was always the mother and child.
And it was always the maternal instinct in me to protect that has always been at the forefront of my leadership and my strength and my focus. Never forget, I was surrounded by male leaders all over the world, highly influential, high level people, know, with premiers and presidents of countries and so on, and advisors as well, many of them male. In 2001, the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants was signed thanks in large part to Siila and the coalition. The Stockholm Convention restricts the use, trade, release, and storage of persistent and toxic chemicals that were finding their way into the Inuit food chain and the global environment. The convention grew from a list of the original dirty dozen to include 29 chemicals today and requires parties to take measure to reduce or eliminate their release into the environment. The Stockholm Convention doesn't get as much play as some of the other conventions that have been rather successful, you know, like the Montreal Protocol and CFCs and, you know, and others. But yet it was one of those moments of seeing the people coming together. And it wasn't just my voice. It was also the chair, John Buccini, Canadian, who herded the cats together to do the right thing, to come to a resolve of an effective convention that would eliminate these dirty dozen at their source. But that
The treaty itself is so important because it didn't just help us in the Arctic who were being poisoned from afar, but it helped everybody along the way, you know, where these toxins were being deposited all along the way.
I think that some of the things that really stick out to me when I think about Siila's work on the POPs treaty and the Stockholm Convention and all of these kind of different challenges that she had to go through is just her tenacity. Like, I think that's something that's really important when we're talking about climate work, is it's going to be challenging it's going to be really difficult, you know, demonstrating that resilience, but also coming at it from a place of care and a place of love and a place of heart, I think is really inspiring and also really important.
Like we talk about the fact that that really is the reason or one of the reasons for her success and her kind of fight to have these things recognized. And as a young Indigenous woman, I think that's so important to understand is you don't have to be the loudest person in the room. You don't have to be the one yelling and screaming to have your opinions respected and listened to. And I think that's something in today's society that is undervalued. So I think that Siila's work is an inspiration and really demonstrates what's possible if you come to these conversations with care and love and understanding and respect and all of these different values that really inform how we relate to each other and community and also relate to the land.
I don't know if it still holds true today, but I even received a letter from the UN after the negotiations and the signing at the Stockholm Convention that it was the fastest UN treaty to have been signed, ratified and enforced in the history of the UN. And that's what gave me the confidence and the strength having had that experience of seeing how the world can come together to do the right thing gave me the strength to be able to tackle climate change from a human rights perspective and launch that first legal petition, Connecting Climate Change to Human Rights. So it's an important piece of my journey. I would wake up every day and I'd remind myself, never lose your sense of womanhood as a mother, as a grandmother to be. And that kept me going.
never to lose sight of that and always be clear about what you're projecting out there in those terms of leadership.
On the next episode of A Radical Act of Hope, Siila's influence builds as she continues to make an impact on the world stage. This time, she's helping transform the way the world thinks about the devastating effects of climate change by sharing the testimonies of hunters, Elders, and women of the Arctic.
And you'll hear more of my story as an Indigenous youth leader, the experiences that have shaped my path to focus on climate change and what I hope to pass on to future generations. Subscribe to A Radical Act of Hope wherever you get your podcasts and visit climatesolutions.ca to learn more about how Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions is supporting climate action.
This podcast was made with respect, gratitude, and a radical act of hope by Everything Podcast and the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions. PICS would like to thank the Gordon Foundation and the University of Victoria for their support of Siila's Indigenous Climate Fellowship and this podcast. Our hosts are Siila Watt-Cloutier, Janna Wale, and Ian Mauro. Our executive producer is Jennifer Smith. Editor-in-chief, Don Schafer. Showrunner, Jessica Grajczyk. Our writer, Eva Grant, sound design by Scott Whittaker, production support by Cindy MacDougall. Thanks for listening. This podcast was produced on the lands of the Lekwungen-speaking and WSANEC peoples. Our guests come from Indigenous lands across this country known as Canada and the world. Wherever you may be listening from, we thank you for joining us on this storytelling journey. Another Everything Podcasts production. Visit everythingpodcasts.com.
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