Rosemarie Kuptana

Rosemarie Esther Kuptana (sometimes Rose Marie Kuptana) , LL.D. (born 24 March 1954 near Sachs Harbour, Northwest Territories, Canada) is a Canadian Inuvialuk politician, Inuit rights activist, broadcaster and journalist. Besides serving with several Inuit organisations she was president of the Inuit Broadcasting Corporation. She lives in the Ottawa area and has three children.

Early life Kuptana was born in 1954 in an igloo on the Prince of Wales Strait while her parents, William and Sarah Kuptana, were seal hunting. The family was living a traditional, nomadic lifestyle and it wasn't until 1958 that they permanently relocated to Sachs Harbour on Banks Island. Her father had moved to the community to help build the weather station.

Growing up in Sachs, Kuptana only spoke Inuvialuktun until at the age of seven or eight, she was forcibly taken by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to the residential school in Inuvik about to the southwest. At school, she was not permitted to speak her own language and forced to adopt an alien culture. After 10 years in the school system, she lost the ability to speak Inuvialuktun, making communication with elders in her home community difficult, although she later relearned the language.

She later joined the Inuit Broadcasting Corporation as a production coordinator and became president of the corporation in 1983, remaining until 1988. As president, she ensured that programs were shown using Inuktitut. She also worked on standards and training programs. She was involved in the setting up of Television Northern Canada, later to become the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network. She has received the Governor General's Confederation Medal and in 1994, was given a National Aboriginal Achievement Award, now the Indspire Awards. In 2002, she received the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal and in 2012, the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. She has also received honorary doctorates from Trent and York Universities. The Inuit Sea, January 2013 Sila Alangotok : Inuit observations on climate change = observations es Inuit sur le changement climatique, documentary, 2000 Kuptana, R. (1992). The Canadian Inuit and the renewal of Canada. Études/Inuit/Studies, 16(1/2), 39–42. No More Secrets: acknowledging the problem of child sexual abuse in Inuit communities: the first step towards healing, 1991