Susan Aglukark had people dancing in the aisles as she mixed music with storytelling at Innovation Guelph’s International Women’s Day dinner Thursday evening.
Aglukark, an Inuit singer/songwriter who has won three Junos and named an officer of the Order of Canada, was the keynote speaker at the event that saw some 400 guests. And she performed several of her most famous songs, including O Siem and Hina Na Ho (Celebration).
Despite her fame and notoriety – Aglukark recently testified at the Rankin Inlet hearing for the inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women – she was modest and remains humbled by the extraordinary circumstances that led her to a music career.
“I am grateful for the opportunity to share a simple story,” she said. “Can you imagine? I only have my Grade 12 diploma but five honorary degrees.”
Aglukark grew up in Nunavut and was sexually abused as a child. She left in 1991 with a one-year contract as a translator in Ottawa, future plans to become a pilot, and a deep need to escape her past.
City life was a culture shock, she said. Even the simplest things, like taking public transit and grocery shopping, were difficult. Her town had 2,800 people and one store that sold everything from toothpaste to all terrain vehicles.
“Ottawa was overwhelming,” she said. “I came there a broken person.”
She had done some singing however and was popular in Inuit communities. She came to the attention of CBC, which was working on a record featuring northern Canadian artists, and was asked to submit a demo tape.
“I didn’t know what a demo tape was,” she said.
She had a few poems in her back pocket, however, and she turned those into songs. Many had to do with the pain from her abuse. But she also found the process to be healing.
“I felt broken,” she said, “and I confronted it through the writing. It became an incredible outlet emotionally.”
Within a year of that first project, Aglukark had a record deal and a music video, and by 1995 a chart-topping single.
“I didn’t know what the charts were, but number one sounded good,” she said. “And number two was Sting. So I knocked Sting down a notch.”
Aglukark was dogged by her low self-esteem and while the stories that illustrated how little she knew about the music scene were charming now – what’s an LP? what’s a Juno? – it took many years before she started to believe she was, indeed, an artist with something important to offer.
“I realized I was afraid of my own potential. One day I looked at my two-year-old son and he looked back at me with absolute love and I realized I had to get this right. I had to get over my fears.”
That moment inspired her version of Amazing Grace and her ultimate lesson to the audience.
“Take advantage of opportunities and don’t fear the challenge, because that’s where the lessons are learned,” she said. “There are scarier things in life than a challenge.”
The event was hosted by a number of community partners including the Women of Distinction Award. Honourary chair Marissa Teeter announced that tickets for the May 3 event are now on sale and that Sophie Trudeau has been invited to be the keynote speaker.
As well, applications for the 2018 Rhyze Award – a fund to help women entrepreneurs – will be accepted beginning March 18.
