Nowkawalk, Charlie

Social worker, politician and translator born in Inukjuak (Nunavik) in 1967.

Charlie Nowkawalk was born in 1967 in Inukjuak, a small village on the north western shore of Hudson’s Bay in Nunavik. Summers during his childhood were spent with family in nearby camps. His parents taught him their metier, carving. In 1994, he studied in Montréal at CEGEP Marie-Victorin, editing and writing for the Inuit students’ magazine Sivunitsavut.

Charlie Nowkawalk is a community leader in Inukjuak, actively involved in creating positive opportunities for Inuit youth. His involvement began in the 1980s, with community radio programs. He created a hunter support group in 1993, and then founded Unaaq in 2001, a men’s association devoted to teaching youth hunting and other traditional ways of life. Working as a social worker, and a coordinator at the Inuulitsivik Health Center, he has focused on wellness and suicide prevention in his community. In 2012, Charlie Nowkawalk was elected regional councillor for Inukjuak for the Kativik Regional Government.

An active participant in preserving Inuit culture, his translations from Inuktitut were used in the television documentary, Le nord du Nord. Nunavik et Baie-James (1996), produced by Télé-Québec and the Société GRICS – the latter is in charge of computer network and audiovisual documents bound to schools boards. Charlie Nowkawalk was the inspiration for the documentary film Le voyage de Charlie (Stéphane Bégoin, 2002) and in a film interview, How to build an igloo (Kativik Ilisarniliriniq, 2018), with Lucassie Echalook, he provided historical information, including techniques for building this important survival structure. Charlie Nowkawalk participated with other Nunavimmiut artists at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, as a drum dancer and ayaya singer.

Charlie Nowkawalk lives in Inukjuak, Nunavik and has two sons.

This biography is based on the available written material during a collective research carried out during 2018-2021. It is possible that mistakes and facts need to be corrected. If you notice an error, or if you wish to correct something in an author's biography, please write to us at imaginairedunord@uqam.ca and we will be happy to do so. This is how we will be able to have more precise presentations, and to better promote Inuit culture.

 

(c) International Laboratory for Research on Images of the North, Winter and the Arctic, Université du Québec à Montréal, 2018-2021, Daniel Chartier and al.