Elder, author, and sculptor born in Salluit (Nunavik) in 1947.
Charlie A. Saviakjuk, also known as Charlie Anugaaq Saviakjuk, was born in 1947 in Sugluk (now Salluit), in Nunavik. Born in an igloo, he spent his early childhood on the tundra. In 1951, he began receiving the teachings of a missionary and gradually left his traditional way of life. Glimpses of his Arctic childhood are captured in a short documentary, The Faithful Optimists (1957), produced to depict the lives of the people of Salluit. Charlie A. Saviakjuk married in 1970 and had two children: Joe Saviakjuk, born in 1971, and Alice Saviakjuk, born in 1974. Following a brief stay in Cape Dorset (now Kinngait, Nunavut), the family settled in Coral Harbour (Inuktitut: Salliq or Salliit), an Inuit community on Southampton Island in the Kivalliq region of Nunavut. Charlie A. Saviakjuk and his wife welcomed two more children in 1976 and in 1977; the first of these was put up for adoption.
Charlie A. Saviakjuk has been involved in Salluit community life: in his thirties, he served as secretary on the Salluit community council, before becoming a municipal councillor and official interpreter for the Québec Ministry of Social Affairs (ministère des Affaires sociales) for the Salluit region. On numerous occasions, he also served as a representative of his community in dealings with government agencies and Indigenous organizations in the region. In addition to his community involvement and his activities as a trapper and hunter, Charlie A. Saviakjuk pursued a variety of professions throughout his life: he worked in construction and in healthcare, and has been a teacher and a truck operator. He also became chief of the Salluit Rangers, and his many years of professional experience earned him a position as an Arctic survival instructor for the Canadian Armed Forces. Throughout his life, Charlie A. Saviakjuk has embraced the hybrid nature of his identity, bridging tradition and modernity and combining respect for Inuit knowledge with European influence, while never minimizing the violence of colonization.
Charlie A. Saviakjuk is best known for his book Charlie’s Story (1992), published by the Kativik School Board (Kativik Ilisarniliriniq) as part of the Nunavik Writings series. The Inuktitut version of the book was published the same year under the title Saaliup unikkaanga. In Charlie’s Story, Charlie A. Saviakjuk tackles a wide range of topics, including his role as a father, marriage, relations between Inuit and Qallunaat (people from outside), Inuit traditions, modernity, love, death, the media, politics, and ecology. In her book Histoire de la littérature inuite du Nunavik (literally: “History of Nunavik Inuit literature”; 2019), Nelly Duvicq compares the works of Charlie A. Saviakjuk to those of famous Inuit author Taamusi Qumaq: in their writings, both authors bring together several literary genres such as personal narrative and sociological and philosophical commentary; they also both attach great importance to knowledge and to the belief that a balanced society is one in which cultures exchange and cooperate with one another.
Charlie A. Saviakjuk is also a sculptor. His pieces Hunter (2018) and Sedna (2018), carved out of caribou bone, are featured on the website of La Guilde (Montréal), an organization that, among other things, works to preserve, promote and raise awareness of Inuit art.
Now seventy-seven years old, Charlie A. Saviakjuk still lives in Coral Harbour.