Singer-songwriter, author and cultural worker artist born in Quaqtaq (Nunavik) in 1985.
Beatrice Deer was born in Quaqtaq, a small village between Kangiqsujuaq and Kangirsuk in northeastern Nunavik in 1985. Her father Robert Deer is Mohawk and her maternal grandmother is Québécoise. After high school, she left the north for Montréal in 2007 to continue her studies and her music. She worked for a time at Aumaaggiivik, the Nunavik Arts Secretariat at the Avataq Cultural Institute, grant writing and organizing cultural exchanges.
Beginning to sing for audiences at 15, Beatrice Deer is now one of Nunavik’s favourite singer-songwriters. She sings in Inuktitut, English and French and currently has five albums with her indie pop rock band, called Beatrice Deer Band. She has collaborated with many well-known musicians (Land of Talk, The Barr Brothers, Stars, Timber Timbre), in 2010 she performed with other indigenous artists at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver and sang a throat song for Elisapie Isaac’s 2019 album, The Ballad of the Runaway Girl.
Her song, Fox inspired the writing of a children’s book, The Fox Wife, in Inuktitut and English, published by Inhabit Media in 2018. TraumFänger Verlag published Die Fuchs Frau, a German translation of her story in 2020. She co edited with other artists, an exhibition catalogue of Inuit sculpture and carving Ullumimut: entre tradition et innovation = Between tradition and innovation: Lucassie Echalook, Mattiusi Iyaituk published by Avataq Cultural Institute (2015). She provided the English narration for Neil Christopher’s film Amaqqut Nunaat = The Country of Wolves (2011), a short, animated version of a traditional Inuit myth. Beatrice Deer’s musical career has been recognized with several awards: Best Inuit Cultural Album in 2005 for Just Bea (2005), a REVEAL Indigenous Art Award (2017) from the Hnatyshyn Foundation and Best Folk Album at the Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards in 2019 for My All to You (2018).
Married to the guitarist Charles “Chuk” Keelan, Beatrice Deer lives in Montréal and often travels home to perform and conduct artists’ workshops in her community.