Ms. Rosemarie Kuptana
Former President,
Inuit Tapirisat of Canada

Born in 1954, Rosemarie Kuptana grew up in a traditional Inuit hunting society and spoke only Inuvialuktun (the Western Arctic dialect of the Inuit language) until the age of eight. Her home community of Sachs Harbour, Northwest Territories is a village of about 120 people on the Beaufort Sea.

At eight, Rosemarie attended a government residential school for indigenous children four hundred miles away from her home. As was typical of the education policies applied to indigenous peoples in the 1960s and early 1970s, she was forced to speak only English and to adopt a foreign way of living. Her early struggles to resist assimilation into white Euro-Canadian culture has helped shaped Ms. Kuptana’s determination throughout her adult life to promote Inuit culture and defend the Inuit right to self-determination. She has been guided by the values instilled by her parents, William and Sarah Kuptana, her grandmother, Susie Tiktalik and "extended" Inuit family.

Rosemarie became involved in Inuit organizations around 1975 when discussions first began between Inuit and the Government of Canada to reach formal agreements regarding Inuit land rights.

In 1979, Rosemarie began a career in broadcasting by joining the Northern Service Branch of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, hosting morning and noon radio shows on CBC Inuvik (Western Arctic). Her programs focused on the cultural, social and political issues of the day, including the Inuvialuit land claim negotiations and the oil and gas exploration taking place in the Beaufort Sea.

Rosemarie subsequently joined the Inuit Broadcasting Corporation (IBC). IBC was established with the mandate to produce and transmit television programs in the Inuktitut language, as well as to reflect and provide information on contemporary and traditional Inuit life. Ms Kuptana served the IBC as a Production Co-ordinator and as President of the Corporation form 1983-1988. Ms. Kuptana has also participated in the negotiation, design, planning and launching of Television Northern Canada (TVNC) – the first television network serving most of the Canadian Arctic. At that time she also served as a Board Member to Young Canada Television (YTV).

After leaving broadcasting, Ms. Kuptana worked towards the advancement of Inuit rights in several Inuit political organizations. From 1986 to 1989, she was the Canadian Vice-president for the Inuit Circumpolar Conference – the international organization representing the collective interests and identity of the Inuit people living in the Arctic and sub arctic regions of four circumpolar countries (Russia, USA, Canada and Greenland).

From April 1991 to June 1996, Ms. Kuptana served as President of the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada (ITC), the national political voice of Inuit in Canada. During this period, she was the lead Inuit negotiator in Canadian constitutional negotiations in which Inuit sought (and came close to winning) recognition of the inherent right of self-government of indigenous peoples. Ms Kuptana was also part of the Canadian Government team that successfully negotiated amendments to the Migratory Birds Treaty with the U.S. Government for the purposes of recognizing the constitutionally protected hunting rights of Inuit. She also helped to establish an effective research department that participates on a range of environmental issues such as contaminants in the Arctic and to bring to the forefront the issue of global warming and climate change during her term at ITC.

Ms. Kuptana is known as a skilled and determined negotiator, who is always prepared to defend the Inuit right to self-determination and the equality rights of indigenous peoples. She has spoken widely on a range of topics affecting the Inuit life today such as transboundary pollution, social issues, and constitutional and human rights issues.

In 1995 to 1996, Ms. Kuptana was President of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference and participated in the negotiations leading to the establishment of the Arctic Council. She left the ICC for health and personal reasons.

Now dividing her time between Ottawa and her home community of Sachs Harbour, Ms. Kuptana has one daughter, Ellice, and two sons, James and Peter. Over the years, Ms. Kuptana has received many awards for her service in the protection of Inuit culture and Inuit rights, including the Order of Canada, the Governor General’s Confederation Medal, 1992 Northerner of the Year, the 1992 Maclean’s Honour Roll, 1994 National Aboriginal Achievement Award and honourary doctorates from Trent University and York University.

Ms. Kuptana is currently doing freelance work in Ottawa. Starting in March 1998, Ms. Kuptana began co-ordinating the special study for a Senate Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs with respect to Governance. She was also asked to assist the Tulip Festival in the implementation for the NWT & Nunavut programs. In February 1998, Kuptana began participating in the National Roundtable on the Environment and the Economy on Climate Change issues. Ms. Kuptana is currently involved in assisting other team members draft an interpretation document of the protocol that was negotiated in 1995 with respect to the Migratory Birds Convention.

She is also writing a book about her experiences.