Aaju Peter

Inuit lawyer, activist and sealskin clothes designer

Aaju Peter CM (Born 1960 in Arkisserniaq, Greenland^[1]) is an Inuk lawyer, activist and sealskin clothes designer. In 2012, she received the Order of Canada.^[2]

Aaju Peter^[1] has travelled across Greenland, Europe, and Canada, performing modern drum dance and traditional singing and displaying sealskin fashions. She graduated from Akitsiraq Law School in 2005 and was called to the bar in 2007. She has appeared in the documentary films Angry Inuk (2016) and Arctic Defenders (2013).^[3]^[4]

In 2019, Aaju Peter was a guest of the Université du Québec à Montréal, and a video was produced about her visit.^[5]

In the 1980s Peter married a Canadian and moved to Frobisher Bay, now Iqaluit. She raised five children on her own and still resides in Iqaluit.^[1]

She was profiled in the 2023 documentary film Twice Colonized.^[6]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c "Peter, Aaju | Inuit Literatures ᐃᓄᐃᑦ ᐊᓪᓚᒍᓯᖏᑦ Littératures inuites". inuit.uqam.ca. Retrieved 2021-01-10.
^ "NunatsiaqOnline 2012-11-22: NEWS: Aaju Peter becomes member of Order of Canada Nov. 23". Nunatsiaq News. Archived from the original on 2016-10-12. Retrieved 2016-09-24.
^ Mullen, Patrick (11 May 2016). "Review: 'Angry Inuk'". Point of View. Documentary Organization of Canada. Retrieved 9 September 2016.
^ McLaughlin, Paul (17 February 2010). "Interview: sealskin clothing designer and lawyer Aaju Peter". This magazine. No. January–February 2010. Retrieved 24 September 2016.
^ "Video: Inuktut, the language of the Inuit | Inuit Literatures ᐃᓄᐃᑦ ᐊᓪᓚᒍᓯᖏᑦ Littératures inuites". inuit.uqam.ca. Retrieved Mar 8, 2023.
^ Guy Lodge, "‘Twice Colonized’ Review: An Indigenous Activist Defends Her People’s Rights While Tending to Personal Wounds". Variety, April 27, 2023.