Aaju Peter, C.M.
![]() Aaju Peter, C.M.
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Reader of seven languages, speaker of four. Singer/songwriter/musician. Writer. Activist. Designer and maker of traditional sealskin garments. Lawyer. Translator. Heavy equipment operator. And that’s the abridged version of Aaju Peter’s remarkable life journey. |
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When Nunavut became a territory in 1999, it had just one Inuit lawyer (Paul Okalik, who later became the premier). A one-time law school program was created to address this problem, and Peter — though she had expressed no previous interest in the law — decided to become part of a group of ten people who entered. She did it because she believed that Northerners needed to be empowered by having legal experts who could speak with their own voices. Peter’s studies required enormous persistence: four years of hard work, including displacing herself to article in Ottawa (at Nelligan O’Brien Payne) because there were no northern law firms to foster her skills. |
We are one of the world’s last traditional hunting cultures and seals have been essential to our survival for thousands of years.
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Politicians who oppose the seal hunt on grounds of animal cruelty, she pointed out, have no issue with force-feeding ducks for foie gras or confining calves to make veal. Meanwhile, the seal product ban continues. |