Speaking Inuktitut at Hockey Night in Canada is like a dream come true for Pujjut Kusugak.
“It's just one of those things that you wish for and you imagine but now it's a real thing that's coming,” he said.
Kusugak, and a small collection of other passionate speakers, will soon have a chance to speak their own language on Hockey Night in Canada (HNIC), which will broadcast three games in Plains Cree and Inuktitut this NHL season.
APTN will broadcast the games in Cree on January 18, February 8 and February 22 and in Inuktitut on March 8, March 22 and April 12.
Earl Wood of Alberta's Saddle Lake Cree Nation has previously commented on HNIC in Cree and will be joined by announcer Clarence Irons and analysts John Chabot and Jason Chamakes.
Wood says the broadcasts are a way to work towards reclaiming Aboriginal languages.
“It allows for a completely different way of impacting the importance of our language on youth, which is the number one sport in Canada,” he said.
“Any platform that we can use as a catalyst for our language, which is our identity, to create any kind of motivation for young people to be interested in our language, I think it's a great platform.”
Kusugak, who is from Rankin Inlet, agrees that the broadcasts are an opportunity to create more interest in the language.
He will provide color commentary on Inuktitut broadcasts alongside play-by-play caller David Ninjeongan. The two commented together for the Olympics but Kusugak says being at HNIC is different.
The large stage provided by HNIC shows the demand for Inuktitut language programming in a variety of disciplines, he said.
“David and I, we talk about how important our language is and hopefully encourage young people to embrace what we're doing one day, because now it's not just for conversation that we use our language,” he said.
“Now it's used for entertainment, art and sports.”
It also shows the need for language development and growth, he said.
Some hockey terms in Inuktitut:
Goal – Score
Hooking – niksiksingmat
Icing – Icicles
Punishment – Tigujaujuk
Kusugak said that in the past, language was shaped by land and environment.
“(Now) there are words like computers, helicopters, vehicles, all these different things that didn't exist in our society before,” he said.
“Being able to do something like hockey, it helps us modernize and adapt and advance our language.”
Adapting words for sports like hockey helps keep language relevant to people's daily lives, he said.
He and Ninjeongan also speak different dialects which means there are slight differences in terms used by them and their listeners.
“Because our language has so many different dialects, we sometimes try to explain what terms mean,” Kusugak said.
Sharing different dialects and generating interest in the language is one of the benefits of a broadcast like HNIC.
“They're watching hockey, yes, but they're listening to our language and how we're using it expressively, descriptively, grammatically,” Kusugak said.
And it gives a chance to highlight specific aspects of Inuktitut that don't always translate into English.
“It's hard to explain because we're living it,” he added.
Learning and laughter
As Wood comments, he's thinking of people like himself who learned the language as children but it got in the way, or got lost along the way.
“Going to residential school, it changed my mindset and perception of myself. And the language wasn't readily available,” he said.
Before going to school, everyone from her grandparents to her friends spoke Cree. As a teenager, Wood worked to reclaim his language and said he often struggled with it. But even when struggling, Wood said he tries to find humor and laughter in the mistakes.
Some hockey terms in Plains Creek:
Bodycheck – pakamiskawaw, pakamiskatowak
Faceoff – Very smooth
He shoots – Kitasquev
He scored – pihtikwahēw
Now fluent in both Cree and English, Wood tries to share the language with elders and youth alike and offers advice for those who fear mishearing.
“Remember that the Creator gave us (laughter) as indigenous people and it's embedded in our languages,” Wood said.
Kusugak said that when he was growing up his parents insisted that he and his siblings speak Inuktitut at home, adding that he “can't thank my parents and family members enough”.
While he's excited to showcase his language on APTN's first Inuktitut HNIC broadcast, Kusugak said it would also be great to have more Indigenous representation on the main broadcast.
“You never know, maybe they'll ask one of us indigenous (language) speakers to come in one day as a guest speaker or guest host and join us to do a little segment in our language.”
