Hockey Night in Canada scores an itiqtitsijut with broadcasts in Inuktitut

Being able to speak Inuktitut on Hockey Night in Canada is like a dream come true for Pujjuut Kusugak. 

“It’s just one of those things that you wished and you fantasized about but now it’s a real thing that’s coming up,” he said. 

Kusugak, and a small collection of other passionate speakers, will get the chance to speak their own languages soon on Hockey Night in Canada (HNIC) which will broadcast three games in Plains Cree and three games in Inuktitut this NHL season. 

APTN will air the games in Cree on Jan. 18, Feb. 8 and Feb. 22 and the games in Inuktitut on March 8, March 22 and April 12.

Earl Wood, from Saddle Lake Cree Nation in Alberta, has previously commentated on HNIC in Cree and will be joined by announcer Clarence Iron and analysts John Chabot and Jason Chamakese. 

Wood says the broadcasts are a way to work toward reclaiming Indigenous languages.

“It allows for a whole different way of infusing the importance of our language into young people with the number one sport in Canada,” he said.

“Any platform we can use as a catalyst to create any kind of an infusion towards interest in our language, which is our identity, for the young people I think is an excellent platform.”

Kusugak, who’s from Rankin Inlet, agrees that the broadcasts are an opportunity to create more interest in the language. 

He will provide colour commentary alongside play-by-play caller David Ningeongan on the Inuktitut broadcasts. The two commentated for the Olympics together but Kusugak says being on HNIC is different. 

The big stage provided by HNIC shows a demand for Inuktitut language programming in a wide variety of topics, he said. 

“David and I, we talk about things like how important our language is and encouraging young people to hopefully take over 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 sportscasting.”

That also shows the need for the language to evolve and grow, he said. 

In the past, the language was shaped by the land and the environment, Kusugak said. 

“[Now] there’s words such as computer, helicopter, vehicles, all of these different things that didn’t exist before in our society,” he said.

“Being able to do something such as hockey, it helps us modernize and adapt and advance our language.”

Adapting the language, by coming up with words for sports like hockey, helps keep the language relevant for people’s daily lives, he said. 

He and Ningeongan also speak different dialects which means there are slight variations in the terms they, and their audience, use. 

“Because there’s so many different dialects in our language, we try to explain at times what the 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 the distinct aspects of Inuktitut that don’t always translate to English. 

“It’s hard to explain because we just live it,” he added.

Learning and laughter

Wood said when he’s commentating, he’s thinking of people like himself who knew the language when they were kids but had that disrupted, or lost it along the way.   

“Going to residential school, it changed my mentality and perception of self. And the language wasn’t readily available,” he said. 

Prior to school, he said, everyone from his grandparents to friends spoke Cree. As a teen, Wood worked to reclaim his language and said he often struggled with it. But even when he struggled, Wood said he tried to find humour and laughter in the mistakes.

As he’s now fluent in both Cree and English, Wood tries to share the language with elders and youth and has advice for people who are afraid of sounding wrong. 

“Remember that the Creator gave us [laughter] as Indigenous people and it’s embedded in our languages,” Wood said. 

Kusugak said when he was growing up his parents insisted he and his siblings speak Inuktitut in the home, and added he “can’t thank [his] parents and family members enough” for teaching it to him. 

While he’s excited to showcase his language in APTN’s first ever 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 as a guest speaker or a guest host to come in one day and join to do a little segment on our language.”