Ulukhaktok, N.W.T., teacher and leader celebrated with new Canada Post stamp

A new Canada Post stamp honouring Julia Haogak Ogina shows Ogina at the QAGGIQ arts and culture festival in Iqaluit in 2021. (Submitted by Canada Post)

By RCI, CBC News

Julia Haogak Ogina is a champion of preserving Kitikmeot language and culture

Julia Haogak Ogina will soon be travelling the country, all from her home in North.

Ogina, an Indigenous teacher and elder born in Ulukhaktok, N.W.T., is being honoured with her own stamp.

Canada Post unveiled the stamp Friday in Ulukhaktok as part of a series honouring Indigenous leaders across Canada.

Ogina’s stamp, along with two others, will be issued June 20, the day before National Indigenous Peoples Day.

Ogina, born in 1962, has been a champion of preserving ancestral knowledge, particularly through drum dance. In 2006, she became the programs coordinator of elders, language and culture for the Kitikmeot Inuit Association, emphasizing the importance of oral learning in communities.

In 2017, she helped publish Huqqullaarutit Unipkaangit — Stories Told Through Drum-Dance Songs — a project to preserve the Kitikmeot’s dialects, including Inuinnaqtun.

Ogina also received an outstanding achievement award in 2017 from the Inuit Uqausinginnik Taiguusiliuqtiit in language revitalization.

In a news release Friday, Canada Post shared an image of the stamp, featuring Ogina at the QAGGIQ arts and culture festival in Iqaluit in 2021.