Susan Aglukark
A message of hope and healing
By Terry Jorden
It was a winter morning at Eden Valley First Nation, just west of High River. Outside, the air was crisp and the land was covered in the season’s first snowfall. Inside the community’s Chief Jacob Bearspaw Memorial School, you could feel the excitement.
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Forsyth, Klein and Aglukark |
This was the day Juno-award winning Inuk singer Susan Aglukark visited the school, met with students and put on a community concert.
In the afternoon, about half of the 500 residents of Eden Valley crowded into the school’s gymnasium to hear the stories and songs of the 37-year-old Aglukark.
In the morning, she met with a group of about 40 to 50 at-risk Aboriginal youth selected by the community to meet Aglukark.
Her message to them was straightforward. You can achieve your dreams if you can find inner strength to build confidence and avoid the pitfalls of drugs, alcohol and dropping out of school. She spoke from the heart and told stories based on her own experience of growing up in small northern Inuit communities.
As a child, she remembers listening to a number of well-meaning speakers who visited her school to talk about various social issues. It was interesting, but then they would leave and never be seen again.
Now as an adult, Aglukark has developed a program called The Fifth Season: The Healing Season. She makes direct contact with students. She distributes journals for the students to put down their thoughts. She uses her stories and music to talk about issues like suicide, teenage sexuality and sexual abuse. Afterwards she stays in touch by email and then returns a few months later for a follow-up.
Her visits are timed to coincide with what she calls the fifth season: the times in the year when our spirits are at their lowest – fall heading into winter and after Christmas before spring.
First tried in Manitoba, the program was experienced by nine Alberta Aboriginal communities this year thanks to support from federal and provincial governments, the RCMP, and numerous private companies and community groups.
In Eden Valley, Dr. Colleen Klein, the wife of Premier Ralph Klein, and former Alberta Solicitor General Heather Forsyth also were in attendance to thank Aglukark for her visit and to encourage the community to continue its efforts to create a safer, healthier community.
“I particularly enjoyed spending some time with the children and youth who participated in this morning’s workshop,” Dr. Klein said. “I see so many great possibilities and potential for all Aboriginal people.”
After a visit to Hobbema’s four First Nations, Aglukark traveled to Standoff where the Blood Tribe honoured her by giving her the Blackfoot name of Holy Song Woman in front of 700 people. At the Saddle Lake First Nation near St. Paul, she received a thunderous welcome.
Naomi Steinhauer, 18, was one of the students Aglukark met in Saddle Lake. Naomi says one day she would like to be a chef but that means finishing high school and going to college.
“I want to go to college, but I’m scared that I won’t accomplish it,” she said. “I have confidence in myself, but there is no one to support me, to push me forward. Knowing that Susan got through it helps me to believe that I can.”
Further into the tour, Fort McKay and Janvier youth waited patiently in line to thank Susan and in Assumption the Dene Tha drummers helped Aglukark during the Dene song He Na Ne Ho. This was repeated in Peerless Lake where children sang along to O’Siem and in Calling Lake where the community joined hands in a round dance at the end of the performance.
Communities Visited
Eden Valley, Hobbema, Standoff, Saddle Lake, Fort McKay, Janvier, Assumption, Peerless Lake and Calling Lake.
Project Partners
Alberta Solicitor General, RCMP “K” Division and the Saddle Lake Boys and Girls Club, along with contributions from Alberta Justice, Justice Canada, Health Canada, Suncor Energy Foundation, Syncrude Canada, TransCanada Pipelines, Albian Sands Energy, Municipal District of Opportunity, Alberta-Pacific Forest Industries, Tolko Industries and in-kind support from the Alberta Mental Health Board and local RCMP detachments.
Peerless Lake
