Published 1:39 pm Thursday, July 30, 2026 Five awards were given out to artists, educators and advocates from across Inuit Nunangat at the Inuit Circumpolar Council general assembly on July 23. From Rankin Inlet, Tia Adams won the Hans Pavia Rosing Leadership Award for her work with Google to preserve Inuit languages. Greenlandic musician and traditional clothing tailor Hans-Henrik Suersaq Poulsen, Alaskan language educator Tatiana Taanka Korthuis and Chukotka (Russia) museum director Maria Valeryevna Karnaukhova all received the award as well. The Hans Pavia Rosing Leadership Award is given out to young Inuit every four years for their efforts in strengthening culture, language, and community life. Even though Suersaq Poulsen, 33, is best known for his music, he also makes his own traditional clothes and shares them online. “If I learn something, I also want people, my own people, to learn too,” Suersaq Poulsen said about why he won the award. Performing throat singing, drum dancing and modern music, he’s been regularly performing in Iqaluit at events like Alianait and Arctic Vision since 2014. Suersaq Poulsen also makes Inuit clothing from the 1700s for personal use, for sale and for social media. “A lot of youth, they don’t know what the Elders know, what I know, and I always want to encourage them to learn and be proud of our own culture,” he said. Suersaq Poulsen is originally from Qeqertarsuaq, a community in Northwestern Greenland on Disko Island. But he said Iqaluit is like a second home for him, and he wants young Nunavummiut to know that they should take part in their shared lineage. “Keep practising your culture. Keep practising your language, keep practising and learn. Always learn about who you are and where you come from,” Suersaq Poulsen advised. Taanka Korthuis, 24, from Bethel, Alaska, teaches the Yup’ik language of Yugtun. She went to a Yugtun immersion elementary school, not learning how to speak English until she was in Grade 4. Now fluent in English, she said going to the Yugtun language school helped her learn who she is. “As I’ve grown older, I’ve realized how important our languages are, and right now the current work that I’m doing is I’m a part of the advisory council for the National Native American Language Resource Center, which really uplifts our Indigenous languages across the United States,” Taanka Korthuis said. This was her first time in Nunavut, and Taanka Korthuis said she received “amazing” hospitality. She said young Nunavummiut should take part in their culture to better know themselves. “My advice would be to continue to learn your language, listen to your Elders, practise your culture and traditions, and just keep keep absorbing and learning who you are and where you come from,” Taanka Korthuis said.
Keep practising your language; Inuit Circumpolar Council award winners celebrate culture
