Susan Aglukark

Susan Aglukark

Toronto, Ontario
Performing Artist - First Nation Expert & Indigenous Advocate
Susan Aglukark is one of Canada’s unique artists & Award-winning Inuk singer-songwriter, blends Inuktitut & English languages with contemporary pop music. Susan Aglukark continues to share her experiences as an Inuk growing up in Nunavut, as well as the challenges faced by northern communities and Indigenous youth through her music.
  • Diversity & Inclusion
  • Leadership
  • Mental Health
  • Peak Performance
  • Personal Growth
  • Business Management
  • Career Development
  • Community Engagement Events
  • Conference
  • Corporate Entertainers
  • Economic Development
  • Education & Teachers
  • Environment & Climate Change
  • Family & Parenting

SUSAN AGLUKARK BIOGRAPHY

Susan Aglukark is the first Inuk artist to win a Juno (3) and a Governor General’s Performing Arts Award for lifetime artistic achievement, she is an officer of the Order of Canada, holds several Honorary Doctorate degrees and has held command performances; but Susan also acknowledges the path has not been easy. She is also a sought-after public speaker.

“Here I was, living a life I never imagined, but I was struggling to understand who I was. There was no opportunity growing up to learn about who we were, the Inuit, from our own perspective. In essence, we were institutionalized by being told who we were, how we would live and when you are told a story for so long, you learn to believe it,” explains Susan Aglukark. During the past 25 years of reflection and songwriting, Susan Aglukark kept coming back to one area of profound knowing, the Inuit are an extraordinary people deeply grounded in a culture forged by their Ancestors, their journey is what shaped them. “Their life experience is the foundation on which our precepts of determination, adaptability and love for life are built, they began the journey to our present-day Nunavut.” (Susan’s Walrus Talks comments)

“The conversations around reconciliation have provided an opportunity to begin to re-write our narrative. The Indigenous people in Canada come from highly organized societies built on knowledge, process and organization – without which none of us would have survived.” For Susan Aglukark, art has played a significant role in her healing journey and in the re-writing of her narrative, she believes it plays an important role for indigenous youth who are dealing with contemporary identity issues today. “Our children and youth are strong and resilient, they still believe very strongly in their culture, in Inuit or Indigenous culture, and they are still fighting every day to find their place.”

“They need to be anchored to an identity and so much of those connections are in our ancestors and their stories and we have a duty and a responsibility to engage our children and youth in the process of connecting with and helping them write those stories.”

Susan Aglukark has always been very open about how her own fears and personal trauma that left her disillusioned and disconnected. Born in Arviat, Nunavut, her parents formative years were in traditional Inuit culture, her formative years were not traditional and were somewhat disconnected from her culture. Despite the success Susan Aglukark experienced in the 1990s, by 1998 she was suffering from post-partum depression and found herself in a dark place in need of time to reflect and heal, what followed was the several years of reflection, healing and making deeper commitments to her singing/songwriting career.

And so, began what Susan calls her “awakening”. As she learned more about her culture and the strength and resilience of the Inuit who have been on this land for over 5,000 years, Susan was also engaging her own “inner artist” and falling in love with performing, sharing stories and singing.

“We have an extraordinary culture and an extraordinary past, we must embrace the opportunity to learn about our very own heroes, write those culture bridges and reframe who we are in today’s world.” Through her music, Susan Aglukark continues to share her experiences as an Inuk growing up in Nunavut, as well as the challenges faced by northern communities and Indigenous youth. Susan Aglukark is actively involved in various projects to bring food and support to northern communities and in 2016 the Arctic Rose Foundation gained charitable status with a focus on helping youth in the north through art and other engaging creative projects.

Videos

Podcasts

Coming Soon!

Susan Aglukark Topic Presentations

nomad

  • Keynote Presentation
  • NOMAD is a 60 minute multi media/speaking and singing presentation on the last several thousand years of Canadian Inuit history developed and presented by Inuk singer/songwriter, Susan Aglukark, O.C.

    Through songs, stories, film, photos and music videos, NOMAD will take you on the journey of the Canadian Inuit over the last several thousand years shedding light on some of the psychological and cultural impacts of rapid change in the North. NOMAD also gives a glimpse of the resilience and determination of a people who have maintained a quiet dignity despite near annihilation by disease and rapid change, a glimpse of the strengths of the traditional culture
    that have (also) endured.

    While NOMAD helps us better understand the effects of colonization and generational trauma of the Governments Residential School/assimilation policy on Inuit, viewers also gain an understanding that we as Indigenous (artists) work with and from for our own respective healing and learning.

    NOMAD in its format(s) is a utilization of indigenous stories weaved from our respective collection of resources, “research”, bodies of work and methods of sharing, a healing process in itself.

healed enough

  • Keynote Presentation
  • Healed Enough is a 60-minute speaking and singing presentation by Inuk singer/songwriter, Susan Aglukark, O.C.

    Through songs and stories, Susan will take you on her personal journey from small town Nunavut to headlining within two years with no musical orthodoxy to draw from. Susan talks candidly of how the challenges in the early years of her singing career became the catalysts and how meeting these challenges became her healer.

    Healed Enough talks about how Susan chose the path of engaging the artist. As an indigenous person/professional and because of this path that Susan chose, Susan has come to understand that for many indigenous in pursuit of careers, pursuit will almost always mean simultaneously coming to terms with the many years of effects of colonization and all of the fallout and generational effects and trauma from residential school.

    The process of her healing included connecting deeper with her culture and people, the Inuit, Susan shares:

    “We (Inuit) have an extraordinary past, much of which has been kept from us and removed from the history books, the opportunity to learn about our very own cultural heroes helped me to aspire for more, to dream and to reframe who I am as an Inuit person in today’s world.”

    Healed Enough is Susan’s story, she writes, sings and talks candidly about recovering (enough) from her own abuse, about stumbling into her celebrity, about re-connecting with her Inuit heritage and the choices to use all of this to become Healed Enough.

extended keynote presentation

  • Keynote Presentation
  • The extended keynote presentation by Susan Aglukark is a 60 minute presentation incorporating stories and songs. Broken up into segments by album, she talks about her personal and professional struggles between each project beginning with the first album Arctic Rose and moving on to her latest independent album Blood Red Earth.

    Throughout the presentation, Susan talks about the turning points in her life and how each one came with decisions and with each decision came risks and/or consequence. At each point a song was written and consequently recorded so Susan then goes into that song.

    A big part of her presentation is her heritage, at the Arctic and it’s people the Inuit. Susan touches briefly on her theory (the Post Colonization Syndrome Theory), the impact of Post Colonization and how the lack of transition (one of many reasons) has delayed the peoples fully engaging in mainstream society.

    She touches on her growth and consequent commitment to her art, writing, and performing. She talks about struggling to find herself in her music and what happened when she finally did settle in the career.

    Her universal message is told through seamless stories both of her own life experiences and those of her peoples then weaved into song.

Testimonials

Coming Soon!

Articles & Media

Coming Soon!

Books

Coming Soon!

How to book Susan Aglukark for an event?

Susan Aglukark keynote speaker is an expert presenter and has a wide range of experience speaking to a wide variety of audiences and organizations. Susan Aglukark delivers keynotes, workshops & training sessions. They may also host or emcee events. Hire Susan Aglukark from Toronto, Ontario for your event to inspire the audience to take action and make change in their work and their lives. Your workplace will benefit from our keynote speaker and their keynote talks and speeches will shift the mindsets or behaviours for the audience members in Canada. 

Interested in booking Susan Aglukark for an event?

Are you looking to hire Susan Aglukark for your event? Susan Aglukark Toronto, Ontario is a dynamic and engaging speaker that offers audiences researched content paired with expertise and a dynamic speaking ability. Susan Aglukark is also a Canadian corporate consultant and coach and facilitates workshops and training sessions for a corporate audience. Susan Aglukark is an expert keynote presenter and speaks on wide variety of topics. Hiring a great speaker for your event is important and working with a thought leader like Susan Aglukark from Speakers Canada’s roster will engage audiences into the content of the presentation to bring awareness and a fresh perspective for their approach to their work and their lives. Book Susan Aglukark to educate, motivate and activate the audience through an interactive and entertaining presentation at corporate meetings and gatherings.

Known as a popular key note speaker in Canada, Susan Aglukark creates life changing experiences for the participants with practical insights and strategic advice they can implement right after the session. Working with a one our leading expert speaker like Susan Aglukark from Toronto, Ontario offers organizations a fresh perspective to assist the people of the organization. No matter if it is a government, association, or business crowd, Susan Aglukark is a perfect speaker for your event. Through unique practical insights for trending topics and years experience speaking to different organizations, Susan Aglukark focuses on changing individuals to make better decisions at work and their lives. No matter if you are holding an in person or virtual event, having an influential speaker such as Susan Aglukark will engage, motivate, and activate the audience to make a change in their lives and inspire action for results to meet organizational goals. Your workforce will benefit from Susan Aglukark’s presentations and speeches, with measurable results set to shift the people of the organization and core direction of the company. Book Susan Aglukark speaker for your annual general meeting, conference, summit, or convention in Canada.

How much does it cost to hire Susan Aglukark for a keynote presentation or virtual event?

Susan Aglukark is an expert professional key note speaker with a lot of experience speaking and delivering engaging talks to organizations and audiences in Canada. Each of Speaker Bureau Canada’s talent have different ways to assess their fees, and Susan Aglukark speaker fee ranges depending on the size of the audience, event format (in person or virtual), event location, and if the organization booking them is a non profit, association, government department/government agency or business/corporation. The speakers we work with are flexible with their fees, and it is important for us to learn more about your event before we approach them, as it is our role to work for you, and to help you find a speaker within budget. 

Please contact Speakers Bureau of Canada and provide us with your event details so that we can contact Susan Aglukark to check availability or confirm the pricing and associated costs to hire a great speaker like Susan Aglukark for your event. As Susan Aglukark's agent and as a Canadian top speaker bureau and talent agency for speakers, we are able to propose each event opportunity from each host organization’s behalf to try to help you get in touch with Susan Aglukark and confirm them for your in person or online meeting/event. We can also provide and advise on the booking process and potentially negotiate their fee. Speakers Canada is a client focused speaker agency, and we work for you in finding good speakers for your team meetings and booking processes.

Susan Aglukark Disclaimer
Speakers Bureau Canada assists companies and event planning teams seeking to hire talent like Susan Aglukark for speaking engagements, virtual meetings, conference appearances, training sessions and workshops facilitations. Our Canadian speakers bureau does not claim to exclusively represent Susan Aglukark, however they are represented by Speakers Canada, and we work with them closely for their Canadian speaking opportunities and bookings. As Canada’s top speaker bureau, we represent Canadian motivational keynote speakers and professional guest speakers that will be available on your upcoming events date and location that are withing the budget. Our talented bureau speaker booking agency can help find business speakers or celebrity speakers that aligns with each organization, audience, event theme and the topic themes you hope for the speaker to address in their presentation. 

When SBC receives a request to book Susan Aglukark we provide you with their speaker fees, travel costs and check their schedules. We work closely with the host organization’s event planning team and the speaker to handle the logistics and to relay or negotiate associated costs. Our talented team members then will work with our talent directly or their agent/manager/assistant to confirm the Canadian speaker fee and travel expenses, so that event planning teams can receive an official quote for the speaker appearing at the event. Speaker fees and travel costs vary per speaker and our role is to contact Susan Aglukark about your event, after we have connected with the event organizers to learn all the event details and/or conference program. Each booking request is unique since session durations and audience sizes can vary which may affect the speaker’s fees. If you are looking to hire Susan Aglukark, we recommend filling out the booking request form so a booking agent from Speakers Bureau Canada can get in touch with our talent to help you coordinate with your team to engage the speaker for a successful event.

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