Kiviaq

For the Greenlandic food of auks fermented in a sealskin, see Kiviak.

Kiviaq (David Charles Ward)
Edmonton City Councillor
In office
1968–1974
Personal details
Born(1936-01-23)January 23, 1936
Chesterfield Inlet, Northwest Territories
(now Nunavut), Canada
DiedApril 24, 2016(2016-04-24) (aged 80)
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Alma materNorthwestern State University
Washington State University
OccupationLawyer

Kiviaq (also known as David Charles Ward;[1] January 23, 1936 – April 24, 2016) was a Canadian Inuk lawyer, politician, and former sportsman.[2] He was raised in Edmonton, Alberta.

In 1968, he became involved in politics, being elected to Edmonton City Council. He had won the Vanier Award as one of Canada's "Five Most Outstanding Young Men," for his work as a public relations officer and recreational director for the city. He served two terms on the council as an alderman, and ran for mayor in the 1970s with an unsuccessful outcome.[3] As a personable politician, he successfully lobbied for the Commonwealth Games to be held in Edmonton. He ran his own open-line radio show at CJCA and CJOI-FM, with interview subjects such as Muhammad Ali. After attending law school, Kiviaq was the first Inuk to become a lawyer, and was responsible for several important advances in establishing the legal rights of Inuit. He was called to the bar in 1983,[4] a moment recognized in a letter from then-Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau as a "solid and progressive achievement in the history of your people." In September 2000, Mr. Ward made the initial application to change his name back to Kiviaq, the single-word Inuktituk name that his mother and Caucasian step-father gave him at birth. In 2001, he won that right.[1][5][4] In 2003, Edmonton City Council and mayor Bill Smith declared March 14 "Kiviaq Day".[6]

  1. ^ a b "Kiviaq Versus Canada presskit" (PDF). Catbird Productions. 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 10, 2017.
  2. ^ "Biographies of Mayors and Councillors (W)". Edmonton Public Library. Archived from the original on July 5, 2011.
  3. ^ Robb, Trevor (May 2, 2016). "Kiviaq, former Edmonton athlete and Canada's first Inuit lawyer, dies at age 80". The Edmonton Journal. Retrieved March 26, 2017.
  4. ^ a b Larsen, Wayne (May 15, 2016). "Kiviaq, Canada's first Inuit lawyer, won right to use his name". The Star. Retrieved March 26, 2017.
  5. ^ Names and Nunavut: Culture and Identity in the Inuit Homeland, by Valerie Alia; published by Berghahn Books, 2008; via Google Books
  6. ^ "Atanarjuat director celebrates modern-day champion". CTV television network. April 25, 2006. Retrieved March 2, 2007.