Inuktitut announcers a victory for hockey at the 2022 Olympics

Key takeaways: 

• Two avid hockey lovers from Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, got Team Canada’s matches to Inuit in Inuktitut.
• Pujjuut Kusugak and David Ningeongan offered color commentary and play-by-play for all of Team Canada’s hockey matches online and will also declare the gold medal match on Saturday.

A whirlwind of a time for Pujjut Kusugak and David Ningeongan: 

As the 2022 Olympics thread down in Beijing, so does a whirlwind of a time for Pujjuut Kusugak and David Ningeongan of Rankin Inlet, Nunavut.

Since the puck first struck the ice for Team Canada on Feb. 3, the Nunavut duo has been reporting all of Team Canada’s Olympic hockey matches — men’s and women’s — for CBC’s digital medium Inuktitut. 

The duo was set up in booths at the CBC Broadcast Centre in Toronto. They’ve sometimes called two matches a day, beginning as early as 8 a.m. and working as late as 11 p.m., because of the games’ schedule and the time distinction between Beijing and Toronto. 

For Kusugak, he’s doing it for the juvenile.

“It means a lot for us to be able to use Inuktitut to showcase it for all the other individuals to listen, but also to motivate other Inuktitut speakers to use our language.” Source – cbc.ca

Also read: Nunavut walks-back intent to reduce COVID-19 measures in Pond Inlet as cases surge

As for Ningeongan, he’s doing it for the unilingual seniors.

“I did it for them so that they can sense they’re part of the neighborhood during the events. And so today, to be able to have a national or international audience is a wonderful thing for our residents.”  Source – cbc.ca

A massive audience

There have been almost 110,000 video views across CBC’s digital media for Inuktitut language coverage of Beijing 2022, including Team Canada men’s and women’s hockey matches.

“It’s been great,” stated Charlie Attagoyuk Tautuaqjuk. Source – cbc.ca