November 05, 2026

Meet Rosemarie Kuptana (Scholastic Canada Biography)

Book cover of "Meet Rosemarie Kuptana" by Elizabeth MacLeod and Mike Deas shows a smiling Inuit woman wearing a blue parka as she stands in front of a snowy northern community.
Written by Elizabeth MacLeod
Illustrated by Mike Deas
Scholastic Canada
978-1-0397-0787-0
32 pp.
Ages 6–9
November 2026
 
Rosemarie Esther Kudlak Kuptana, born in 1954, lived a traditional Inuit life with her family. She was born in an igloo on the Prince of Wales Strait as her family hunted seal. When they moved to Ikaahuk on Banks Island, they continued sharing traditional knowledge and speaking Inuinnaqtun. 
Left page of a two-page spread shows an Inuit family wearing hooded sealskin parkas, including a mother with a baby in her hood, standing in a snowy landscape of igloos and sleds. The right page shows an Inuit family around a table.
Illustration by Mike Deas from Meet Rosemarie Kuptana, written by Elizabeth MacLeod
 But when Rosemarie was eight, she was taken to a residential school where she was forced to speak English and could not speak Inuinnaqtun when she went home for summers. It wasn't until she was 18 that she worked to relearn her language.  
The left side of this two-page spread shows two Inuit children using ulus to prepare sealskins as guided by an elderly Inuit woman. The right side shows a child being taken away from their parents by a policeman wearing a red jacket
Illustration by Mike Deas from Meet Rosemarie Kuptana, written by Elizabeth MacLeod
As an adult, Rosemarie worked in the service of others, such as on the settlement council in Ikaahuk, as a nanny, and in putting on the Northern Games. But, hosting a radio show for the CBC Northern Service gave her an important chance to help bring news and opportunities, including hearing their own languages, to her community. That led to a move to television and establishment of the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network, known as APTN. 
 
Always determined to protect and promote Inuit ways of life, Rosemarie worked with the Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC) and volunteered with the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada (ITC). She and other Inuit leaders were determined to help the Inuit establish their own territory. In 1999, the territory of Nunavut was created.

Inuit people of all ages cheer as a truck passes displaying the new Nunavut flag of a red inuksuk against a yellow and white background with a blue star.
Illustration by Mike Deas from Meet Rosemarie Kuptana, written by Elizabeth MacLeod
But Rosemarie's activism for the Inuit and her community did not stop there. She's rallied against climate change, emphasizing the need for traditional Inuit knowledge to work with modern science. She helped residential school survivors get some compensation. Along with others, she helped get Inuit languages and their dialects taught in schools.
 
As a child, Rosemarie had decisions thrust upon her, separated from her family, losing her familial language, having her hair cut, and more. As an adult, she worked hard to bring decision-making back to the Inuit. She helped them get their own territory, their right to govern, their languages back, and to help fight climate change. Elizabeth MacLeod shows us an extraordinary woman who relentlessly managed to reinvigorate traditional practices of the Inuit and move them forward in establishing their rights to land, languages and traditions. Elizabeth MacLeod's words impress upon readers the outstanding accomplishments of Rosemarie Kuptana, always emphasizing the breadth of her work and her determination to work for the Inuit.
A large screen displays a dark-haired woman with glasses speaking to a large auditorium from a table on a stage where she sits with eight others.
Illustration by Mike Deas from Meet Rosemarie Kuptana, written by Elizabeth MacLeod
Illustrator Mike Deas takes the reader easily from northern territories of snow and ice, of northern lights and of traditional Inuit communities, to studios, conference halls, and activist organizations. Rosemarie Kuptana goes from a child of the land to an advocate of the Inuit people. And Mike Deas's illustrations blend the use of digital tools with gouache, watercolours, and ink to tell Rosemarie Kuptana's story completely. A  story of residential school and of struggles that the Inuit faced for self-determination could be heavy, but Mike Deas stresses the accomplishments and lifts the story to one of tribute, just as Elizabeth MacLeod's words do.
 
Meet Rosemarie Kuptana is the newest addition to the Scholastic Canada Biography series, and it's a stellar one for its historical and social significance. Thanks to Elizabeth MacLeod and Mike Deas, I now know Rosemarie Kuptana's story, and I'll be looking deeper into her life, knowing that a woman such as her will always be looking to do good and honour the traditions of her people. 
 
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Scholastic Canada Biography
Meet Rosemarie Kuptana (2026) 

Posted by Helen K
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