Birthday of Mary Cousins (nee Panigusiq)

Mary Panigusiq was born on this day in 1938 at Saattut on Baffin Island. She was a nurse, a teacher, a journalist, an ambassador for the North and an Inuit rights activist. As a young woman she worked on the C.D. Howe, a medical ship, serving as interpretor for medical services for Inuit people. In the late 1950's she edited Inuktitut, the Inuit-language magazine, and also wrote articles and provided illustrations.

In 1963, Mary spent five months living in Ghana, West Africa, on a visit organized by Canada's Department of External Affairs. The Canadian government was assisting Ghana's education and communication systems. Mary described her role as being like a "good-will ambassador." While there she dined twice with president Kwame Nkrumah. In the 1960's she worked with a linguist on developing a standard Roman orthography for Inuktitut.

Mary Cousins, as she was known after her marriage, was also politically active in the early days of Inuit land claims. She was one of the founding members of Inuit Tapiriksat of Canada, the organization which launched the long fight for the recognition of Inuit land rights. “The government will only sponsor Inuit meetings if it is acceptable to the government; in other words, which the government is in favour of. It is all very well that the government sponsor meetings of Inuit on what the government likes, but we Inuit have to meet with our fellow Inuit and make our own plans also,” she said at the first meeting of the ITK, then called the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada, held in Toronto in February 1971.
After returning to Iqaluit, Mary taught Inuktitut language for 30 years before retiring.