Wikipedia
Kiviaq (born David Charles Ward; January 23, 1936 – April 24, 2016) was a Canadian Inuit lawyer, politician, and former sportsman. He was raised in Edmonton, Alberta. Kiviaq grew up in an era of rampant racism, with vivid memories of running from white kids who shouted insults like "flea-bitten Eskimo." Fending off neighbourhood bullies honed his fighting skills, and he was soon training at a local boxing club.
He exploded onto Edmonton’s political scene in 1968 after being elected to city council and winning the prestigious 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 on the Edmonton City Council as an alderman, and ran for mayor in the 1970s. A personable politician, he successfully lobbied for the Commonwealth Games. He ran his own open-line radio show at CJCA and CJOI before going to law school. He was the first Inuk to become a lawyer, and is responsible for several important advances in establishing the legal rights of the Inuit people. He was called to the bar in 1983, 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 of 2000, Mr. Ward made the initial application to change his name back to Kiviaq, the name he received in 1936 at his parents’ camp somewhere near Chesterfield Inlet on the west coast of Hudson Bay. In 2001, he won the legal right to use his single-word Inuktituk name.In 2003, Edmonton mayor Bill Smith declared March 14 "Kiviaq Day".
Kiviaq may refer to:
- Kiviak, fermented Auk, an Inuit dish
- Kiviaq (lawyer) (1936–2016), Inuit lawyer, politician and sportsman