Hit comedy series North of North makes Nunatsiavummiut ‘feel seen’

There are many things to look forward to in 2026, and for some Nunatsiavummiut it’s the new season of a hit TV series they say represents Inuit life better than anything they’ve seen before.

“I think a lot of us just felt seen in a way that we haven’t really experienced through television,” says Tegan Voisey, an Inuk artist from Makkovik.

In January 2025 North of North took the Canadian entertainment industry by storm, offering eight episodes of Inuit humour, love, and drama set in the fictional community of Ice Cove, Nunavut. 

Created by Inuit filmmakers Stacey Aglok MacDonald and Alethea Arnaquq-Baril, and co-produced by Northwood Entertainment and Red Marrow Media, the show premiered on APTN, CBC and Netflix. It follows Siaja, played by actress Anna Lambe, a young mother who sets out to reinvent herself in the small community after leaving her husband. 

In her effort to become an independent single mother, Siaja encounters a whirlwind of events: meeting her father for the first time, being visited by Inuit sea goddess Nuliajuk, applying for jobs, and moving back in with her mother Neevee, played by Inuk actress Maika Harper.

The series’ premise, actors and depiction of daily life in Ice Cove resonated with Voisey and other Nunatsiavummiut who say they haven’t seen Inuit represented this way in a TV series before.

“I definitely think that North of North does stand out in the way that it was made by Inuit, for Inuit,” says Ocean Pottle-Shiwak, an Inuk artist and author from Rigolet. Pottle-Shiwak says it’s interesting to see Inuit lifestyle “being accurate to the way that you live,” adding “it isn’t something that I have actually seen before.

“It makes us as a whole—I think I’m not just speaking for me—feel seen by these big names like CBC and Netflix,” Pottle-Shiwak says. “It’s nice to see us finally be recognized for who we are.”

Pottle-Shiwak says North of North captures “the basis of isolated Inuit life pretty well,” and that the series successfully depicts real-life issues Inuit women face. In episode six, Siaja attempts to have a one-night-stand with a white man who fetishizes her. “It’s gross that it happens, but stuff like that actually does happen,” Pottle-Shiwak says, explaining Indigenous people are often sought out “to check a box to fulfill a fantasy.”

Pottle-Shiwak says they hope season two, which is reportedly being filmed in Toronto and Nunavut in the coming months, will see characters Siaja and Kuuk, played by actor Braedan Clarke, enter into a relationship.

Local representation

Throughout the show’s first season its characters model Inuit clothing and fashion, including a pair of earrings made by Rigolet jewelry-maker Tammy Hannaford who, through her business Porcupine Kunik, makes jewelry using antlers, flowers and resin. 

“I feel like because so many artists have had their work featured on North of North that it’s been such a fun and exciting way to connect so many dots between people and make connections,” Hannaford says. “I’m very honoured that they would want to use my stuff, and I feel a sense of pride for everybody.”

Tegan Voisey, an Inuk multidisciplinary artist from Makkovik, also had her earrings showcased on North of North. “I love it. I think it is hilarious and I was completely obsessed with it from the very beginning,” Voisey says.

Voisey makes earrings and accessories using laser engraving, sublimation, and polymer clay. “I was super excited when I first found out,” Voisey says, “especially to be from a really small town, and then to have my work featured on such a big show made me really proud.”

Hannaford says she is happy to see Inuit women being cast in leading roles on major networks and streaming services. “I’ve never seen Inuit represented in such a modern, realistic, relatable and fun way,” they say. “I think that it’s long overdue.” 

Voisey is also thrilled to see Inuit taking the lead on the big screen. “I am excited to see that representation, to see our values and fashion represented in a way that helps spread awareness for people to see who we are. That we aren’t all the same, and not a monolith, and more than our stereotypes,” she says. 

“It’s really cool to see relatable characters, and everybody felt like you know somebody personally which made it easy to connect with,” Voisey continues. “I think a lot of us just felt seen in a way that we haven’t really experienced through television.”

One of Hannaford’s favourite moments from the show comes in episode three, when Bun, Siaja’s daughter, goes caribou hunting with Neevee after getting into trouble at school. “The girl killed her first caribou and her mother was so proud,” they recall.

Though North of North is a comedy series, it also addresses serious issues. Voisey says the scenes of Neevee, Siaja’s mother, talking about residential school were impactful. “It had such a heavy impact and it made me very emotional. Like when her mom is in the church and they’re having that conversation, I think it’s really important to have that,” Voisey says. 

‘True to who we are’

In an interview with The Independent, Aglok MacDonald said she and Alethea Arnaquq-Baril “weren’t aiming to just get by, we were working really hard to make something that could be commercial and exist in mainstream media while still feeling true to who we are.”

Arnaquq-Baril said the team wanted Inuit, “especially Inuit women and kids, […] to feel seen, and for the outside audience to know that we actually exist in this day and age, that we’re not historical archival images. We’re not like history, we’re here in the present.”

Aglok MacDonald said her family, friends and home community of Kugluktuk were “a huge inspiration” in creating North of North. “Just our lives in the north, all the funny stories that we hear from our friends when we’re having good times playing bingo or having dinners at each other’s house. Our inspiration is our lives.”

It’s important to talk about responsibility to community in an Inuit context, “but also responsibility to yourself,” she continues. “It’s sometimes really hard to find that in small communities where everybody knows your relationship and has something to say about it.”

Arnaquq-Baril’s work as a creator, filmmaker and producer includes Tunniit: Retracing the lines of Inuit Tattoos (2010), Lumaajuuq (2010), Angry Inuk (2016), The Grizzlies (2018), Twice Colonized (2023), while MacDonald’s work includes Throat Song (2013), Qanurli? (2018), The Grizzlies (2018), Slash/Back (2022) and Twice Colonized (2023).

The North of North creators can’t comment on what’s in store for season two, but Arnaquq-Baril hints at a similar approach to the first season. “We know people want to spend more time with the characters that they’ve come to love. We want to get to know the community of Ice Cove, meet some more fun characters, we love more romance, basically more of the same.”