ARVIAT - The ceremony that took place in Arviat on Tuesday, Sept. 1, was the stuff of dreams for the Nunavut Law Society's newest member.

Lillian Aglukark flashes a smile during her call to the bar in Arviat this past week. - photo courtesy of the Mikilaaq Centre

When lawyer Lillian Aglugark was called to the bar in front of Justice Beverley Browne in her own hometown, looking on was one of her heroes - the first Inuk lawyer in Canada, Kiviaq - as well as Margaret Harrington, the widow of worldrenowned photographer Richard Harrington, and numerous friends and family members.

And, to top it all off, it was her 40th birthday.

Aglukark is one of 11 graduates of Nunavut's Akitsiriq Law Program which was delivered in conjunction with the University of Victoria Law School.

The daughter of Arviat's David and Dorothy Aglukark, Lillian is also a member of the Northwest Territories and Alberta law societies.

She is currently in practice with the firm of Ahlstrom Wright Oliver and Cooper in Edmonton.

Lillian said she felt a great sense of satisfaction and accomplishment during the ceremony.

She said she also had a strong sense of pride in being called to the bar in front of her family, friends and relatives in her home community of Arviat.

"The two most important things for Inuit youth who hope to someday achieve their own accomplishments, is to have a dream and never give up on realizing it," said Lillian.

"I started dreaming of becoming a lawyer one day as a young child, not really thinking, at the time, I would actually do it, because I knew it would mean leaving home to go to university in the south.

"But, for me, leaving home at the age of 15 to go to high school in Yellowknife really opened a lot of doors.

"When I finished high school, I wasn't ready to move even further away from my family to go to university, but the dream of becoming a lawyer was still there for me and, eventually, I got my opportunity."

Lillian said she considers herself very lucky to have had the Akitsiriq Law Program form in 2001, giving her the chance to obtain her law degree in Iqaluit without having to move to the south.

She said she never let go of her determination to become a lawyer, no matter how tough the going got.

"It was a lot of hard work and there were days when my classmates and I wondered what we were doing there. Could we do this?

"But, when you get over that hurdle and see the light at the end of the tunnel, you start telling yourself you can do this.

Lillian said it was a wonderful feeling to have Kiviaq attend her call-to-the-bar ceremony.

She said she had heard of him as a child and her admiration grew as the years went past.

"I knew of Kiviaq becoming the first Inuk lawyer in Canada, and of his being taken away from his traditional home near Chesterfield Inlet as a child.

"For my call ceremony to be part of the first time he ever came back to his homeland was very emotional for me.

"He had never been on an airplane before, and for him to come and be sitting there at my ceremony was just unbelievable.

Lillian said she takes the notion of being a role model for Inuit youth very seriously.

She said she thinks about it all the time, especially when she goes home to Arviat.

"Even when I'd come to visit my parents before I finished law school, young people would tell me how proud of me they were and that they hoped to be doing the same thing one day.

"After my call ceremony, one mother told me her granddaughter had always wanted to become a teacher, but, after seeing the ceremony in Arviat, she changed her mind and wants to be a lawyer.

"I want the kids to see me and know I'm one of them - born and raised here - and I will always be one of them.

"My message to them is: if I can do it, they can do it."