Rankin Inlet (Jan 10/05) - For the past decade, Kivalliq News has proudly served as the "voice of the Kivalliq."

The award-winning Northern News Services newspaper was first published on Dec. 21, 1994. Since the beginning, associate editor Mikle Langenhan has been responsible for translating the stories into Inuktitut.

Associate Editor Mikle Langenhan holds up a copy of the first front page of Kivalliq News, printed on Dec. 21, 1994. She's translated almost every edition of the newspaper during the past 10 years. - Terry Kruger/NNSL photo

"I call it my baby," said Langenhan, who was born at Maguse River near Arviat, and raised at Sandy Point.

She started out translating for her mother, and learned to read and write Inuktitut syllabics from the Bible.

Her career has taken her from working as an interpreter at Baffin Regional Hospital in Iqaluit in the mid-1960s to working for a number of Inuit organizations, the Legislative Assembly in Yellowknife and now Iqaluit.

Kivalliq News is an important part of her life.

"I'm hungry for the news," she said. "I want to read it myself."

Publisher Jack (Sig) Sigvaldason said Langenhan has built a strong foundation for the newspaper's success.

"Looking back 10 years to when we started Kivalliq News, it is obvious that our good fortune in getting Mikle involved right from the start as associate editor was probably a major key to its survival and success," said Sigvaldason.

"Mikle is is a lot like Walter Cronkite or Peter Mansbridge. She takes the news and presents it in a way her Inuit audience can understand and appreciate. She tells the story."

It's because of her work that Inuktitut readers can enjoy the news written by editor Darrell Greer.

"She's a breath of fresh air," said Greer. "She's so dependable and is worth her weight in gold. She's always there and always does her work well.

Over the years there havebeen a number of different editors but Greer, with more than six years at the desk, has served the longest. He moved to Rankin Inlet after a stint with Northern News Services in Yellowknife. He's got a reputation for hard hitting editorials and investigative reporting.

"When people ask me where I'm from, I say I'm originally from Cape Breton, but my home is Rankin," Greer said.

Greer is married and has three grown children.

After serving in the Canadian Armed Forces, Greer worked at newspapers in the Maritimes and Ontario before moving North.

"My family and I very much feel part of the community."

Outside the newspaper, Greer is Referee in Chief for Hockey NWT and Hockey Nunavut, and continues to referee hockey games around the Kivalliq and teach others in the region how to be referees as well. He's always proud when Kivalliq News wins regional or national awards. The four blue ribbons printed on page 5 of the newspaper attest to its high regard in the Canadian Community Newspapers Association.

"It's affirmation of the work you put in, but also to the uniqueness of the people you write about in your paper."