Iqaluit (May 08/06) - Filming a documentary about an Inuk trailblazer was an eye-opening experience for Nunavut's foremost director.

Iglulik's Zacharius Kunuk finished filming on a documentary about Kiviaq, the first Inuk lawyer and an advocate for Inuit rights.

Director Zacharius Kunuk, left, meets with Kiviaq in Edmonton for his film, "Kiviaq vs. Canada." The film details Kiviaq's legal struggle with the federal government to be recognized as an aboriginal. - photo courtesy of Igloolik Isuma Productions

Kunuk said the inspiration for the film came during a flight, when he read a magazine article written about the man, his history and his legal struggle to be recognized as an aboriginal.

"I thought, 'Why don't we know this guy?'" he said.

When he found out Kiviaq had cancer, Kunuk knew he had to act quickly.

In "Kiviaq vs. Canada," the genie-award winning director of "Antanarjut: The Fast Runner" follows Kiviaq's journey from Chesterfield Inlet to an unfamiliar, violent life under a new name with his mother's husband in Edmonton.

"When we were growing up, they said, 'be good or the white man will come take you away,'" Kunuk said. "That happened to him."

The film details Kiviaq's life as a golden gloves champion, Edmonton Eskimos player, Edmonton councillor and radio talk show host.

Finally, it deals with him as a lawyer, fighting for and winning the right to use his Inuk name (rather than his given name, David Ward) and his ongoing lawsuit to be recognized as an aboriginal in Canada.

It was this last detail that surprised Kunuk the most.

"We think we have Nunavut. We don't have Nunavut," Kunuk said.

"We are a race of people that, according to the federal government, are non-existent," said Kiviaq from his home in Edmonton.

Since 2001, Kiviaq has been trying to get his lawsuit into court, but it has been stalled by delays.

That only makes him think of his 106-year-old aunt, who Kunuk helped him find in Chesterfield Inlet.

"If I can live that long, we'll get this thing done," Kiviaq said with a laugh.

"I am not going to quit, and I am not going to die of cancer before I'm through with this."

Kunuk said he hopes his film can raise the profile of Kiviaq's case, and inspire other Inuit to act.

"It's a piece of information to let the people know what is really happening," he said. "We're just starting to be aggressive, to not take 'no' for an answer."

"Every morning, there's 300 children going up to school to be educated to have better futures, and you look at these communities - there's nothing," he said.

Kunuk's most recent production, the $6.5 million feature "The Journals of Knud Rasmussen" will open the Toronto International Film Festival in September.

"Kiviaq vs. Canada" will air on the History Channel in the fall.