In CBC’s new comedy, a suddenly scandalized Inuk woman fumbles to reinvent herself in a small Arctic town where everybody knows your shame
In creating a show about Siaja (Anna Lambe), a young Inuk woman who after years of doing “the right thing” decides to blow her life up — which understandably comes with repercussions in a town of just 2,000 inhabitants — some of the most important things filmmakers Stacey Aglok MacDonald and Alethea Arnaquq-Baril wanted to say about their community were in the omissions. “We wanted to avoid stereotypes,” says Arnaquq-Baril. “We have been represented on screen by outsiders for a very long time, and sometimes outside representation of us tends to lean sad or hard. A ‘We’re surviving in the harsh Arctic’ kind of vibe. We really wanted to live in a space of joy, colour and warmth. We wanted people to think of this show as an easy thing to go watch. You’re going to feel feelings, maybe cry a little at times, but it’s a warm, joyful show.”

From the opening moments, the way that Inuit people have previously been portrayed is highlighted through a series of period photographs flashing across the screen. It is an example of how two things can be true at once. What viewers think they know about northern Indigenous life may not be wrong, but wait — there’s more. “That archival sequence was a stroke of genius from our editor, Sam Thompson,” reveals Arnaquq-Baril. “Something that we love is that a couple of the images within the archival sequence were shot by Robert Flaherty, who did the very first feature-length documentary film ever made [1922’s Nanook of the North], and Inuit were the subject of that. It is a crazy full-circle moment that the very first representation of Inuit on screen [included] Anna’s great-great grandfather. And here, Anna’s the star of our show.”

For Lambe, who hails from Iqaluit where the series is filmed, it was not only taking the representation torch from her great-great grandpa that felt personal about this experience. “Siaja was very much somebody that I saw within my family, within the community. She’s based off my cousins, my mom and my grandma. I looked at every woman that I grew up with, that I saw do incredible things. That’s what I wanted for Siaja, I wanted her to have that drive, that ambition and that willingness to take risks,” says Lambe. In some ways, the character was even Lambe herself. “I made a list of how we are similar and how we are different, and one thing that always resonated with me was we’re both incredibly anxious and always wondering if what we’re doing is the right thing,” she says. “Although Siaja and I handle things very, very differently, and I’m much less impulsive and chaotic than she is, it’s always well-intentioned.”

No doubt, the series starts on a chaotic note for Siaja, who, having started a family right after high school, is now tired of being the supporting character in her own life story and rather explosively decides to change her fate by publicly breaking up with her lunkheaded husband (Kelly William), taking their young daughter to live with her own, very messy mother (Maika Harper) and setting out to land a job. Lambe says it is her character’s guts that inspires her. “Siaja’s superpower, much to her detriment at times, is her drive to just be like, ‘Let’s do it, I’m just going to go for it.’ There’s so many instances where that’s what propels her forward. That’s how she finds herself and her independence,” Lambe explains. “At the same time, it’s through that drive that she really messes things up. The fortunate thing is she doesn’t stay down for too long and she understands that she has a responsibility to her community and to herself.”

The main character is not the only one learning lessons as a result of her actions. “Her bravery inspires her community to change,” says Arnaquq-Baril, who believes we can all learn something from the intimacy of small communities. “There’s something beautiful that happens when you have to face your family members, your enemies at work, your frenemies, no matter what’s going on in your life. When the town is that small, you see each other at the post office, at the grocery store or walking down the street. It forces you to learn how to exist in a community and be there for people who might need it, even if they’re not your favourite people.”

Ultimately, being able to toe that line between comedy, drama and cultural exploration is something the creators of North of North are proud of. “It took some workshopping,” says Aglok MacDonald, adding that some of the greater changes they have made since the series’ inception included figuring out how to introduce specifics of Inuit culture to viewers. “We would’ve just breezed past [certain subjects] because we know it and it doesn’t feel anything but normal to us, but to a global audience it wouldn’t,” she says. “It’s become a richer show and a more accessible one because of it.”

North of North airs Tuesday, January 21, on APTN and CBC