In a small stone church on Montreal Road in the Ottawa-area neighbourhood of Vanier, something remarkable takes place every Sunday morning. Sun filters through the stained-glass windows in Easter shades of peach, pale pink and green as dozens of the area’s Inuit residents settle in the pews at St. Margaret’s Anglican Church. They are here to listen to the city’s only Inuk reverend deliver a service in Inuktitut.
It takes place after the English-language service, and its congregation includes all ages, from elders to newborns. A toddler in sealskin boots sleeps in a stroller. Another peeps out of the fur-lined hood of his mother’s amauti, a traditional Inuit parka designed with a pouch to keep babies warm. For parishioners who speak Inuktitut as their first language, it’s one of the few places in the city where they can hear their mother tongue. Others come to practice the language as they worship.
Presiding over the Inuit congregation is Rev. Canon Aigah Attagutsiak, an Inuk woman who moved to Ottawa from Arctic Bay. “I never wanted to be a priest at all. Zero,” she says with a chuckle. However, since she was ordained in 2015, wearing a stole sewn by her mother and sisters, she has become a spiritual pillar to thousands of Inuit residents who live in Ottawa.
A Historic Church and a Path to Reconciliation
Built in 1887, St. Margaret’s is one of the oldest churches in Ottawa. As the city approaches its 200th anniversary, it stands as an enduring symbol of the city’s faith. As one of the institutions that administered residential schools, the Anglican Church of Canada is grappling with a dark history around its relationship with Indigenous people. It’s something that makes Attagutsiak’s leadership even more significant as the church brings together two congregations under one roof.
Early Life and Calling
When Attagutsiak first arrived in the city in 1998, it took a few years before she began to attend St. Margaret’s. This is where she met the Very Rev. Roger Briggs, a British reverend who served in the Canadian Arctic and learned fluent Inuktitut. Briggs was instrumental in establishing the Inuktitut church service at St. Margaret’s. “He was like my mother,” she recalls. “He was kind, loving, not judgmental and friendly.”
Growing up in a Christian family of 14 children, Attagutsiak lived on the land in Akvaaqtuuq in Arctic Bay, spending winters in a sod house and summers in a tent, travelling by dog sled and relying on a diet of mainly caribou, seal meat and maqtaaq or narwhal skin. “It was beautiful,” she says.
It was Briggs who encouraged Attagutsiak to consider becoming an ordained priest. Her siblings became church deacons and priests, but she was reluctant to take on a leadership role in the church. “I kept saying no, until one time, I thought maybe it’s not them who’s calling me. I think it’s God who has been calling me. That’s the time I started to accept it,” she says. “I had a good feeling after I accepted to be part of the church. I don’t know how to explain it.”
Uniting Communities Through Faith
Attagutsiak’s leadership has become a bridge between the English-speaking congregation and the Inuit community. The dual services allow both groups to worship in their own languages while sharing the same sacred space. For many Inuit, the Inuktitut service is a vital link to their culture and heritage, especially for those who have moved to Ottawa from the North. The church also hosts cultural events and gatherings, further fostering a sense of belonging.
Through her work, Attagutsiak is helping to heal the wounds of the past and build a more inclusive future for the Anglican Church in Canada.
