Remembering Annie Ford, champion of Inuktitut broadcasting

Friends and colleagues are remembering Annie Ford, a long-time CBC North reporter and host who died this month, as a champion of Inuktitut broadcasting, a dedicated journalist, and a fun-loving character with a wild sense of humour.

"She was like a mentor, she was like a big sister, she was like a mom. She was a great friend of mine," said Madeleine Allakariallak, former host of CBC North's Igalaaq.

"I have many, many memories of that wild, God-praising, foul-mouthed, Elvis-singing, fun, dancing woman that we all got to know and learn from."

Allakariallak recalls taking her first job with CBC North in Iqaluit, where Ford was also based at the time. She said Ford's professionalism, and her dedication to her work, was inspiring.

"She disciplined us without mercy, she would argue with you without mercy — and they were all life lessons," Allakariallak said.

"She made sure that she put us all on pedestals, and reminded us of our strengths and how we're going to get through things and surpass difficult times. And that was her gift to us."

Ford, 67, was born in Coral Harbour, Nunavut, and was a teenager when her family moved to Rankin Inlet in 1970. She attended residential school in Iqaluit, and later worked with the Arctic Research Training Centre with Inuktitut scholar Mick Mallon.

Ford's younger brother, Kono Tattuinee, said his sister got into broadcasting — first at CBQR-FM and then later the CBC in Rankin Inlet — because she was "a born entertainer," who also strongly believed in Inuit culture and identity.  

"She loved people ... she had a tremendous heart for all of us Inuit," Tattuinee said.

William Tagoona, another long-time CBC North broadcaster in Kuujjuaq, Que., worked with Ford for decades. He described how Ford was part of the public broadcaster's shift toward more Inuit language broadcasting in the early 1980s, led by the late Jose Kusugak, CBC's former area manager for the Kivalliq region. 

"Much of CBC was dictated by English, and Inuktitut followed — and Jose didn't like that. He felt, up in the North, it's Inuktitut that must lead and English will follow," Tagoona recalled.

"So he started to surround himself with people that he knew could make that happen with him, and Annie Ford was one of those."

Ford worked for many years at the CBC in Rankin Inlet before moving to Iqaluit in the late 1990s. Over the years, she covered plenty of big events, from the founding of Nunavut on April 1, 1999, to the Inuit Circumpolar Conference in Greenland in 2010, and the Arctic Winter Games. She hosted several of CBC Nunavut's Inuktitut-language radio programs at various times, and presented the radio news in Inuktitut.  

Family, and hockey

Family was key for Ford, according to her brother — but so was hockey.

Tattuinee said in the early 1970s, the Philadelphia Flyers was his sister's team, before she permanently switched her allegiance to the Toronto Maple Leafs. 

Ford would later make history alongside the late Charlie Panigoniak when they offered, for the first-time ever, play-by-play commentary of an NHL game in Inuktitut during Hockey Day in Canada. 

Ford was also never afraid to tackle difficult issues as a journalist, according to Tagoona. She could be tough when she needed to be, he said, and always found a way to connect with people.

"Working as a journalist ... you have to, in a lot of ways, have a very big iron will because people are going to push back at you while you're trying to get certain stories. They don't want to talk about it," Tagoona said.

"Annie was good at pulling them in, and getting their trust to go on air with her."

Patrick Nagle, the former area manager for CBC Nunavut who retired last year, also worked with Ford for many years and came to admire her professionalism and dedication.

"One thing for sure about Annie was, she believed really strongly and really deeply in the work that she did. She was a champion for Inuktut language on the radio, and for the quality of the work that people were doing," Nagle said.

"And she was relentless, in terms of making sure that the job got done." 

Ford was also a straight-shooter, Nagle said.

"I always knew that she would tell me truthfully what she felt, and what she felt needed to be done," he said.

Ford retired from the CBC in 2020 but according to Nagle, she never tuned out — she'd often call newer staff members to offer help and encouragement, he said. 

"I think Annie's passing is a real loss, and I really treasure that time that I had to work with her," Nagle said.