Hosts of Northbeat, Igalaaq bid adieu to pursue new projects

A pair of veteran Inuit CBC North television hosts are moving on from their current roles.

Longtime Igalaaq host Madeleine Allakariallak will be leaving the CBC to take on a newly-created position with airline Canadian North, while Juanita Taylor, host of Northbeat, will join a new CBC network team based in the North.

Allakariallak's last show hosting Igalaaq, CBC's Inuktitut-language television show, will be Friday.

She moves into her new position as director of Inuit employment and talent strategies with Canadian North on March 22.

"Accepting this new opportunity to engage and employ more Inuit for the airline that is wholly Inuit-owned feels like an obvious step in the right direction," she said in a statement accompanying a release by the airline announcing her new position.

"It aligns with my dream to see more Inuit and other Indigenous people take on more and higher level positions within our communities."

CBC network team in the North

Taylor's last show hosting Northbeat, a pan-territorial television show, will be April 1.

She will then take on a new role as a senior reporter with CBC News as one half of a newly created network team. Taylor will be joined by Kate Kyle, a longtime CBC North journalist, who will move into a network producer role.

Taylor said she's honoured to be given this opportunity. 

"I walked into the station 11 years ago with the goal of hosting Northbeat because I watched it growing up and it was always my dream job. So it's bittersweet to be leaving," she said.

"At the same time, Kate and I are based here in Yellowknife. We're going to be able to contribute to Northbeat still, and we still have our northern presence. So in that way, I'm feeling okay leaving the show now."

Taylor grew up in Arviat, Nunavut, and began her journalism career in Iqaluit as a correspondent with APTN. She moved on to CBC North in Yellowknife, where she has spent most of the last 11 years, working across all platforms as reporter, producer, and host.

Kyle, who has spent most of her 15 year career with CBC in the North, says it's always been a dream of hers to be able to work on a team like this.

"The goal of this team is really to be filing stories on multiple platforms, so that's digital, web and radio, and we're going to be working together to do that," Kyle said.

"I just feel it's a real privilege to be able to do this kind of work in the North. And I'm just really thrilled and excited about it."

Creating the team is part of CBC's renewed commitment to journalism in the territories and the corporation's mandate to reflect Canada and its regions to national and regional audiences, according to Brodie Fenlon, editor-in-chief and executive director of daily news for CBC News.

"CBC North does a tremendous job every day of telling the story of the North to northerners. These new positions will help ensure more of those important stories find their way to broad audiences in the south on our national news programs," Fenlon said.

New CBC North managing editor

The changes come after CBC North recently hired a familiar voice to fill a leadership role.

Norbert Poitras, the former host of CBC North's Trails End, is the new CBC North managing editor. He took over the position in February, filling a vacancy after Mervin Brass moved from that role into a newly created position as senior managing director of CBC North in October.

Poitras was unavailable for an interview Monday.

No replacements have yet been announced for the two departing hosts. As of Monday, the jobs had not been posted to CBC's careers page.