Piping in Canada’s Northwest Territories

Welcome to my website: my name is Brad Heath and I’m the Pipe Major of the Northwest Territorial (NWT) Pipe Band in Yellowknife, the Capital City of the NWT. Located at 62°27N, 114°22W, our pipe band has the frosty honour of being the mostly northerly pipe band in Canada. However, we’re not quite far enough North to claim the title of North America’s most northerly pipe band. That honour, I believe, goes to the Red Hackle Pipe Band of Fairbanks, Alaska.

When I’m not piping with the NWT Pipe Band, I work both as a freelance writer and photographer, and as the Communications Coordinator for the Arctic Energy Alliance. I’m also trying to research a book on the history of the Great Highland Bagpipes in the Canadian Arctic.

The working title for this history is Supugaqti which is the Inuit name bestowed upon Erik Mitchell when he came to Canada from Scotland in the 1950s to work for the Hudson’s Bay Company. I believe the name means “a person who plays the bagpipes” but I have yet to confirm that with Inuktitut speakers.

You’ll find more information about this project on the following pages. Since much of this history occurred in what is now the Canadian territory of Nunavut, whose population is mostly Inuit, I’ve included translations of my project description in the languages of Inuktitut and Innuinaqtun.

If you have any information or photos regarding the Great Highland Bagpipes in the Canadian Arctic (or Alaska for that matter), I’d appreciate hearing from you. You can contact me by e-mail at arcticpiper@theedge.ca.