you may know me as the artist formerly known as the madeskimo.
It was Souleyman from the Presha Pack — a rap group I was part of in Québec in the mid 90s — that had given me the moniker “Geronimo tha Madd Eskimo.”
I was a moody broody teenager, and was known for making beats for the crew. I had access to some drum machines and synths — making me like a mad scientist.
With the Presha Pack we were basically just kids, but we were booking our own shows — to the point of selling out venues on Grande Allée, and we recorded the infamous lost “hypotermia” demo tape.
it was a great experience, but the group eventually fell apart for different reasons. I learned to produce music, make beats, and DJ through it! I left to Montreal to attend University but kept making music as a pastime.
Things eventually led to me making music again for gigs here and there — and working with katajjaq (Inuit throat singing) artist Sylvia Cloutier, as well as notably Akinisie Sivuarapik, Taqralik Partridge, Nina Segalowitz, and more!
In 2007, and 2008 I had attended the Aboriginal Music Program Camp in Gimli, Manitoba organized by Alan Greyeyes out in Winnipeg. and I performed on APTN in 2009 and 2010 (I lost the other framed picture I had)
Around 2011 I started experiencing mental health challenges emerging from a combination of neurodivergence, and the effects of intergenerational trauma. I experienced homelessness during this time, and lived at risk off-and-on since.
I’m finally coming around to getting sorted on my experiences of trauma and finding ways to manage my mental health.
I don’t go by “madeskimo” anymore.
Around 2016 I played at an event for the ITK and they asked me not to use the “dj madeskimo” moniker as they were in a national campaign to change to the use of the term “Inuit” instead of “Eskimo“ all down the line.
Ever since then I just go by my given name Geronimo Inutiq. though some people want to still call me the madeskimo or DJ Geronimo. Some people think I chose the name I was given, but Geronimo is my given name. I don’t mind too much what people say. I just like to make and play music sometimes, and am glad when people dance or just vibe to it!
Inuktitut is known in linguistics as an "agglutinative language."
This means the base of a word can be from a noun, or a verb -- on to which can be added suffixes. These word "segments" can combine to form short or longer words -- expressing simple, or even complex ideas than can be sometimes only described in English as a sentence.
Inuktitut is my mother tongue, and I might not be 100% fluent, but I do have a working knowledge of it.
Here are some examples of how Inuktitut is agglutinative:
anaana (mother);
anaana - ga (my mother);
anaana - tsiaq (grandmother);
anaana -tsia - ga (my grandmother);
anaana -tsia - kulu - ga (my dear grandmother);
ataata (father);
ataata - ga (my father);
ataata - tsiaq (grandfather);
ataata -tsia - ga (my grandfather);
ataata -tsia - kulu - ga (my dear grandfather);
taku (look);
taku - gi (english look, you; en français "regarde" 2e personne singulier);
taku - tsia -gi (look well, you; regarde bien);
taku - tsia - kulu -gi (look well, you dear; regarde bien, chéri(e) );
-tsiaq- = "proper" "well" "excellent"
added to a noun makes it like an adjective, and added to a verb makes it like an adverb
-kulu- = "dear"
- ga = "mine" added to a noun
- gi = added to a verb for "you," 2nd person singular -- imperative tense
--
my word, I recently found out that I am a grandfather?? goodness gracious!
congrats to my irnik and his partner
+ welcome to my beautiful grand-daughter
🤍🤍🤍🤍 Abida Inutiq 🤍🤍🤍🤍 b. January 28th, 2026
(pics courtesy of Sacha)
my Inuk mother was born in a qammaq out on the land towards Clyde River area. my mom was at her family camp before I was born, so the nursing station sent a helicopter to fetch her for my birth.
I was born at the Frobisher Bay hospital. with my french-Canadian dad I learned to read, write, and draw before I was two. When he was run out of the community for being too french, I stayed with my mom and was bullied for being the white boy’s kid.
I didn’t have copper-tone skin, and being a nerd wasn’t good hunter/ fisher skills the small community valued. so my mom left clyde with me in tow for good. she settled in montreal where she did eastern arctic news for CBC in inuktitut. she sent me to school in city bus on my own.
I’d come home from grade one to find myself alone, sometimes locked out. I got abducted once like this. I experienced abuse like this. The trauma I experienced from being bullied combined with my experience of child abuse is what I have been struggling with through all my adulthood.
I found that I don’t care to belong to one group or the next. Culture is a social construct, and I’m an outsider.
I can be kind but I’m not the kindest. the abuse tried to turn me into a subhuman.
It made me believe are women just as capable of hurting and neglecting their children — sometimes in worse ways than men.
I also had some good experiences. It’s just the negative has tended to overshadow it for an important portion of my life.
I do my best to be forgiving.
but I’m never going to be your goody-goody two-shoes.
My dad sent me this — saying it was photo of the day on the Guardian’s website. He said the caption read: “Nunavut, Canada. The T-Recon autonomous robot operates on the sea ice in Cambridge Bay
during testing to evaluate the effects of the aurora borealis on its navigation system.”
🌲 Bonjour les ami(e)s,
Earlier this morning I almost missed my pre-intake phone interview concerning my application to attend the six-week residential program at the healing lodge in Kanehsatake, because I woke up thinking it was Sunday? So, I missed the call; and was fifteen minutes late when I realized -- but then I phoned back, and the interview went well, I think?
I had applied last summer, and then we played phone and email tag since... until, finally, some little details concerning my file were sorted out. There is understandably a lot of demand for the services, too -- and limited space! Anyhow, my assessor told me after the telephone interview this morning that she will give a recommendation to the committee for me to attend the cohort starting on May 6.
It will go to the assesment committee for final approval, & we will find out in a couple weeks if the application was approved, or not. 🤞 (pic from the other day)
🫶 thank you to the fine folks who have been offering support, encouragement, and help the past little while as I get it sorted. 📑I’m in Ottawa now going through my papers and stuff — spring-cleaning my life! 🧹 Monday I have a pre-intake phone interview for a six-week program that starts in May. ☮️
up since 3h30am. the shelter I been staying at is a couple hours away from Montreal centre-ville by public transit. that’s fine! it is a lot calmer there than being in the downtown core. For a wet shelter (light booze allowed) I think it’s very good. I barely drink at all but I don’t mind booze being permitted. there’s no drug use allowed on site. if you have cannabis on you — they hold it for you until you leave. it’s in a former nunnery (Les Soeurs Recluses) at the complete east end of the island. it’s an idyllic place — with deer cavorting on the grounds. the staff is kind and helpful, there is decent food, and I was able to get a bit of rest for a couple nights as I get my situation sorted out. I am considering going to some friends’ this week but I’ll see after today’s trip. I won’t hesitate to go back to the wet shelter when I need to.
am off to Ottawa right now to get some paperworks so I can get my taxes done. got a train ticket for less than ten bucks — I was able to use a VIA discount voucher because they’re always late, and used my indigenous discount — on an already reduced fare. Once I have my paperwork, I should head back towards Montreal at the end of the day.
+ also I am scheduled today to call Onen’tó:kon Healing Lodge for an intake interview as I had sent them my application a while back to request services.
anyway, hello to all. With the mess I’m in, my phone is disconnected — so I’m just sporadically online.
Otherwise I been doing a lot of walking, reading Camus (“one must imagine Sisyphus happy”) and I visited La Maison de la Culture Ahuntsic where there is a neat exhibit about art and the experience of multiculturalism by an illustrator.
+ N.B. The pic I shared of my buddy nemo the other day has been my most viewed post on meta so far. It was shared and seen by over 40K ppl so far on facebook and insta. I been dealing with a lot and was just speaking about my struggles — I didn’t think it would be noticed so much. Thank you to everyone who has been reaching out with tax tips, and even offering a place to crash. I’m super grateful for the encouragement and support from the online community.
