The story of Canada's first Inuk lawyer and his fight to have the status of Inuit defined in Canadian law premiers on the History Channel March 5.

Kiviaq versus Canada chronicles the struggles of Kiviaq, now 71, who was transplanted from his Arctic home near Chesterfield Inlet to southern Canada as a child, along with his mother and sister.

Nunavut filmmaker Zacharias Kunuk, whose company Igloolik Isuma Productions is best known for the award-winning Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner, decided to make a documentary about Kiviaq after first reading about him in a magazine.

Kiviaq's life story and his legal battle to have Inuit recognized in law in the same way as First Nations people fascinated Kunuk.

"I never thought about it — why is there an Indian Act? How come there's no Inuit Act? The Charter of Rights says all aboriginals will be treated equal and that struck me," Kunuk told CBC News.

Kiviaq, who has spent most of his life in Edmonton where he is now dying of cancer, is hoping the film will make a difference.

"I just hope the point gets out to the world what's happening with the Canadian Inuit and the possibility of their being just removed from the face of the earth, and I call it genocide, you know by assimilation," he said.

"We may not exist as a people. I hope that point is being made in the film and people do something about it."