Peers and Mentors

Featured Leader: Aloka Wijesooriya

2009-12-10T22:20:00Z

Aloka Wijesooriya lives in a place that people from all over the world dream of visiting: the North. She lives in the capital, Iqaluit, of Canada’s newest territory, Nunavut. Aloka has lived in the North for most of her life. Prior to living in Nunavut, she lived in Ontario.

She has spent most of her school years in Iqaluit and says, “Iqaluit was not my first pick on where to live, but once I started meeting new people and becoming familiar with my surroundings, I fell in love with the North!” Although she had her reservations about moving up North, her perseverance to settle into a new atmosphere helped her become an accomplished and well-known youth in her community. She loves the peaceful environment of the tundra and the small population of her home. They enable a close-knit sense of community.

Aloka started her schooling at Joamie Elementary School and is now a grade 11 student at Inuksuk High School. She is a proud speed skater and a dedicated volunteer in her community. She plans to attend university after completing high school, to pursue a career in the sciences.

Aloka is proud of her accomplishments, which include taking part in basketball and speed skating. As a basketball player she has won MVP two times, and she has received participation ribbons for speed-skating competitions. Through Skills Canada she has learned many different trades, such as baking, cooking and prepared speech. Skills Canada Nunavut is a program that provides venues for young people to explore the many opportunities available in skilled trades and technology careers. In partnership with private and public sector partners, the organization is helping address the North’s need for a skilled workforce.

Aloka feels that her extracurricular activities have taken her further as a person. She performs violin and flute recitals publically and has acted in two musicals, allowing her to experience theatre life first-hand. Along with her musical talents, she has won her school’s Gillis Award for best painting. She is also a very active member of her community and has volunteered in several groups, both in and outside of school, including:

· Environment Club

· Student Council

· YOUCAN (conflict resolution group)

· Y.E.A.H North! (Youth Educating About Health—sexual and mental health information for teens)

· Skills Canada Nunavut

· Kamatsiaqtut Help Line

She has also contributed to the community through participating in sport tournaments, coaching speed skating, serving as a junior instructor at music camp and working on the Kamatsiaqtut Help Line, among other activities. Her volunteering has earned her the honour of the Canada Day Youth Award for Nunavut for two consecutive years.

Aloka has taken the environment, people and culture of her hometown to heart. She calls Iqaluit the “true North strong and free!” Her passion for the North is one of the things she hopes will rub off on other people who live in Nunavut and abroad.

Aloka says that her drive is inspired by Brian Tracy’s words: “Goals are the fuel in the furnace of achievement.” She would like to see youth take the lead in letting people in the south let go of their misconceptions of the Arctic and see it from a Northern perspective.

Featured Leader: James Kuptana

2009-05-01T19:55:00Z

James Kuptana grew up in Ottawa, Ontario with strong links to his family's home of Sachs Harbour, located in the Beaufort Sea on Banks Island in the Northwest Territories. This is a small community of 120 people in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region that has a unique mix of Eastern, Western and Central Inuit traditions. Growing up outside the north means that James had limited contact with his culture and Inuvialuktun language. Fortunately, Ottawa has a large southern Inuit population with a close knit community feel. He identifies himself through Inuvialuk culture, the music and drumming, the stories heard sitting with his Nanauk having tea and bannock.

James Kuptana sees that there is a great need to look at both traditional knowledge and scientific knowledge when discussing the issue of Arctic climate change. It is a pressing issue that demands a combination of international, scientific and local community attention. James can see that we can benefit from both the northern and southern perspectives since he experiences both the lifestyle of southern formal education and the traditional Inuvialuk lifestyle that involves spending time on the land, hunting and learning from community elders. James knows that this important link between youth and elders has to be enhanced and maintained. This is not only because youth will be the elders of tomorrow but because they have a role to play right now, on a daily basis, for the environment and for the younger community members.

There is an array of opportunities available to help mitigate climate change from assisting with community based monitoring and research; to increasing awareness through community education. James does his part by working with the Inuit Circumpolar Council, Canada as a junior researcher and working towards becoming part of the next generation of scientists, who have their feet planted in both the scientific and traditional knowledge bases.

James appreciates that a southern upbringing came with opportunities to educate others about Inuvialuit, as well as a schooling experience he can apply to his future career in the North. While studying at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario in Indigenous Environmental Studies, a professor, Dr. Chris Furgal, introduced James to the Circumpolar Flaw Lead System Study (CFL) which is a Canadian project of the International Polar Year. This project is part of the CCGS Amundsen icebreaker which travels in the Beaufort Sea and has a vast array of studies happening on board, from physical oceanography, atrophic levels and food webs, to gas fluxes and environmental contaminants.

James was on the ship in July 2008. He participated under the science outreach program called Schools on Board as part of the Circumpolar Inuit Field Program, a pilot program, the first to be exclusively Inuit students, that included Inuit from Alaska, Greenland, Russia and the Northern regions of Canada. Since each participant had the opportunity to conduct local environmental knowledge interviews and present their findings to the scientists on board, James learned that Inuit across the Arctic are facing similar challenges. He learned there are changes in animal distribution and population that ice has thinned and decreased in abundance, not to mention that weather is altering quickly, making it unpredictable.

James was also able to learn about the ways Inuit are actively adjusting to the impacts of climate change; changes in hunting schedules, different hunting techniques and relying on community sharing. This brought up associated concerns for James, questions about the future of energy production and Arctic food security.

The research assignment James undertook informed the scientific work happening on the ship as James had the opportunity to present his findings to the scientists on board. It was also an opportunity for James to put his formal education into real world practice. He also emphasized that he benefited personally from this experience since it strengthened his family, community and cultural connections in Sachs Harbour.

James felt that speaking with elders was the highlight of his experience at it stresses the importance of community knowledge. With the elders in mind, James has recognized a need to learn his Inuvialuit language since knowledge is most eloquently and accurately expressed in its language of origin as it already contains the culture's perspective and worldview.

He now works with the CFL Team 10, which is guided by the Inuit Circumpolar Conference, Canada, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami and other regional organizations. The team's goal is to implement "two ways of knowing". The project conducts traditional knowledge research focusing on the impacts of environmental change on people and the adaptations that have already taken place.

With this experience and exposure on board the CCGS Amundsen to science and his culture, James has been inspired to go into Arctic marine biology in the future and to continue to live an Inuvialuk lifestyle. James is certainly a youth leader. In his own words, a northern leader is "well spoken and well read and educated about the current regional and international challenges that the circumpolar regions are facing, but their education also comes from the experience of living in the north and working with the people there."

By Jessica Kotierk.

Featured leader: Jessica Simpson

2009-01-01T20:51:00Z

Jessica Simpson is a Tlicho First Nations from Wha Ti, NT, who grew up in Somba Ke (Yellowknife), Denendeh. She is a young indigenous leader with a diverse array of interests and accomplishments. In October 2007, she received her Bachelor of Arts with major in Anthropology and minor in Canadian Studies, from Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick.

Jessica continues to gain knowledge about her Dene cultureby learning traditional recipes and reading about Tlicho legends, she plans to write a children’s book about the influential stories. Jessica has written a number of youthf ocused articles on ‘How to stay motivated and the struggles therein’. Her written work has been published in RedWire and Spirit-Mag; both Canadian Aboriginal youth magazines. She was also published in the New Socialist Magazine which concentrates on politics, social movements and culture. In 2003, Jessica attended the annual general meeting of the NWT Youth Council, during this time she was became more interested in Northern issues and of the proposed Mackenzie Gas Project. It wasn’t one person in particular that influenced Jessica but everyone that attended the meeting. She found inspiration in the stories and emotions expressed, many relating to the concerns of youth in northern communities. In retrospect, it was her sympathetic concern for northern people that motivated Jessica to advance her involvement in Northern issues.

Jessica currently lives in Yellowknife, NT, and works for the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board. As the Community Liaison Officer, Jessica provides the public with written and visual assistance in understanding the environmental assessment process. The Review Board is responsible for conducting quality environmental impact assessments which protect the environment and enhance the social, economic and cultural well-being of Mackenzie Valley residents and of all Canadians.

Prior to obtaining the job with the Review Board, Jessica was the co-director of the Arctic Indigenous Youth Alliance. The AIYA encourages dialogue between youth and Elders, through raising awareness of the potential impacts of the Mackenzie Gas Project. The Arctic Indigenous Youth Alliance seeks to connect the vision of the youth with the wisdom of the elders, and to relate traditional knowledge and values to issues of development and globalization. Their goal is to provide education and leadership development to Northern indigenous youth. They seek to empower the youth to engage decision makers (industry and government), and equip them to make decisions for a sustainable development framework based on the traditional knowledge and customary practices of the Dene and Inuvialuit indigenous peoples.

In her last year of university Jessica decided to temporarily withdraw from the Youth Alliance to explore other avenues to increase her knowledge on global issues. Jessica demonstrates exceptional character and it is reflected in her high standards of ethical conduct and her strong sense of citizenship and community responsibility. She greatly understands the affects and prospects of the Oil and Gas industry. She recognizes that it is a huge, constructive resource for the North and its people, but is especially aware of the great concern for northern people and how their lives will be affected by future development. She believes that respect and knowledge is the balance when dealing with oil and gas issues, there is not one solution or answer, the best approach is to be educated and aware of the issues.

Operating on behalf of the Arctic Indigenous Youth Alliance and the Mackenzie Valley Environment Impact Review Board, Jessica is a new project partner for the Gas, Arctic Peoples, and Security (GAPS) Initiative.She has taken on this responsibility to support and share knowledge on this issue with the public, especially the northern youth audience. This initiative specifically focuses on the impacts of oil and gas activity on climate change and on Arctic peoples, in order to identify and document threats and coping strategies from multiple security perspectives (in both Arctic communities and among Arctic researchers). It aims to deliver this knowledge in cooperation with Arctic communities, to other Arctic communities, and to the human security policy and academic communities.

In the future, Jessica aspires to obtain her master’s degree, in order to do this she will have to leave the north, she fully intends on returning and contributing the knowledge and experience she will have gained to help ensure a sustainable future for the North. We have seen Jessica’s progression from being a motivated youth activist, to having a dynamic involvement on Arctic issues and a rewarding career in the sustainable development field. It is evident that Northern youth need leaders they can trust and respect, a leader that can inspire greatness, Jessica encourages youth to keep positive and never lose sight of your vision for the future.

By Linda Wright

Featured leader: Gwen Healey

2009-01-01T20:32:00Z

Gwen Healey is paving the road for Nunavummiut (Inuit of Nunavut) to better understand Inuit health and work together to address community health needs through research. She grew up in Iqaluit, Nunavut and continues to live in her northern territory even though she has the education and work experience that could take her anywhere else in the world. The aim of her past and present work is to promote healthy communities for future generations in Canada’s Arctic.

Like many other Iqalungmiut (people of Iqaluit), Gwen witnessed her northern town mushroom into one of the fastest growing cities in Canada when Nunavut became a Canadian territory in 1999. Iqaluit’s rapid population growth and housing construction continue to surprise her ever since the town became the capital of Nunavut. In addition, with the growing national and international attention on the Arctic, interest in northern health research has been increasing. While the information that’s gathered contributes to an overall picture of health in Canada’s Arctic Gwen, and others she works with, noticed a gap between the general research interests of southern health researchers coming north, and communities’ perceptions about their own health needs.

Gwen graduated with a Bachelor of Science from Queen's University in 2002, and returned to the Arctic but to northern Norway. She became an intern with the Winnipeg based International Institute for Sustainable Development, and moved to Arendal. For six months, she worked at the circumpolar University of the Arctic as an assistant to the University’s director. She contributed to communication and program development between circumpolar educational institutions, which secured long‐term partnerships for the university to better serve northern peoples. Immediately after her Norwegian placement, she continued her work with the University of the Arctic’s International Secretariat in Rovaniemi, Finland until the autumn of 2003. During her internship and following work, Gwen realized the power of being “truly circumpolar” and the importance of understanding that life for northerners in Scandinavia was not all that different from her Canadian roots in Nunavut.

She traveled back to Canada with a new perspective about the north and began her Masters degree in Community Health Sciences at the University of Calgary. She focused her research on determinants of health for Inuit women in Nunavut. This project enabled her to apply her education and life experience to address an important health issue that had been identified by the community. She had the unique opportunity to interview Inuit women to gain a better understanding of the complex way in which education, health knowledge, traditional knowledge, culture and wellness interact and contribute to women’s health in Nunavut. Her research shared women’s perspectives on northern people’s health issues that can affect their family and cultural lifestyles. This practical knowledge became the backbone for Gwen’s future work in supporting community‐driven health initiatives in Nunavut.

Upon completion of her Masters, Gwen collaborated with coworkers in the Yukon and Northwest Territories, starting a nongovernmental organization called Arctic Health Research Network (AHRN). In Nunavut, the organization is also known by its Inuktitut name, Qaujigiartiit (looking for things). AHRN is the first Canadian tri‐territorial health research network linking three northern regions Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut. Gwen became the Executive Director of the Nunavut branch of the new organization and began to create a network to facilitate the sharing of community opinions, concerns and solutions about health and health research needs.

Her life in the north has given her inspiration to promote the importance of Inuit perspectives on and participation in health research and the documenting of traditional knowledge, which remain fundamental for addressing Arctic health concerns. In the past, Nunavut communities have expressed concern about situations where southern researchers assess Inuit health problems, collect data concerning community health, and return to the south with little collaboration with Inuit.

This past summer, Gwen also had the opportunity to work on the CCGS Amundsen with the 2007 Inuit Health Survey for Nunavut called “Qanuippitali?” or translated “How about us? How are we?” This ship traveled to 19 remote communities in Nunavut to conduct a survey on Inuit health. The data generated by the survey will provide a picture of cardiovascular health for Inuit in these communities, including risk of heart disease and diabetes. The information will be used by territorial organizations and governments to better address Inuit‐specific health care needs.

Gwen had the privilege of interviewing people from these small communities and discussing the health challenges that they struggle with on a daily basis. This experience helped Gwen realize the importance of Qaujigiartiit /AHRN and of supporting communities in the development of their own health research projects that can add to and complement the body of knowledge generated by large surveys such as ‘Qanuippitali?’

The strength and humility Gwen found in the people she had the privilege of interviewing, reinforced her drive to work towards the betterment of health for northerners. The goal of AHRN is to work with communities to develop health research priorities and share with researchers coming north. To work with northern training programs that will allow northerners to participate in the development of health research projects that can be run in communities by community members.

Gwen has hopes that Qaujigiartiit/AHRN will help provide opportunities to help and support Nunavummiut youth to study and work in health, and ultimately create a healthy environment that works for Inuit. In the future, the organization will promote education and opportunities that may allow Nunavut students to have hands‐on experience with researchers in the field.

By Carolee Buckler.