Photo: Forty years for Kitikmeot Inuit org, and still going strong

Kitikmeot Inuit Association board members pose May 5 with a birthday cake at their 40th anniversary celebration in Kugluktuk. On May 5, the KIA, which represents Inuit in Nunavut’s western Kitikmeot region, also launched the Kitikmeot Media Fund to support efforts aimed at helping recover the Inuinnaqtun and Netsilingmiut languages. The fund will help producers of audio and video content, “that celebrates and promotes Inuit language and culture.” Seed funding comes from Inuit impact and benefit agreements between mining companies and the KIA. “The Kitikmeot Media Fund helps to fill an important gap in KIA’s language and culture programming. I hope that with this fund in place, it will encourage our language-speakers, community journalists, storytellers and writers to take part in the exciting work that KIA is involved in,” said KIA President Stanley Anablak in a May 5 news release. (PHOTOS COURTESY OF ANDRE OTOKIAK)