Cape Dorset youth refuse to give up hope

RCMP Constable David Lawson and his fellow officers play table tennis with youth on the weekend. “Alcoholism is the biggest issue here,” he says. (PHOTO BY JUSTIN NOBEL)

When alcohol flows into Cape Dorset, population 1,300, the scenic community can be rocked by violence. (PHOTO BY JUSTIN NOBEL)

Annpaul Ottokie, 19, Mathewsie Alariaq, 27, Alysia Toonoo, 18, seen here at the Nirivik Co-op, say despite their community’s problems, “there’s no place like home.” (PHOTO BY JUSTIN NOBEL)

Neevee Jaw, who spent the summer as a mental health intern, helped organize a week-long activity with youth at Cape Dorset’s arena, where they painted different species of Arctic birds on scraps of plywood donated from construction sites around town. Jaw produced two paintings of her own, both of Canada geese. In one, shown here, a goose flies under a full moon partially veiled by thin wispy clouds. (PHOTO BY JUSTIN NOBEL)

JUSTIN NOBEL

CAPE DORSET — It was just about one year ago that Cape Dorset started to experience a rash of violence which stunned all of Nunavut and Canada: there were two murders and a police standoff with a pair of teenagers followed by a string of suicides and shootings.

“I was scared,” said 18-year-old Alysia Toonoo, reflecting on those incidents earlier this week as she shared a steaming bowl of poutine with friends at the Nirivik Co-op. “I thought it was going to go on forever.”

Cape Dorset has settled down, but it doesn’t mean the problems are entirely gone.

Earlier this month, heavy fog grounded flights into the community for more than a week.

During that time there were no arrests, but with the first plane, there came booze, and then came trouble.

In just two days there were 14 arrests in this community of 1,300, every single one of them alcohol-related.

“Alcoholism is the biggest issue here,” said RCMP Constable David Lawson. “I was talking to a kid yesterday, he said, ‘I don’t drink very much but when I do I drink hard, I binge drink. Once I drink I just can’t stop.’”

RCMP officers play table tennis with youths on the weekend and there are programs that facilitate hockey and soccer games, but despite Cape Dorset’s reputation as an arts mecca, there have been few efforts to use art as a means of suicide prevention.

This was the focus of a youth painting project that occurred last week.

An artist from Yellowknife spent a week with youth at the arena, painting different species of Arctic birds on scraps of plywood donated from construction sites around town.

On Tuesday night, people gathered in the community center to see the roughly two dozen kids who participated, ranging in age from five to 16, display their work.

“The idea behind this event was to teach kids that they’re not alone and there’s always someone to talk to if they’re feeling depressed or suicidal,” said the community’s psychiatric nurse, Candice Waddell.

Most of the youth had never painted before, including 16-year-old Neevee Jaw, who spent the summer as a mental health intern and helped Waddell organize the event.

She produced two paintings of her own, both of Canada geese. In one, a goose flies under a full moon partially veiled by thin wispy clouds.

“When you’re painting you get away from time and your feelings,” said Jaw. “Before you start you’re all mad and hating, sometimes even doing drugs. But then when you start to paint, you don’t even realize that you’re letting loose your anger. After you’re done painting you have let everything go and you feel good.”

She says a lot of the recent violence in town might have something to do with people suppressing their emotions. “Some people really hold their feelings,” said Jaw. “They’re trying so hard not to show anything bad, then sometimes it cracks.”

After the youth presented their paintings, which included colorful owls, gulls, eiders, geese and ravens, two teenage girls throat sang and everyone enjoyed a feast of Arctic char and bannock.

Artist Diana Boudreau sat on the floor beside the pile of fish, enjoying a hunk of char.

“Painting gives you pride,” she said. “Very often kids say, ‘It’s dumb,’ but I help them to push their limits, I ask them to go a little further than what they know.”

Back at the Nirivik Co-op, Toonoo says sometimes life in Cape Dorset as a teenager is difficult.

Three years ago, her brother committed suicide. To get her mind off the tragedy, she visited girlfriends in Toronto and took a road trip to New York City.

They saw the Statue of Liberty, the site of the World Trade Center and walked around downtown. “I was dreaming,” she said. “I couldn’t believe I was in New York City.”

Still, there’s no place like home. “I can’t stay away from Dorset,” said Toonoo. “I love the land.”

Mathewsie Alariaq, 27, and seated beside her agreed. “The land is beautiful,” said Alariaq. “There’s nothing to worry about out there.”

Alariaq has had his share of worries. He recently served nine and a half months at the Baffin Correctional Centre. “I got in trouble for booze and fighting with my ex-girlfriend,” said Alariaq. “But I learned my lesson.”

He spent eight years living in Inukjuak, but now that he’s out of jail he plans to remain in Cape Dorset.

“It’s my home,” Alariaq said.