2 Inuit women receive high honours from Pauktuutit

Two women known for their work helping Inuit and preserving culture have been honoured by Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada.

Janine Lightfoot is Inuk Woman of the Year, the organization announced in a news release Wednesday.

Alyssa Carpenter is Pauktuutit’s Young Inuk Woman of the Year.

Lightfoot, who lives in Makkovik in Nunatsiavut, is described in the release as a passionate advocate for revitalizing Inuit language and culture in an area deeply affected by language erosion.

She completed the Aurniarvik program for Inuktitut as a second language at the Pirurvik Centre in Iqaluit, where she lived and worked for several years.

Lightfoot continues to find ways to work Inuktitut into all areas of her life, the release noted, and holds a degree in political science and native studies.

She has initiated free weekly Inuktitut classes, organized workshops centred around hunting and culture, and established a memorial bursary for high school students prioritizing Inuktitut.

All of that was done in memory of her grandmother, Clara Ford.

Carpenter, the organization’s Young Inuk Woman of the Year, lives in Whitehorse and is a social worker.

Most of her experience has been within the grassroots and non-profit sector, working with various levels of government in both Yukon and the Northwest Territories, primarily with Arctic and northern Indigenous youth.

Carpenter is a founder and project director of the Western Arctic Youth Collective, based in Canada’s Western Arctic region. The collective focuses on empowering young people and promoting positive change in the community through on-the-land programming. Carpenter is a laureate of the Arctic Inspiration Prize Youth Category for 2020.

The non-profit Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada represents Inuit women from across the country. Its mandate is to improve awareness of the needs of Inuit women and encourage them to participate in social, cultural, and economic development.