Big Brothers Big Sisters org sets up in Nunavut

Delma Autut sits in her Frobisher Inn office Aug. 7. Autut is spearheading an effort to bring the youth mentoring program Big Brothers Sisters to Iqaluit. (PHOTO BY THOMAS ROHNER)

By popular support, Iqaluit is set to get its own chapter of the Big Brothers Big Sisters organization.

That’s according to Delma Autut, who is spearheading the effort to bring the international group, which matches kids with adults in a mentorship program, to Nunavut’s capital.

“Everyone I’ve talked to about it is like, ‘ya, it’s overdue, we really need this program in the community.’ There are so many youths that could use mentors,” Autut said from her office at Iqaluit’s Frobisher Inn.

Autut is a community coordinator with the Pilimmaksarniq Project — a group of national outreach organizations, including Big Brothers Big Sisters, trying to bring their programming to Iqaluit.

Pilimmaksarniq, a principle of Inuit traditional knowledge, means “development of skills through observation, mentoring, practice and effort,” Autut said.

For Autut, who grew up in Chesterfield Inlet and has spent most of her life working with kids and youth, the Big Brother Big Sister program is about giving youth a voice.

“I think as much as we’d like to say youth are given a voice, they’re really not. And [we like to say] that we prioritize youth, but I don’t think that’s a true statement,” Autut said.

Volunteering as a mentor, Autut said, “is about giving back to the community, but it’s also getting to know the youth, giving them a safe place to say what they want, and just giving them a voice.”

In the beginning of June, Autut said she began recruiting volunteer mentors, who have to go through an interview process and submit a criminal record check.

“It’s a pretty great community we live in, and there’s a lot of people who do want to help out,” Autut said.

Specifically, mentors should be those who want to work with youth, and who can be role models by simply spending time with their “little brother or sister” in the community — by going for a hike in Sylvia Grinnell Park, Autut said as an example, or taking them to a movie.

“All kids need that one-on-one time, that attention, for a little while, and then they’re happy. It doesn’t need to be about spending all this money, it’s just having that one-on-one conversation and time that’s really important to them.”

So far, Autut has been able to recruit five potential mentors, but she said she’s hoping for at least 10 for the program, which she hopes to start up by the end of September.

“I’m shooting for 10 mentors, but if it goes beyond that, I’m absolutely happy,” Autut said.

And the positive effects of giving kids a role model and safe place outside their family, can be limitless, she added.

“A lot of youths who have been through the program become mentors themselves. There are so many positive potential outcomes.”

The Pilimmaksarniq Project has already run a number of successful community projects in Iqaluit, Autut said, including a youth program addressing the taboo of mental health, called “Flex Your Head” held at the Youth Centre.

“Those were amazing youth I got to know and just hang out with in the “Flex Your Head” program… it’s always fun to go out and do things with youth,” she said.

And the project has a number of other initiatives planned for the near future, including an online mentoring program at Iqaluit’s youth correctional facility and a lunch program at Iqaluit’s middle school.

But for the Big Brothers Sisters program, Autut said she sees a long term project that will benefit many Iqalungmiut.

“Some people want to call it a pilot project, but I think it’s a project that’s going to stay here for a long time… this project is really needed in the community.”

Those interested in volunteering or enrolling with Big Brothers Big Sisters in Iqaluit can contact Autut at delma.autut@bigbrothersbigsisters.ca or on her cell phone at (867) 222-1716.