Inuit youth encouraged to apply for overseas internship

Baker Lake’s Felicia Tugak, left, and Tonya Tagoona spent four months in South Africa last year as interns at the University of kwaZulu-Natal in Durban, through the International Aboriginal Youth Internship program offered through Global Affairs Canada. (SCREEN SHOT)

Take off that parka and get the sunscreen out.

A Canadian global social justice and sustainability organization is looking for Indigenous youth interns to volunteer abroad for four months in countries like Costa Rica, Guyana, Kenya, Nepal and Cambodia.

Northern Council for Global Cooperation is a group focusing on helping northern Canadians learn, explore and work on achieving a just and sustainable world, according to their website.

Last year, Tonya Tagoona and Felicia Tugak, who are both from Baker Lake, spent four months as interns at the University of kwaZulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa in the International Aboriginal Youth Internship program offered through Global Affairs Canada.

The program focused on youth engagement in rural communities in Canada and sexual violence and high rates of HIV/AIDS in South Africa.

“The best part about this trip is everyone around me,” Tugak said in a 2017 promotional video for the council’s Indigenous youth internship program.

“The importance in getting to know different cultures is really important because it opens your mind, it opens your eyes. Even through social media and the news you get to see these different parts of the world but you have to experience it for yourself,” Tagoona also said in the video.

The Northern Council for Global Cooperation is seeking 20 Indigenous youth between the ages of 18 and 35 who are interested in engaging with key community issues, connecting with other Indigenous youth from across Canada and in communities overseas and “being a global citizen.”

Although the council does not accept youth who have completed a university degree for these internships, any graduates from a technical school or CEGEP are welcome to apply.

“I really want the youth to know that they could go and explore and not be all caught up in these critical issues we face in our northern communities,” Tugak said.

The Northern Council for Global Cooperation has more information on the internship program and application process at its website.

The deadline to apply for the first internship, which begins in October, is June 22.