Inuit youth set to hold pan-Canada meeting in Iqaluit

Inuit youth from around Canada will meet at Iqaluit’s Inuksuk High School from Aug. 20 to Aug. 24. (FILE PHOTO)

Youth from across the Inuit Nunangat regions of Canada will gather at Inuksuk High School in Iqaluit from Aug. 20 to Aug. 24 for the National Inuit Youth summit.

The event takes place every two years.

About 100 youth, from 15 to 30 years old, will take part in workshops and discussion groups, interact with youth from other regions and help develop the priorities of the National Inuit Youth Council, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami said in an Aug. 12 news release.

Organized by members of the National Inuit Youth Council, the Iqaluit event will be the first hosted by president Maatalii Okalik, elected in June 2015 to lead the seven-member council.

The median age among Inuit is 23, meaning half of all Inuit in Canada are aged 23 or younger.

Because of that unique youth population, it provides a reason “to ensure that all voices are heard at the national and international level,” Okalik told Nunatsiaq News earlier this summer when she was elected to run the NIYC.

There’s many positives but some “negative realities” for Inuit youth that she’d like to see changed, she said.

Among the list of priorities that the NIYC has talked about in previous years: suicide prevention, mental health, youth substance abuse and physical health.

“As a young population that is a majority, education is definitely a priority,” she said. “And also ensuring culture and language education is included in that theme.”