Inuit youth share culture, language, sports at summer games side event

Youth “ambassadors” Trina Qaqqaq and Chelsea Tagoona of Baker Lake, in Sherbrooke, Que. Aug. 2 to Aug. 10, to assist as volunteers at the Canada Summer Games, help figure out how to write Sonia Patenaude’s name in syllabics during an Aug. 8 display of Inuit culture, language, sports and games at the games’ village. (PHOTO BY JANE GEORGE)

Ipellie Ootoova of Pond Inlet performs a one-foot high kick Aug. 8 during a side event at the Canada Summer Games in Sherbrooke, Que. (PHOTO BY JANE GEORGE)

Joy Aragaluk of Kuujjuaraapik and Yaaniapik Cain of Tasiujaq stand in front of the Canada Summer Games flame Aug. 8 on the campus of Bishop’s University in Lennoxville, Que. (PHOTO BY JANE GEORGE)

SHERBROOKE, Que. — How do you spell the name Sonia in Inuktitut syllabics?

That’s easy, say Trina Qaqqaq and Chelsea Tagoona of Baker Lake, who figure out which syllabics match the sounds of their names Aug. 8 at a display of Inuit language and culture at a Canada Summer Games side event in Sherbrooke, Que.

That display took place in a tent set up in the Bishop’s University quadrangle, not far from the university’s residences, where athletes and youth volunteers at the Canada Summer Games — including a group of 11 youth “ambassadors” from Nunavut — have been staying during the games, which started Aug. 2 and wrap up Aug. 17.

In temperatures reaching the high 20s — so steamy hot that youth volunteer Ipellie Ootoova of Pond Inlet joked “this iceberg is melting” — youth from Nunavut, along with some from Nunavik who have been serving as volunteers at the games, showed off Inuit games, sports and culture as part of the entertainment offered at the athletes’ village.

They also held a draw for the most coveted pin at the games: the five-piece narwhal pin for Team Nunavut.

The Aug. 8 afternoon event was also a moment “off” for the Nunavut volunteers who helped around the village and at other games venues continuously after they arrived for the Aug. 2 launch of the games.

The group took a break to see a sailing competition on Lake Memphremagog and to cheer on the Team Nunavut wrestlers Aug. 7 during their competitions in Sherbrooke.

Other Nunavut youth present Aug. 8 included Bruno Attagutsiak, Douglas Ollie, Kert Depeuter, Trent Aksawnee, Amber Eleeheetok, Chris Teiman, Lindsay Evaloajuk and Annette Ray Boucher.

Nunavut youth weren’t the only Inuit youth from Arctic on hand Aug. 8 — there were many from the Northwest Territories and Nunavik.

During their experience as volunteers from Nunavik, Joy Aragutak of Kuujjuaraapik and Yaaniapik Cain of Tasiujaq, who arrived Aug. 2 and were due to leave Aug. 9 for home, made sure the athletes’ village remained “green.” They checked and emptied the many recycling and composting bins around the campuses of Bishop’s and Champlain College.

And they also assisted with security by, for example, making sure that only those with the proper badges entered the village and competitions.

Add in a bit of shopping, a comedy show from Just For Laughs, a basketball competition, and all-round, the volunteer experience was good — for Aragutak, 15, a Secondary 3 (Grade 9) student, who just finished a trip with Students on Ice to Greenland and Nunavut, volunteering at the Canada Summer Games marked the end of an exciting summer.

For Cain, 16, a Secondary 4 (Grade 10) student, who worked in Tasiujaq at the co-op and other jobs during the summer, volunteering provided a change of pace and a chance to be at the games, in a place the two both called “amazing” and “beautiful.”

Other youth from Nunavik, who were selected to come to the games by the Kativik Regional Government’s recreation department, include Brandon LaPage, Traugott Annanack, Nunia Simiunie, Christina Michaud, Paulusie Nuktie, Peter Naluiyuk, Lyndsay Ann Palliser and Diane Inukpuk, who were chaperoned by Nigel Adams, Lizzie Johannes and Valerie Rykhoff.

Youth “ambassador” Chris Teiman displays the set of five pins for Nunavut at the Canada Summer Games — one of the most coveted items for pin traders at the event. (PHOTO BY JANE GEORGE)