Inuk teen from Nunavut wants to serve and protect

Sylvia Kablutsiak of Arviat completes a fitness exercise at an RCMP youth camp in Regina. (PHOTO COURTESY OF COLLEEN PULCINE)

Sylvia Kablutsiak, 16, of Arviat takes part in a self-defence class at the RCMP training academy in Regina. (PHOTO COURTESY OF COLLEEN PULCINE)

Getting yelled at during a drill class like this one teaches RCMP cadets how to perform professionally in stressful situations. (PHOTO COURTESY OF COLLEEN PULCINE)

She knows it won’t be easy, but Arviat youth Sylvia Kablutsiak is eyeing a career with the RCMP.

“Growing up in Nunavut, I feel like we need more Inuit cops, and I want our women to feel safer,” the 16-year-old told Nunatsiaq News over the phone from her home community.

Earlier in November, the high school student spent a week at the RCMP training academy in Regina, known as “Depot,” to see if policing is really for her.

Her trip was part of the RCMP’s National Youth Engagement Week, where 32 youth from across Canada experienced life as trainees at the academy.

The participants’ long days were filled with activities like firearms handling and driving simulations, physical fitness, self-defence training and studying police scenarios.

The students learned how police dogs do their work and also visited an RCMP museum.

“We were trying to expose them to as much as possible in the week that we had them,” said Staff-Sgt. Maryse Quesnel, of the RCMP’s heritage and ceremonial section.

“They experienced what they would experience if any of them ever go back as a cadet one day.”

It’s only the second year RCMP have hosted the engagement week, and this year was the first time they had participation from Nunavut youth.

Kablutsiak said she was asked to apply for the program by one of the RCMP officers in her community.

“I always looked up to cops and admired the work that they do,” she said. “I told myself … I could be one too.”

And, after meeting one Inuk RCMP officer at the training academy, she’s now even more sure.

“If he’s Inuk and he can be a cop, then I thought, I can be an Inuk and be a cop too.

“I look up to him.”

But her first goal is to finish high school.

While the academy encourages applicants to get university degrees—and Kablutsiak would like to study criminology—she will be able to apply at the training academy right out of high school at age 18 if she wants to.

“It was a lot of fun there,” she said. Well, maybe not all of it: she had no idea how early she’d be forced to rise and shine.

“We had to wake up at 5:30 in the morning and we would do stuff all day until 9 p.m.,” she said.

Besides some new self-defence skills Kablutsiak learned—which she said will come in handy during her boxing matches—she also received a few lessons in how to cope with getting yelled at.

That’s all part of regular training at Depot, Quesnel said.

“Drill is there not only for ceremonial purposes of walking in line and standing at attention, but also to prepare the cadet.

“Normally when we answer to calls … it’s a bad situation or a dangerous situation. People are not always happy to see us and they may scream or yell at us.”

She said drill exposes cadets to this and teaches them to respond calmly and professionally even when addressed in a harsh tone.

Having students attend from all across Canada, including the three territories, helps to encourage diversity, which is needed within the organization, Quesnel said.

Youth engagement is a strategic priority for the RCMP and this relatively new annual training camp is a continued effort to create positive experiences between young people and the RCMP that will encourage them to consider policing as a future career, she said.