Iqaluit law student receives 2018 Laura Gauthier award

Jasmine Redfern, a Nunavut Law Program student in Iqaluit, is the 2018 recipient of the Laura Ulluriaq Gauthier Scholarship. (PHOTO COURTESY OF JASMINE REDFERN)

In recognition of her “tireless efforts to create community initiatives while juggling ambitious academic goals,” Nunavut law student Jasmine Redfern of Iqaluit will receive the 2018 Qulliq Energy Corp. Laura Gauthier Scholarship, awarded since 2001 to a student pursuing a post-secondary education.

Speaking in the Nunavut legislature Oct. 30, Jeannie Ehaloak, the minister responsible for the power corporation, praised Redfern as a leader and advocate for Indigenous youth.

Redfern, the daughter of Iqaluit Mayor Madeline Redfern and Jae Redfern, is a founder of the National Indigenous Young Women’s Council, a member of the Nunavut Human Rights Tribunal and a longtime volunteer with the Nunavut Kamatsiaqtut Helpline.

“Currently enrolled in the first year of the Nunavut Law Program, Jasmine plans to become a bilingual Inuktitut and English-speaking lawyer to better represent all members of her community,” Ehaloak said. “As a mother, she realizes the immeasurable value of passing Inuit language and culture on to her children.”

In a news release from the power corporation, Bruno Pereira, its president and CEO, said the QEC applauds Redfern’s work in spearheading initiatives that benefit Nunavut communities.

“We wish her continued success as she forges ahead with her goals,” Pereira said.

The $5,000 scholarship is presented annually in honour of Laura Ulluriaq Gauthier, originally from Pangnirtung, who died suddenly of a brain aneurysm in her sleep at the age of 30 in 2000.

A September 1999 issue of Time magazine had named her one of Canada’s young people to watch.

Gauthier was an assistant deputy minister in Nunavut’s executive and intergovernmental affairs department, where she played a major role in the formation of the Nunavut Power Corp., which later became the QEC.

Last year’s scholarship went to Art Sateana of Rankin Inlet, a pre-med student at the University of Manitoba.