Nunavut babies and moms star in 2016 calendar

Miss February: Sarah Michiyuk. Michiyuk was one of 25 babies born in Sanikiluaq in 2015 and featured on a new fundraising calendar. (PHOTO BY PETE BRENNAN)

To celebrate the release of the calendar, and to honour the moms whose babies are featured in its pages, organizers in Sanikiluaq held a “red carpet” gala with food and beverages. Above, mom Dora Arragutatinaq with baby Charlie and her four other sons. Arragutatinaq was really hoping to get her picture in the newspaper; her work schedule prevented Charlie from being featured in the calendar. (PHOTO BY PETE BRENNAN)

When Manya Quinn, a nurse at Sanikiluaq’s health centre, asked herself how she could give back to the community this Christmas season, the answer was right in front of her nose.

It came in the form of 25 babies born in the Belcher Island community in 2015, and their young dedicated mothers.

And the idea, Quinn said, was to create a picture calendar featuring the babies.

The mothers have been a “blast to work with,” Quinn told Nunatsiaq News Dec. 14, in large part because their dedication to prenatal sessions, immunization and breastfeeding has resulted in beautiful, healthy babies.

“So I thought this year, why don’t we celebrate these girls because they’re working so hard and seeing such great results?” Quinn said over the phone from the Sanikiluaq health centre.

Last year, health centre staff put on a turkey dinner for men and elders, Quinn said, but this year the staff wanted to do something different.

“I’m not particularly into cooking turkeys… and we had a nurse photographer here in Sani so we thought, why not use his skills and do something totally different?” Quinn said.

Mothers quickly volunteered to take on tasks to help organize the project, which culminated in a red carpet gala event at the local high school.

“That was the community’s chance to meet the stars of Sanikiluaq,” Quinn laughed.

Lucy Novalinga, a 22-year-old mother whose daughter Lucy is the calendar’s June baby, said the red carpet event showed the community’s support for young mothers like her.

“It was a pretty great idea to do something for the moms and new babies in 2015,” Novalinga said.

Besides Lucy, Novalinga mothers two other children and holds down a part-time job.

“At first it was pretty hard with another baby, but all my kids are gifts,” she said.

Liza Appaqaq, a 24-year-old who gave birth to her first child in Sanikiluaq in 2015, said besides the community support, the young mothers involved in the project now have beautiful pictures of their babies.

“It was good for the parents because the mothers can’t afford professional pictures,” she said.

Appaqaq, whose son Grayson is one of the calendar’s March babies, couldn’t attend the red carpet event because she had to attend training for the full-time job she holds.

But the project has raised awareness of the value of breast-feeding in the community, Appaqaq said, which has important benefits.

“It’s healthy for the baby, and the milk is free. And you don’t have to get up at night to mix the bottle for the baby,” she said.

Quinn said about half of the mothers who gave birth in Sanikiluaq in 2015 are now breastfeeding — more than she’s seen in her three years in the community.

And the project was so successful, the 250 calendars ordered have already sold out.

Quinn considered ordering more calendars, because they were so popular but decided to move on to a new community project instead.

“I think it’s done its job. People are aware now what these girls go through to get their families to the health centre,” the nurse said.

Most mothers usually walk to the health centre for their regular appointments, through all kinds of weather, and often towing their other children along for lack of babysitters.

“They really go out of their way to make their kids their priority,” Quinn said.

And the community, and Canadians from coast to coast to coast, showed their support.

Like the air ambulance nurse who donated $1,000 to the cause, and the doctor, Sara Goulet, who has been coming to the community for 10 years and who donated all the food for the gala event and bought 50 calendars.

“I think that really speaks volumes of the impression this community has left on her,” Quinn said.

Although calendars are no longer available, you can follow the progress of Sanikiluaq’s 2015 babies on a Facebook page set up for the calendar project.

And donations can still be made to support the mothers until Dec. 31 by emailing Quinn: Manya_Quinn@hotmail.com.

The mothers will hold a meeting later this month to determine how to split the funds raised, including the possibility of supporting a family in need in Winnipeg.

But for now, it’s a job well done, Quinn said.

“I’m confident these young moms will go on to do awesome things for this community,” the nurse said.