Nunavut students create a safer space at third annual Rainbow Day event

Kiilinik High School Grade 9 students, from left, Erika MacPherson, Sebastian Malone and Tyler Agligeotok, show off their rainbow-coloured support as part of the school’s third annual Rainbow Day events, which ran May 4 to 8. (PHOTO BY BETH SAMSON)

Kiilinik students show off their rainbow wear May 8 as part of Rainbow Week celebrations at the Cambridge Bay high school. (PHOTO BY BETH SAMSON)

Following the third annual Rainbow Day event in Cambridge Bay last week, students at Kiilinik high school say they’re seeing a difference in how the community talks about people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer (LGBTQ.)

It’s small but sure, students say: they hear fewer people using terms like “fag” or “that’s gay” in the school’s hallways.

But that’s a big step towards making Kiilinik a safer space — the main goal behind Rainbow Day.

“I do see a better change in our school,” said Linda Howard, a Grade 10 student who calls herself an ally of the LGBTQ community.

“People are being more accepting of the event… and it makes me happy, personally, because I do have friends who are part of that community. So they don’t feel so afraid or judged.”

The first-ever Rainbow Day was organized by Kiilinik staff and students in 2013, as a way to show support to LGBTQ students in the Kitikmeot community of 1,500.

It was hosted again in 2014.

But this year, Rainbow Day grew into Rainbow Week, when students took part in assemblies, lunches and film viewings from Monday to Friday.

The Kiilinik teacher and Rainbow Day founder, Beth Sampson, said the events drew a strong turnout, with many students wearing rainbow-coloured clothing to show their support.

Some community members even showed up in rainbow-hued clothing last week, she said.

“In Nunavut, it’s not a subject that’s talked about a lot, so there’s not necessarily a visible community,” she said. “Doing something as simple as wearing rainbow clothing helps students know they’re being supported.”

And that’s vital, Sampson said, given that suicide rates for the LGBTQ community are said to be four times higher than the rest of the population — in a territory where youth already face dramatic risk for suicide.

While Rainbow Day activities are very local to Cambridge Bay, its organizers hope the event can be part of a larger discussion in the territory.

Sampson said she’s spoken to teachers in schools in other Nunavut communities who have told her “we could never do something like that.”

“But it wasn’t necessarily easy for us to do this the first year,” she said. “It took a lot of guts.”

Sampson said she and other students who spoke to Nunatsiaq News about past Rainbow Day activities received homophobic comments and even personal attacks through social media and elsewhere.

Amy Pike, who graduated from Kiilinik high school last year, said she heard quite a bit of negative feedback after she took part in last year’s Rainbow Day event, which she said was hurtful.

“It’s really hard to hear that, especially when we were being so open and honest,” Pike said, “and when I know people who identify with that community.”

This year’s week-long event was positive, she said, because it gave students and community members more time to reflect and ask questions.

And although she’s no longer a high school student, it’s an event she plans to continue supporting as a community member.

Despite the challenges, Sampson said that Kiilinik students have had more support than not.

“It’s really important to send that message that there’s a lot more love than people think,” she said. “So if we can do it here, you can do it anywhere.”

Because of numerous attempts to post abusive comments during past coverage of Rainbow Day events in 2013 and 2014, commenting is closed on this story.