Nunavut Sivuniksavut students turn to crowdfunding for Hawaii trip

In 2011, while in Hawaii, Nunavut Sivuniksavut students helped with an erosion-prevention project. (FILE PHOTO)

These second-year Nunavut Sivuniksavut students hope to raise $10,000 through crowdfunding for their May trip to Hawaii. (PHOTO COURTESY OF NS)

Ten second-year students at Nunavut Sivuniksavut, the Ottawa-based college program for Inuit, want to embark on a cultural exchange trip to Hawaii this May — and they’ve gone online to see if generous donors can help them raise money.

Crowdfunding is a way of raising money for a project or venture by soliciting contributions from a large number of people, typically via the internet.

So, the NS students have opened an “Inuit Student Cultural Exchange” site on GoFundMe to raise $10,000 for the trip.

GoFundMe, one of several online crowdfunding sites, says site users have raised more than $790 million.

Many of its success stories involve fundraising for people who are in need of treatments or medical equipment, such as a sensory room for a terminally-ill disabled child.

Another recent campaign raised more than $350,000 to help a man who walked 33 kilometres every day to get to work because he couldn’t afford a car.

GoFundMe takes five per cent of each donation received while the WePay service fee is 2.9 per cent plus $0.30 per donation.

NS isn’t alone in reaching out to the world to help raise money.

Other projects which have turned to crowdfunding to raise money for northern projects include:

• award-winning performer Tanya Tagaq who raised money to complete her third album;

• Tundra Take-back, the non-profit pollution-prevention group which aims to clean up metal dumps in the North;

• The Road to Nowhere Amateur Pyrotechnics Society and,

• the production of Okpik’s Dream, a documentary film about Harry Okpik.

The NS students and two chaperones plan to spend 10 days in Hawaii.

There, they will participate in cultural exchanges with Indigenous Hawaiians including various youth, cultural, student and political groups.

“There is a growing movement to revive and restore many aspects of Hawaiian culture and we would have much to share and much to learn,” the NS students say on GoFundMe.

“We also plan to share the story of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement and the creation of Nunavut with the various Indigenous peoples there.”

The NS students note there’s a strong desire within Hawaii’s indigenous community to revive and preserve traditional culture.

“We plan on meeting with the Hawaiian people to share and discuss the efforts to revive and preserve our cultural identity (Native Hawaiian and Inuit).”

NS already has a connection to several indigenous Hawaiian groups thanks to a 2011 cultural exchange.

While in Hawaii in 2011, the NS students spent an afternoon learning about the Mokauea Island Fisherman’s Association and their struggles to maintain traditions.

The students pitched in to help protect the island from erosion and they also learned how traditional surfboards are made.

Connecting with the Hawaiian Indigenous community “a second time would make for a well-organized and rich experience,” the NS students said.