Nunavut women ready for action as next Steps for Hope walk takes shape

The Women in Action, Steps of Hope walkers take their final steps towards Rankin Inlet in May 2014.. (FILE PHOTO)

Nunavut women are already in action: nine women have signed on to take part in the third Women in Action, Steps of Hope walk for breast cancer research in 2015.

The walk, which first took place in the Kitikmeot in 2012 and then the Kivalliq in 2014, will take place in the Qikiqtani next spring — a 70-kilometre stretch between Hall Beach and Igloolik.

“Women of Iqaluit have asked that a walk be organized in the Qikiqtani region while I am commissioner,” said Nunavut Commissioner and event leader Edna Elias in a Nov. 12 release.

“I am more than happy to lead in organizing, planning and taking the Steps of Hope during this last year of my term.”

The goal of the walk is to raise awareness and money for the Alberta Cancer Foundation in support of breast cancer research.

The nine committed walkers make up the event’s biggest group yet. In addition to Elias, the group includes former Commissioner Ann Hanson, CBC reporter Joanna Awa, Iqaluit deputy mayor Mary Wilman, youth Candace Sudlovenik and Bernadette Dean, who took part in the walk last year and served as the group’s camp cook.

Elias still hopes to find a breast cancer survivor who may want to join the walk, set to depart Hall Beach May 1, 2015. She’s also reserving a spot for a member of the Alberta breast cancer research team or an elder from the Hall Beach-Igloolik area.

The proceeds from the 2012 and 2014 walks totalled $180,000.

This year, the Women in Action aim to raise a total of $100,000.

For more information about the Alberta Cancer Foundation, or to make online donations for the Women in Action, Steps of Hope 2015 walk, click here.