Win a Nunavik fishing trip, with Mary Simon as your guide

Mary Simon with her neice Amber May in 2011, after catching two twenty-pound salmon in the Koksoak river outside of Kuujjuaq. Simon has donated a fishing trip guided by her and her family members to the Arctic Children and Youth Foundation, which will be auctioned off Feb. 4 to raise money for the organization. (PHOTO COURTESY OF BOBBY MAY)

Looking for a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Nunavik, that will also help support the region’s youth?

Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami President Mary Simon has an offer to make: she wants to take you fishing near her home town, and she’ll even clean and filet your catch.

Simon’s husband, Whit Fraser, chair of the Arctic Children and Youth Foundation, will be auctioning off a 2012 fishing trip with his wife along the Koksoak river, outside of Kuujjuaq.

The trip is one of several items that will be taking bids Feb. 4 at the closing gala of the 2012 Northern Lights business and cultural showcase in Ottawa.

That’s where the Artic Children and Youth Foundation will be hosting its first-ever fundraising auction, and Fraser wanted to offer up uniquely Northern items to draw big bids.

“[Simon and I] have been doing these fishing trips near Kuujjuaq for the last four or five years,” Fraser said, “and the Koksoak offers some terrific Atlantic salmon and trout fishing.

“We realized there was the potential to package this kind of trip.”

What’s up for auction: two return air tickets to Kuujjuaq from anywhere that First Air flies; two days and three nights in a cabin along the Koksoak river with Simon and her brothers as guides along with meals, including Simon’s homemade bannock and Fraser’s caribou stew.

Fraser said the prize package has already drawn some high-profile interest; former National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, Phil Fontaine, has already bid $3,500 on the trip.

Simon has even received emails from several Nunavimmiut and northerners interested in the fishing trip.

Regardless of who enters the highest bid, Fraser hopes it will attract much-needed cash and attention to the plight of many youth living in communities across Canada’s Arctic.

All the proceeds from the fundraising auction will go to a project the ACYF hopes to develop: an online forum where young people can gather to discuss the critical issues they face, such as suicide, drug and alcohol abuse and poverty.

Fraser said the forum will give youth Inuit youth a “stronger voice.”

Other items on the bidding block Feb. 4 include carvings and handmade clothing from across the Arctic and a diamond-studded watch.

The ACYF auction will be held at the Northern Lights’ closing gala Feb. 4 at the Ottawa Convention Centre starting at 6:00 p.m.