Inuit youth urged to flex their political muscle

Youth delegates at last week’s meeting of the Kitikmeot Inuit Association were told that because of their huge numbers, they have enormous political clout should they use it. Bobby Lyall, the KIA board member for Taloyoak, told them the majority of voters in the region are under the age of 30. (PHOTO BY JANE GEORGE)

CAMBRIDGE BAY — Youth in the Kitikmeot region have plenty of potential political power and should start using it, say directors of the Kitikmeot Inuit Association, which held its annual general meeting last week in Cambridge Bay.

“You have a big powerful voice,” Bobby Lyall, board member for Taloyoak, told youth delegates at the KIA’s annual meeting last week.

If youth exercised their right to vote at 16 in elections for the KIA or Nunavut Tunngavik Inc, they could kick out all the current leadership out and replace them with youth, Lyall said, pointing out that the majority of potential voters in the Kitikmeot are under 30.

The turnout for the last KIA election was dismal even among adult beneficiaries, with only five per cent of eligible voters in Kugluktuk bothering to vote.

Youth should also get out and participate in municipal and territorial elections, and they should write letters to their mayors and MLAs, suggested Cambridge Bay board member Attima Hadlari.

That way some of the concerns of youth and their calls for more support may receive more attention, Hadlari said.

All youth delegates at the meeting said they need more from their communities, such as a place to meet and more recreational activities.

But, before the youth delegates presented their report to the KIA meeting, they met KIA trainee Sarah Jancke to hash out what they wanted to say.

From community to community, their comments painted a picture of young people who are bored, addicted to drugs and alcohol and have little connection with elders.

Youth in Kugaaruk get bored and turn to drugs and alcohol because they don’t know what else to do, said Cassein Imingnak.

It’s the same scene in Taloyoak, according to Martha Oleekatalik, who said the youth have no place to go and, as a result, “do stuff they’re not supposed to do.”

In Gjoa Haven Heather Arqviq said plans to renovate a building into a youth centre ground to a halt after teachers who had run the project left the community.

“It just keeps on happening all the time,” Arqviq said, which is why, as a recreation trainee in Gjoa Haven, she wants to see a youth-run committee get up and running in her community.

In Kugluktuk and Cambridge Bay, there are already youth centres, but still not enough activities in summer to keep youth vandalism at bay, said its youth delegates.

And Tyler Angulalik of Cambridge Bay said hamlets have to show more toughness towards parents who allow their kids run around town.

Anglulalik suggested all Kitikmeot hamlets adopt bylaws similar to those in Cambridge Bay and Kugluktuk, which allow bylaw officers to pick up youth who are still out on the street after 10 p.m. and even fine their parents.

The youth also said they want to develop more connections between youth and elders, because as one youth delegate said, “youth don’t care about elders… they care about themselves.”

The only community where youth and elders appeared to have a strong connection is Bay Chimo and Bathurst Inlet, but all of the youth from these communities now live and study in Cambridge Bay.

“It’s a small town so we don’t get into trouble, “ said Becky Kakolak, the Bay Chimo youth delegate, now at school in Cambridge Bay.

Speaking to the KIA meeting, the six youth delegates also said there should more discussion and contact among youth in different communities, perhaps through the creation of a new Kitikmeot Youth Council.

The gap between elders and youth in the Kitikmeot showed itself at the meeting, where the older delegates spoke in Inuinnaqtun or Inuktitut and the youth delegates spoke only in English.

This prompted elder delegate Christian Nulungiaq of Kugaaruk to ask whether youth see themselves as Inuit or Qallunaat.

“It’s scary when I feel I’m living in two different worlds,” admitted Arqviq, a recent graduate of the Nunavut Sivuniksavut program in Ottawa. “I think we should cherish our culture.”

But Arqviq also said that until she left Gjoa Haven for Ottawa she felt little connection with Inuit culture or language.

During the AGM several delegates said they are worried about the rising level of drugs, alcohol and violence among youth as well as their poor parenting skills. They also urged elders to play a stronger role in the communities, even if they are not paid for their efforts.