Nunavik youth to hold conference in Inukjuak

Janice Grey of Aupaluk is one of the organizers of a Nunavik-wide youth conference which takes place in Inukjuak June 21 to 25. (FILE PHOTO)

Parenting, Inuit culture and wellness — these are among the many topics that 140 youth from Nunavik will tackle in Inukjuak during the region’s first youth conference June 21 to 25.

Organized by youth for youth, the Qanak conference’s content reflects suggestions received from youth, said Janice Grey, a member of the 10-member steering committee.

“Everything we’re covering, it’s because the youth of Nunavik were interested in that and wanted workshops on that,” Grey said. “It’s not like we picked a bunch of issues and decided to have workshops and what people are going to learn about.”

Saputiit, Nunavik’s youth association, spearheaded the five-day event, which received money from the Ungaluk safer communities program and other Nunavik organizations.

The conference will take place in Inuttitut, Grey said, “because it is the working language in Nunavik, so we’re going to have to do it in Inuttitut to reach more people.”

Back-to-back workshops are on the agenda— everything from parenting in today’s world, preventing and reducing substance abuse and violence, supporting Inuttitut in Nunavik, promoting Inuit culture to finance and credit leadership, and fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.

Presenters include Annie Popert, Bill Constant of the Opaskwayak Cree Nation, Lizzie Ningiuruvik and youth.

Two plenary discussions on climate change and self-government are also on the agenda.

Participants will stay in Inukjuak’s Pigiursavik technical and vocational school residence — and they’ll be up early in the morning because the workshop start at 9 am. Some cultural workshops will take place in a qammaq built by Nunavik’s Avataq cultural institute, Grey said.

Evening will feature cultural performances by entertainers like singer Beatrice Deer of Quaqtaq.

When the Qanak conference ends, Grey hopes everyone will go home with renewed energy.

“I just hope people become more excited about everything. We want people to become passionate about dealing with issues, to start actually talking about things, to become involved in things. That’s our vision. To create more excitement so they mobilize around issues of concern,” said Grey.

Earlier this week, applications to attend the conference were still being accepted.

For more information on the conference go to www.saputiit.com or http://bit.ly/cu8RvP.