A unique pilot project is creating a home-grown workforce of computer-savvy technicians

KANGIQSUALUJJUAQ – Installing a CD burner on a computer looked easy enough to Bobby Epoo of Inukjuak.

But Epoo, 20, couldn't get it to work properly. Finally he had to send his computer down south to have it fixed.

Epoo learned to do the job right during a recent two-week course in computer troubleshooting and repair, a pilot project sponsored by the Kativik School Board and the Kativik Regional Government's employment and training department.

Now Epoo can take apart a computer with ease – and put it back together so it runs perfectly.

Earlier this month in Kangiqsualujjuaq, Epoo and seven other computer buffs spent two weeks in an Ulluriaq School classroom learning how to assemble computers, run diagnostic tests and carry out repairs.

By training Inuit in computer troubleshooting and repair skills, Nunavik hopes to be ready for a future with a growing population of computer-savvy young people and an increased demand for skilled internet technology workers.

Before starting the computer troubleshooting and repair course, Rena Ittulak, 28, and twin brothers Roddy and Alex Stewart, 25, who all live in Kangiqsualujjuaq, were already fixing their friends' computers for free.

But the three friends say it was time to learn more about how to repair the growing numbers of computers in the community and turn their skills into paying jobs.

"And it's so interesting," said Ittulak.

The students, aged 18 to 50, were united by their love of the internet and computers. A career working with computers is ideal for Ittulak, who is confined to a wheelchair, and for another student with limited arm mobility.

Necessity drove Charlie Kowcharlie, the oldest student, to enroll in the course. Kowcharlie oversees 14 computers in Inukjuak's library – and one is always in need of maintenance or repairs.

Adami Mangiuk, 25, a local service agent for Nunavik's Tamaani internet service provider, and Mosusie Audlaluk, 27, a KRG computer technician trainee, both come from Ivujivik. In this Hudson Strait community, population 330, there are already 50 home computers hooked up to the internet, and the two say young people are crazy about web surfing.

"Ivujivik is a small town," Audlaluk said. "There isn't much to do besides hunting. Computers are a way to kill time and have fun."

Thomassie Mangiok, who is also from Ivujivik, and Gilles Béliveau, who has taught computer skills for KSB for seven years, teamed up to teach the troubleshooting and repair course.

Mangiok, 24, who wanted to become a video game designer, ended up going to Collège Marie-Victorin school in Montreal where he studied graphic design and computers. He's now a partner in a new Nunavik-based IT company called Pirnoma Technologies, which designed the Nunavik parks logo.

Pirnoma is working on the development of a Nunavik-based portal, www.ivvit.com, with Pirnoma's technical partner Soleica. The portal, meaning "yours," would be a virtual meeting place and platform for training IT resources in Nunavik communities.

Mangiok said he hoped to be able to hire some of the Kangiqsujualujjaq course graduates for Ivvit.

For the first week of the course, Mangiok and Béliveau focused on teaching computer repair basics. During the second week, they helped students with troubleshooting on computers brought in by local residents. Classes were often split into two groups, with Béliveau teaching in English and French, and fluently trilingual Mangiok teaching mainly in Inuttitut.

"The students kept their energy right up to the last moment," said Béliveau. "It went very, very well."

In the evening, the students continued to work on computers at the co-op hotel, where most of them stayed. Béliveau said he had to pry them away from their computers to get them outside.

"They must remember they have another life, too," he said.

In his travels around Nunavik, Béliveau said he's seen a growing demand for computer repair and troubleshooting skills.

"When I go into a village, I spend lots of time repairing computers," he said. "Before I come, people say ‘The computer guy is coming!'"

In Béliveau's opinion, there's a need to train up to 35 more computer technicians in Nunavik.

Earlier this year, a round-table discussion of IT heads from Nunavik's major organizations confirmed the lack of computer support in smaller communities and the high turnover of skilled IT workers from the South.

Those at the meeting suggested establishing a shared technical support positions in each Nunavik community as well as a public place where local youth with IT training could work with residents on computers.

The computer repair and troubleshooting course, a step in that direction, is likely to be offered again in the autumn.