Learning new skills
In foreground from left, Susie Tennille, Geteeta Parr, Abigail Joanasie and Mary Elaine Hutchings learn to prepare dried caribou at the Kinngait community hall on Monday. The students are part of the Rise Up Youth Gathering, a program hosted by the hamlet’s recreation department at Peter Pitseolak School for students in grades 7 to 12. The students plan to form a youth committee to help organize future activities. (Photo courtesy of Dawn Currie)
The European Inuit call themselves Sami live in northern Sweden, Finland and Norway. Their individual communities raise herds of tuktu (they call them reindeer) that number in the tens of thousands for each community. The community teaches the students how to work with the animal in every aspect from breeding, rearing, harvesting, slaughter, butcher, cooking, crafting, and so much more. They do this on very little land compared to our vast Nunavut. Why can’t we do this here?