‘Me yesterday, today and tomorrow’: Kuujjuaq students shape their own narratives

Who better to tell a place’s story than the children growing up there?

Author Isabelle Larouche and artist Stéphanie Heendrickxen pictured at Jaanimarik School in Kuujjuaq on Feb. 13. (Photo by Dominique Gené)

This is the question that led Xavier Lamarre, a special education teacher, to bring a book project to Kuujjuaq’s Jaanimmarik School.

Lamarre first heard about author Isabelle Larouche’s work, helping Nunavik students to turn their experiences into a book, in August 2025, during a teacher orientation in Montreal.

“I wanted that project to be as authentic as possible to the realities of my students,” Lamarre said.

Moi hier, aujourd’hui et demain, French for Me Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow is more than 50 texts, some of which are poems and short stories.

The students and teachers gathered on Feb. 13 to read some of their texts and see their artwork on display.

For the author Larouche, her work is a “love story” between herself and Nunavik.

She produced her first book in 2020 with a group of grade 5 and 6 students from the Ulluriaq School in Kangiqsualujjuaq — the same community where she taught in 1991.

“We invited elders to come and speak with the kids and all the stories those elders shared in Inuktitut inspired the students to write a collective book,” Larouche said.

She arrived in Kuujjuaq in January and spent a month working with Jaanimarik secondary school students putting the book together.

“We wanted to have the children’s point of view reflecting on their childhood, their lives today, and project themselves into the future,” she said.

“I think we really harvested pearls during the whole month.”

The project originally involved three classes, but some other teachers wanted to participate, Larouche said. It now features stories from secondary 1 to 5 students.

Using the Artivive app, students’ drawings come to life on a tablet or phone, with animated images, sounds, or videos appearing over the original artwork. (Photo by Dominique Gené)

While the texts are in French, selected lines will be translated into Inuktitut, Larouche said. Some of the stories are anonymous upon the students’ request.

Stéphanie Heendrickxen, an artist and illustrator, collaborated with two art teachers to guide the students in drawing self-portraits with details about their interests and hobbies. She then worked with the students to integrate audio narrations into their portraits, bringing the project to life as a collective, interactive book.

”Everybody’s got a story and it’s important to show the kids’ point of view,” Heendrickxen said.

Lamarre said he wanted to create a safe space for his students to use their voices.

”I told them that there weren’t any limits to what they could write.”

The book is set to be published in May.