Tungasuvvingat Inuit cancels in-person Christmas gathering, moves online
Virtual holiday activities to be “‘inclusive to all Inuit in Ontario’
Inuit come together at a Christmas gathering in 2022 at St. Anthony’s Banquet Hall, hosted by Inuuqatigiit Centre, Tungasuvvingat Inuit, and Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami. This year, the in-person event has been cancelled. Instead, Tungasuvvingat Inuit is hosting virtual holiday activities along with Christmas hampers for families. (File photo by Andrea Sakiyama Kennedy)
Sytukie Joamie, right, hosts St. Margaret’s Anglican Church’s 2023 Boxing Day gathering in Ottawa alongside Anglican priest Rev. Canon Aigah Attagutsiak. Joamie recalls facing technical problems during the event and improvising by using a red funnel as a makeshift microphone, as pictured here. (Photo courtesy of Sytukie Joamie)
Tungasuvvingat Inuit’s annual Christmas gathering will not be held in-person this year and will be virtual instead.
The Ontario non-profit organization that serves urban Inuit announced the change Nov. 28 on its website, citing financial limitations.
The decision was “difficult” but organizers are offering alternative holiday programming, according to an unsigned statement provided by Eleanor Partridge, Tungasuvvingat Inuit’s communications manager.
Representatives for the organization did not respond to requests for an interview.
Tungasuvvingat Inuit’s plan includes a week of virtual activities, providing Christmas hampers for registered families, and a family photo booth set up at its new Ottawa location on Dupuis Street.
The switch to an online event, to be hosted from Dec. 8 to 12, was framed as an “effort to be inclusive to all Inuit in Ontario,” the organization said in a Facebook post.
Sytukie Joamie, who is originally from Apex and has lived in Ottawa for over a decade, has been a longtime participant in Inuit Christmas events both in the North and in the city.
“The regulars who go to these kinds of events do so to see people that they haven’t seen for quite a while, and just to enjoy themselves,” he said.
Joamie called the cancellation “frustrating” and said he’s concerned that many who attended previous events may not have cellphones or internet access to participate in the virtual activities.
“So how are they supposed to participate, even virtually? That cuts a lot of people out. It turns a community tradition into a worldwide web event,” Joamie said, adding he will not be attending.
Tungasuvvingat Inuit’s annual Christmas gatherings have attracted hundreds of participants. Last year’s event was held at the Ottawa Conference and Event Centre in Vanier, featuring country food and festive activities.
To celebrate in-person this year, Joamie plans to take part in St. Margaret’s Anglican Church’s annual Boxing Day celebrations on Dec. 26, which he said is organized much like the community gatherings he grew up with in Nunavut.
Joamie hosted the church’s 2023 Boxing Day gathering with Anglican priest Rev. Canon Aigah Attagutsiak.
He recalls being faced with technical problems and having to improvise by using a red funnel as a makeshift microphone.
“That’s what I mean about improvisation. You do it for the community and not for your ego or lack of funds. You’ve gotta make something work, so you do it,” he said.
Tungasuvvingat Inuit has held online events before, including a Zoom gathering last December for Inuit families from Inuvialuit, Nunavut, Nunavik, Nunatsiavut and urban communities to reminisce about Christmas growing up.
Ask how much of a pay cut every TI employee is getting hit with. There is not enough money to pay the employees let alone have a party.
T.I. used to be an Ottawa community centre years ago when it was much smaller and when the Ottawa population was much smaller. They are now a regional/provincial organization and cannot have a party JUST for Ottawa. They cannot just come out and say that so they’re saying “to be inclusive of all Ontario Inuit”. Even if they could hold an Ottawa only party, it’s becoming too big of an event for workers (who have lots of other things to do) to take on and it’s expensive. Imagine booking a venue, getting gifts, organizing games, catering, security, etc. It used to be so small that it was potluck style. It was a small scale FREE tradition that outgrew itself. Today you would need fulltime event organizers and a huge budget. Money best spent for non-profits on programs instead.
Has TI gone corporate mentality?
ENORMOUS FAIL by TI
It’s always a no-win situation for any organization to admit publicly that they are having financial difficulties. It causes concern for staff for their employment security and casts doubt about their sustainability with funders and clients.
Time for them to look inward and evaluate their core salary costs for non-funded administrative and management positions and their use of outside consultants
Not fair to a lot of Inuit living in Ottawa who does not have access to internet! How cold TI present is!
Pretending this is an effort to be ‘inclusive’ shows how superficial and thin a favorite buzz word can become over time and too much use.
Google Tungasuvvingat Inuit Sunshine List. See how many new Directors have been added over the last 5 years and their six figure salaries. Look at their financial statements in their annual reports on their website. They are in the negative the past few years yet adding highly paid senior staff. The biggest surprise is that their financials show they got 2 million dollars in COVID relief funds but what was that spent on and why are they in the negative now? Is their funding being spent on the community or on their own operations?
You need better understanding of this situation,
How this happened was it from the past leadership or the new management was a little slow in to catch up with this is a question ,
Catch 22 and you should know better to deal with cash flows till you judge,
Yes it’s sadly comes to the point this will happen to any organization even the Government can’t support of darn,
Best of luck fund raised quick to party on sober inuit merry Christmas to all