Young Nunavut ambassadors headed to Canada Summer Games
14 young people from five Nunavut communities selected to represent the territory
Young Nunavummiut involved in a spring gathering attended by youth ambassadors participate in a team-building exercise during a summit in Iqaluit in March. Clockwise from far left, youth ambassadors headed to the Canada Summer Games include Tuuta Manik, Harriet Amitnaaq, Ellen Pootoogook, Felicity Klengenberg and Iggy Kaurayok. (Photo courtesy of Haley Hachey)
Players and coaches won’t be the only ones representing Nunavut at the Canada Summer Games.
A team of 14 Nunavummiut community leaders aged 16 to 22 will act as youth ambassadors at the Games in St. John’s, N.L., which open Friday and run until Aug. 25.
“I’m in the ambassador program because I wanted to meet people and travel,” said Zan Tao, 22, one of four ambassadors from Iqaluit who packed their bags for the trip this week.
Tao represented Nunavut as a badminton player at the 2023 Canada Winter Games in Prince Edward Island, so she knows a bit about what to expect.
“I want to trade pins with people from other provinces and territories,” she said of the collector pins each team issues to its athletes and staff. They are hot items to swap with people from other provinces and territories.
Wearing their Nunavut ambassador uniforms, Tao and some of the others will assist Games attendees as ushers at the soccer stadium, working alongside event services volunteers from Newfoundland and Labrador.
“After that, it’s free time. I plan to explore St. John’s,” Tao said.
William Pothier, centre, referees the Toonik Tyme dodgeball tournament held in Iqaluit in April. The activity fulfilled part of his application to be a Nunavut youth ambassador at the Canada Summer Games. (Photo courtesy of William Pothier)
Other youth ambassadors will work in marketing, host giveaways and Nunavut trivia contests, and lead demonstrations of syllabic writing and Inuit games.
As part of the application process, Tao completed a project in which she assisted first-year students during orientation week at the University of Waterloo in Ontario. She graduated from the university earlier this summer with her bachelor’s degree in health sciences.
The main criterion to be accepted as an ambassador is a willingness to make a positive impact in their home community and then work to address local needs.
Mila Kipani, 22, also from Iqaluit, rounded out her application by volunteering with the Piviniit Thrift Store in Iqaluit. She rounded up donations for the store from her friends, neighbours and co-workers at the Department of Health’s medical travel office.
The other Iqaluit ambassadors — William Pothier, 19, and Wasi Abdur Rahman, 17 — organized a Toonik Tyme dodgeball tournament in April as part of their ambassadorship application.
The four Iqaluit ambassadors also completed leadership training modules with delegates from other communities where they met online for virtual discussions in the lead-up to the Games, Kipani said.
The rest of the youths come from Baker Lake, Cambridge Bay, Kinngait and Chesterfield Inlet.
They all attended the Youth Ambassador Summit in Iqaluit for four days in March, taking part in workshops presented by Recreation North, completing an introductory orientation on this year’s Summer Games and joining in team-building activities.
Kayalaaq Leishman-Brocklebank from Chesterfield Inlet was slated to be the 15th youth ambassador, but she was drafted to compete on the Nunavut women’s wrestling team.
On top of their volunteer duties and tourist excursions, the ambassadors will participate in bowling and other activities with delegates from other provinces and territories.
The youth ambassadors are scheduled to arrive in St. John’s on Friday.
(0) Comments