Youths connect with land and each other covering Nunavut Quest

A half-dozen young people from Igoolik hit the trails for seven days this month, following 10 dogsled race teams as they competed in the Nunavut Quest.

As part of the land-based Nunavut Quest Field Course, they camped out in tents and provided stories and photos from the 250-kilometre race that were published each day in Nunatsiaq News.

Shanshan Tian, an educational consultant and facilitator for the program, said the experience was much more than just a course — it connected the participants in cultural and traditional ways, and to their family in other communities.

“I think there’s so much room and value in Nunavut right now in land-based education as part of decolonizing the education system,” said Tian.

“We need education that is culturally relevant and supports the traditional ways.”

Tian said she got the idea for the course after serving as timekeeper for the race last year. She proposed it to Tracy Partridge, who works with the Qikiqtani Inuit Association as a qimmit revitalization co-ordinator. Tian credits Partridge with turning the project from a dream into reality.

“As an outsider, I felt such privilege to be able to participate in such a monumental cultural event,” said Tian.

She recalled thinking at the end of Nunavut Quest last year, “How cool would it be for young kids who never got the chance to participate in an event like this, to get to be a part of it.”

The participants were selected from among students who were either non-attendees at school but had potential to graduate, were attending school but their ability to connect was influenced by issues like mental health or family situations, or who had high achievement despite a sporadic attendance record.

The field course, sponsored by QIA and the Ilagiiktunut Fund, will amount to one semester credit.

The group left home from Igloolik on April 9, travelled for three days to Arctic Bay and then joined the seven-day Nunavut Quest that ended in Pond Inlet on April 22.

Tian said they spent well over the required credit hours out on the land.

“When you interview people, you think what are the feelings that we can share with the readers? There’s so much literacy in it,” she said.

“I think for these kids, they wrote more in the last two and a half weeks than they would have written in a semester for an English course.”

The participants were required to keep a journal of their travels, write stories about the events, practise their photography skills and edit their work.

“There was a lot of down time, too, and the kids got to meet relatives they’ve never met before. It was really monumental for each of these kids,” said Tian.

Tian said she is proud of the students, especially after hearing the speeches they wrote for the closing ceremonies in Pond Inlet.

They were asked to share what the experience meant to them. Tian said they spoke about how their experience made them want to be a better person, how it helped them gain confidence and brought them joy to connect with elders on the land.

Tian said she hopes the course will be renewed for next year and expanded to bring more students together from different communities.

“If the committee were to welcome this, I can see the project growing in a way where maybe we take three students from Arctic Bay, maybe three from Pond Inlet, and three from Igloolik next year to build that inter-community connection,” Tian said.