8/6/2019 Nunatsiaq News Feature pg.2, May 2011 - English

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findings with Inuit organizations there.

The group looked through archival material at Ottawas

Library and Archives Canada and did tours at the National

Gallery of Canada and the Canadian Museum of Civilization.

Another youth researcher, Jordon Konek, 22, said Inuit

today are caught up with modern technology. Its important

for Inuit to know their history so they can put their modern

lives into context, he said.

If you dont notice history, you dont see how caught up

we are, Konek said.

He didnt at first; Konek said the education he received

focused on a lot of historic white people.

But even one conversation with an elder can help to

understand and pass on something from the past that would

otherwise be lost, he said.

Fellow researcher Amy Owingayak, 19, said the only Inuit

history she learned in school was about traditional Inuit cloth-

ing.

We went through a traumatic change, said Owingayak of

Inuit losing their nomadic lifestyle. I hope that our youth will

learn quickly about that change, and we hope not only Inuit

people will learn about this, but also people in the South.

Dr. Frank Tester, a professor of social work at UBC and a

member of the Nanisiniq team, also hopes the projects findings

have a broader reach.

We want to influence young people and get them think-

ing about exploring their culture by talking with elders in their

community, he said. And we do want to influence the edu-

cation system.

So far, Tester has had some influence; he sits as an advisor

to Government of Nunavut education committee who is look-

ing to create a more Inuit-centred curriculum in the territo-

rys high schools.

The Arviat history project is a good illustration of ideas that

are relevant to the redesign of the territorys curriculum, he

said.

Tester said his background in social work has also led him

to believe that the high rate of suicide among Inuit youth is

linked to their lack of knowledge about where they come from.

If you dont know your roots, youre vulnerable to every-

thing that comes along, he said. This lack of grounding in

Inuit history is one of the contributing factors to depressions

and mental health problems associated with Inuit youth.

Visit the Nanisiniq Projects blog here:

http://nanisiniq.tumblr.com

Nanisiniq members present their project to staff at Inuit Tapiriit Kanatamis Ottawa office May 16. (PHOTO BY FRANK TESTER)

Members of the Arviat history project Nanisiniq visit Indian and NorthernAffairs (now Aboriginal and Northern Affairs) during a recent fieldtrip toOttawa. The group was in the nations capital to do research and also share theirproject with Inuit organizations there. (PHOTOBY FRANK TESTER)

Nanisiniq youth researchers Curtis Konek and Patrick Pingashat film scenes around Arviat last winter as partof a project to document the communitys Inuit history. (PHOTO BY APRIL DUTHEIL)