Marty Brown
Northern News Services

RANKIN INLET (Nov 18/98) - Charlene Williams looks like an ordinary teenager, but she has just returned from her first trip to Europe and it wasn't for sightseeing.

It was a once-in-a-lifetime chance for Rankin Inlet youth delegate Williams to attend the Indigenous Circumpolar Youth Council conference in Hundested, Denmark Nov. 1-4.

Inuit youth from Alaska, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Canada, Norway, Russia and Greenland exchanged ideas and brainstormed topics of interest to young people. Williams was one of three Canadian delegates, the other two coming from Iqaluit.

It wasn't a holiday, Williams said. Delegates were on the go from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and then they crashed Williams said.

The only thing delegates saw in Scandinavian country was Copenhagen at night as they drove to the hotel. And the only shopping Williams did was at a convenience store across the street. Delegates did manage a visit to Rassmusen, the Arctic explorer's house.

"The best thing about it was that it was run by youth for youth," said Williams. "It was great to hear other people's ideas, other opinions and just being there."

Williams has been to other conferences where she was made to "feel small" but here she felt she had opinions to offer.

Delegates were given topics they workshopped all morning and made presentations to the other delegates on in the afternoon. Topics included the recently proposed circumpolar university. Other topics included the mining industry's exploitation of non-renewable resources in Russia. Delegates asked themselves was there a problem? What was it? How can we help? In the end delegates recommended a presentation of their ideas to the Russian government.

Topics like Home Rule in Greenland were discussed.

She found the conversation stimulating. But there was some fun.

"The food was enough to move to Denmark for," she said. Listening to music from Greenland and chatting with the band was a high point as well.

She had gone from Rankin Inlet to the National Youth Council in Ottawa and spent 14 hours in London, England taking in Buckingham Palace and Picadilly Circus via The Tube.

"It was exhausting," she said.