Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

Iglulik (Mar 27/00) - In less than two months time, Elisha Awa will be strolling along Parliament Hill, soaking up as much as he can of the Canadian political capital.

The excitement of that prospect has kept the Ataguttaaluk high school student going during the last few months.

Kept extremely busy maintaining high grades while raising money through bake sales, dances and a letter writing campaign, Awa said he was ready to reap the benefits of the hard work that made the upcoming student exchange possible.

"It was tiring, but I had fun," said Awa, a resident of Iglulik.

One of 15 students and two chaperons scheduled to fly to Rockland, Ont. at the end of May for a week-long exchange with a similar group of students, Awa said the plan was to study politics while learning to speak some French.

"I'm going to learn about government and politics and stuff like that, go visit the Parliament buildings and museums and maybe learn a little bit of French," he said.

But before he's even given the opportunity to do all that, Awa will play host to the group from Ontario later this week.

Scheduled to arrive in Iglulik March 25, teacher and exchange organizer Jodi McMahon said a week of traditional cultural activities involving the community had been planned.

"They're very interested in having a lot of outdoor experiences and survival experiences. They want to go to the floe edge, build iglus, do some cooking, play Inuit games," said McMahon.

"It will be kind of a myriad of activities wrapped up in seven days."

To help run those activities, the department of culture, language, elders and youth came forward with some funding to hire local elders to assist in hosting the week's events. That's good news, said McMahon.

"It benefits those students, plus this school and the community at large," she said.

Similar grants that helped make the bilingual exchange possible were also forthcoming from First Air and Agriculture Canada.