Maria Canton
Northern News Services

Inuvik (Oct 02/00) - Nunavummiut turned out en masse for the Sept. 24 AIDS Walk Canada to raise awareness of the disease across the territory.

With support from Pauktuutit, an Inuit women's association based in Ottawa, 13 of Nunavut's 26 communities registered their totals in time for the statistics to be released.

In Taloyoak, a Kitikmeot community with 648 residents, 70 people turned out in poor weather and matched Burlington, Ontario, a city of 136,976 people.

"I am so proud of the people in my community who decided to walk," said Roger Mannilaq, co-ordinator of the walk in Taloyoak.

"Sometimes I am not sure if the work I do makes a difference, but today I guess I got the answer."

Arctic Bay was head and shoulders above the rest when it came down to percentages. An overwhelming 44 per cent of the population walked 1.5 km for the cause, putting it among the largest per capita walks in the country.

Organized by the local health centre, the community pulled together to make a day of the event.

Songs were performed, a call-in radio show about HIV\AIDS was hosted, talks were given and the 284 registered people pulled together to make a human chain spelling out AIDS in English and Inuktitut.

Similarly, some 400 people took to the streets in Pangnirtung, making it the largest walk in the territory.

Last year, seven HIV\AIDS booklets specifically designed for Inuit were released in the Arctic and HIV\AIDS skills building training was also provided.

Pauktuutit president, Veronica Dewar, said Nunavut's participation in the national walk demonstrates that those tools are effective.

"The impact of our community education work is, at best, difficult to measure," she said.

"The level of community participation in the national AIDS walk tells us that our work has made a big difference in terms of AIDS awareness."