Kivalliq youth perform for Pope in front of 50,000
Darrell Greer
Northern News Services
Arviat (Apr 25/01) - Five Kivalliq youth performed for Pope John Paul II, and in front of 50,000 people during mass at Saint Peter's Square on Palm Sunday.
The youth, who included Nadine Lamoureux, Larry Kablutsiak, Ronnie Illaungiayok and Natasha St. John of Arviat and Rankin Inlet's Sheila Kadjuk, originally from Chesterfield Inlet, spent four days in Rome as part of a two-week tour.
Kablutsiak says he couldn't utter a word when he was face to face with the Pope, who blessed the group twice.
"I couldn't talk when the Pope said hello to me.
"I had a nice little speech all prepared in my head, but when I met him nothing would come out. I went totally blank. It was a once in a lifetime experience for all five of us."
Arviat pastoral agent Lynne Rollin says the appearance for the pope was in preparation for World Youth Day.
The event, which brings together youth around the world, is held every two years in a different country. The next one will be held in Toronto in July 2002.
"There were supposed to be two young Canadians from each province and territory go to Rome to receive the cross which will travel across Canada in preparation for World Youth Day 2002," says Rollin.
"The Pope made a special request for some young native peoples to come along and perform their traditional dancing and singing. It grew from there and we ended up having five young people make the trip."
The trip was paid for by the 2002 World Youth Day organizing committee.
Kablutsiak, the group's leader, says the best word to describe the journey is "overwhelming."
Tight security
The Kivalliq group performed twice in Rome, once at a pep rally and again at Saint Peter's Square.
"When the Italian youth passed over the World Youth Day pilgrimage cross to the Canadian delegates, that's when we performed," says Kablutsiak.
The group was not prepared for the extent of the security measures at Saint Peter's Square, and were constantly worried about losing their access tickets.
"It was a little intimidating because the guards did not seem very friendly. You can't get a smile from them, no matter how hard you try.
"However, it was also very exciting. Just being there was a blessing."
Kablutsiak says the large Palm Sunday crowd responded well to the throatsinging and drum dancing, even though many had never heard or seen it before.
He says once the Kivalliq group got into the performance, the crowd started clapping to the beat and enjoying the performance.
Kablutsiak says the group isn't intimidated about performing next year in front of about 700,000 spectators in Toronto.
"You get used to it after a while. We were gone for two weeks and, during that time, performed quite a bit, including in front of very large crowds in Ottawa and Rome."
