Darrell Greer
Northern News Services

Rankin Inlet (Jan 11/06) - A group of Rankin Inlet volunteers is trying to launch a program not seen in the Kivalliq for more than a decade.

Economic Development and Tourism's Robert Connelly has been working with Junior Achievement Manitoba for the past year through previously established relationships during Rural Forum, trade missions and the Hudson Bay Round Table.

Connelly arranged to have Kivalliq youth travel to the Rural Forum in Brandon every year to participate in Junior Achievement workshops, games and other various activities.

He says the program has proven itself to be of tremendous value to youth across Canada.

"There was a Kivalliq Junior Achievement program in the early 1990s, while we were still under the GNWT, but it died off by the middle of the decade," says Connelly.

"There's been no Junior Achievement program in the territory since the creation of Nunavut.

"There's a national organization (Junior Achievement Canada), and every province and territory except Nunavut has a chapter.

"We're working with Junior Achievement Manitoba to set up a program in the Kivalliq."

A total of 17 youth from across Kivalliq took a Junior Achievement course with the Manitoba organization this past spring.

That was followed by the launching of the program with two Grade 8 classes at Maani Ulujuk High in Rankin this past month.

Debbie Smith of Junior Achievement Manitoba travelled to Rankin to train local volunteers Connelly, Tara Tootoo-Fotheringham, Hamish Tatty, Pakak Sigurdson, Charlotte Hickes, Charlene Tasseor and Kandace Kusugak to deliver the program.

The first program the new group delivered was the economics of staying in school, which shows students how to tie education to their future earnings.

Other modules in the Junior Achievement program include business basics, dollars with sense, JA titan and company program - a student venture.

"In Nunavut, a Grade 12 graduate will earn an average of 42 per cent more income during their working years than a dropout," Connelly says.

"The potential to earn more increases if they continue on after high school with trades training or post-secondary education.

"The program helps students realize the more education they have, the better their chances are to live the lifestyles they envision."

Tatty says he finds the programs delivered through Junior Achievement to be quite educational, and not just for the students.

He says he learned quite a bit, himself, while learning to deliver the programs.

"I found one of the better components of the program we delivered to be budgeting," says Tatty.

"It was interesting to hear the kids talk about things they wanted to own someday - a house, Honda, vehicle and Ski-Doo - and then have to add things like rent, fuel, insurance, food and utilities.

"There were some kids who found out they'd have to work five different jobs to have everything they wanted.

"That part really opened their eyes as to how much everything costs these days."

Kivalliq Junior Achievement hopes to reach at least one more community by the end of the current fiscal year.

Eventually, the organizers hope to see Junior Achievement programs being delivered in all seven Kivalliq hamlets, but it won't come cheap.

Connelly says the launch of the Kivalliq Junior Achievement program was made possible through a variety of financial contributions.

"We had the Sakku Investments Corp./Pan-Arctic Inuit Logistics contribute $5,000 towards the launch of the program, and the Keewatin Business Development Centre kicked in another $2,500," says Connelly.

"The Nunavut Power Corp. has committed $500 and Cumberland Resources Ltd. has committed $800.

"Junior Achievement Manitoba members have donated their time and a lot of effort to help us adopt the program to Nunavut in order to ensure it's relevant to the youth of our territory.

"To date, it's been a real team effort at the grassroots level."