Stephanie McDonald
Northern News Services
Published Monday, September 10, 2007

COPPERMINE - Over the coming school year, students at Jimmy Hikok Ilihakvik elementary school in Kugluktuk will be learning what it's like to live on the far side of the Atlantic Ocean.

The community welcomed British adventurers Glenn Morris and Stephen Doughty, who paddled into Kugluktuk on Aug. 14. The two are leaders of Arctic Voice, a 4,800-kilometre expedition by kayak and dog team from Inuvik to Iqaluit. En route, the two are linking schools in the United Kingdom with schools in the Arctic.

"The premise is to help bring awareness to the effects of global warming and climate change on the Arctic," said Catherine Keeling, student support teacher and vice-principal of Jimmy Hikok Ilihakvik school.

The students, aged 10 to 12, at the elementary school have been e-mailing their counterparts in Cornwall, England, about their culture, climate, and what life was like in the past. To obtain that information, the students are interviewing their elders.

"That information will help them communicate the change that has happened here," Keeling said.

The project will be focusing on Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, particularly the guiding principle of avatimik kamattiarniq, or environmental stewardship, Keeling said. The information exchange between the two groups of students will incorporate lessons in science, language, art, and social studies.

Morris said that people in the United Kingdom have lost touch with their environment. "We need to learn from you guys up here," he said during a phone conversation from Kugluktuk. "I am very, very worried about the future and the legacy we are leaving our children."

Children in the U.K. are finding the partnerships fascinating, Morris said, and it's helping to shed myths about the people who populate the Canadian Arctic. Likewise, Nunavut students are learning how life is different for kids their age across the pond. Some British students reported that their school was shut down after receiving an inch of snow, a foreign, and humorous concept to Nunavummiut.

Morris and Doughty have found partner schools in the U.K. for schools in Kugluktuk, Iglulik, Gjoa Haven, Cambridge Bay, Kugaaruk, Taloyoak, and a final one is planned for an Iqaluit school.

If it is economically feasible, Keeling hopes that someday the twin schools will be able to do an exchange.

Morris and Doughty spoke at the elementary and high schools in Kugluktuk and let the students try out their kayaks, showed them the type of clothes and food they brought, and what work they did to prepare for their Arctic journey.