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QAMANNITUAQ/BAKER LAKE - The Kivalliq representative of Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada returned home last week from a national women's conference with renewed optimism.

Baker Lake's Rebecca Kudloo, who attended the second National Aboriginal Women's Summit in Yellowknife, said she believes Pauktuutit will soon play a bigger role in local communities.

Rhoda Innuksuk, president of Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada, sits with son and right-hand man Apitak Innuksuk at Turaarvik Inns North in Rankin Inlet. Innuksuk was weathered in town for a few days while travelling back to Ottawa from the National Aboriginal Women's Summit in Yellowknife earlier this month. - Karen Mackenzie/NNSL photo

"We've been focusing on policies so we can run better in the future. I think we'll get back to more awareness," she said.

Pauktuutit, whose offices are based in Ottawa, is a national advocacy group for Inuit women. Many of its board members were able to attend the summit, which ran from July 29-31.

"I think we're starting to become a bigger part of the whole. We're very positive that we'll be better involved in the future," Kudloo said. "We have many of the same issues in Inuit communities as aboriginal women across the country. The biggest difference is we don't have the services available elsewhere, especially in the smaller communities."

Kudloo took in a number of talks during the conference, including one focusing on aboriginal women in the criminal justice system.

"It was looking at women as victims as well as professionals and offenders," said Kudloo.

Delegates also discussed issues such as healing and wellness, violence against women, and early childhood and childbirth.

AIDS is another issue Kudloo said needs to be discussed in Nunavut.

"I think with the influx of development like mining that's always a concern for a women's organization," she said. "But the big issue, I think, is the need for more support for women and children that have been affected by violence. More counselling services, more education. We need to have a bigger voice to deal with it."

While in Yellowknife, Pauktuutit members also took the opportunity to hold a board meeting.

"It gave us a chance to renew Pauktuutit," said group president Rhoda Innuksuk. "We want to give the women's association back to the communities, back to the Inuit where it rightfully belongs."

Innuksuk, who was born in Qaiqsut (now Mary River), said she'd like to see more women reaching out to their regional representatives with their concerns as well as to the Ottawa headquarters.

"We hope to bridge the gap between the organization and the regions. We're supposed to be a tool for the communities to use to improve conditions. It's been slow going but I'm confident we will," she said.