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PANNIQTUUQ/PANGNIRTUNG
Thirteen future leaders from Pangnirtung are about to share their culture with a group of teens from Ottawa. But first, the Nunavut students will experience a week in the city.

Thirteen Pangnirtung youths are involved in an exchange with teens from Ottawa. They are, in back, from left, Nicky Maniapik, Solominie Qappik, Leanne Kilabuk, Danny Ishulutak, Mary Poisey; front, from left, Joanasie Arnaqaq, Jonas Aningmiuq, Daniel Duval, George Akulukjuk and Rita Claire Mike-Murphy. Corey Alivaktuk, not pictured, is also making the exchange. - photo courtesy of Naomi Corder

"It's good for the young people to go other places and to meet new people," said Solomon Qappik, 14.

"I'm looking forward to going watersliding, to amusement parks and shopping."

Qappik is one of the teens selected to take part in a Society for Educational Visits and Exchanges in Canada (SEVEC) exchange trip between youth in Pangnirtung and members of the 1st Kanata Scout group in the nation’s capital.

The Pangnirtung contingent's trip to Ottawa coincides with Canada Day, which they will celebrate on Parliament Hill. They will also spend time "zip-lining, go-karting, visiting museums, visiting colleges and universities, shopping, camping, canoeing, going to the water park," said Making Connections program manager Naomi Corder.

The Scouts will travel to Pangnirtung in August, spending a week in Auyuittuq National Park before the Pangnirtung youth host them for a week. They'll be treated to a community tour, hikes, a day trip across the fiord, fishing, a community feast and a print workshop. They will also cook lunch for elders.

To make the exchange possible, the group is holding regular fundraisers, including bake sales. The money raised will help ensure the visitors are well-supported when they arrive in Pangnirtung.

"(The Ottawa youth will) be able to see a different way of life still within Canada, and gain some insight into how the Inuit live now, how they lived previously, and just get a feel of the different types of cultures that are alive and strong within Canada," Corder said.

The experience will also help develop the hamlet's future elders.

"Being able to share stories that are passed down, they can get a headstart on being able to hold all of this cultural knowledge that the elders have," she said.

Trip participants were chosen based on their history of being leaders in the community, through youth council, sports, or volunteerism. Rita Claire Mike-Murphy, 16, recently volunteered to teach elementary school children how to dance hip-hop when Blueprint for Life was in town. She's looking forward to returning to the nation's capital, where she hopes to attend Nunavut Sivuniksavut in a few years.

"I want to meet more people and learn new things. When they come up, I want to show them how it works in the North," Mike-Murphy said, such as the contrast in "the prices of food and stuff at the store. (In Ottawa,) I think I'll learn how it works in the city, and get more experienced in the city for when I go to college."

Mike-Murphy is one of a minority of girls making the exchange. The group is boy-heavy because the selection committee from Making Connections and Attagoyuk Illisavik had to twin the participants with those from Ottawa based on gender, age and interests. Chaperons are also going on the trip.

"It gives the youth an educational opportunity to visit the south while still being able to do fun things," Corder said, "not just focusing on visiting schools, and also have fun interacting with youth down south."

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