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ARVIAT
A class focused on teaching Inuit child-rearing techniques will be returning to Arviat this fall.

Aboriginal Head Start programs across the North and in Nunavut got a funding boost from the federal government earlier this fall. AHSs will share $50 million over the next five years. From left are Mackenzie Porter, Tannis Eleheetook, Elizabeth Qirrqut and Marlin Porter. They are all participants in Gjoa Haven's Aboriginal Head Start program. - photo courtesy of Valerie Igutsaq

The Inunnguiniq Parenting Program was piloted in eight communities for the first time last year.

Changes have since been made based on lessons learned during the initial test and it’s ready for a second run, according to Shirley Tagalik, an Arviat resident who was involved in writing the curriculum for the class.

"It's a very, very important program," said Tagalik. "Anybody who has come to facilitation has gone away just going, 'if only I had this information earlier. I just want to turn back the clock and start over with my kids as babies.'"

Qaujigiartiit Health Research Centre, a non-profit community-based organization, developed the fifteen-week course on request from Nunavummiut.

The centre interviewed parents, elders and program workers to gain a better understanding of what residents wanted.

During the discussions, elders kept bringing up Inunnguiniq, which means to make a human being.

The goal is to help a child to become fully self-sufficient and skilled to a point where she won’t cause her family to worry, explained Tagalik.

But in today’s world, youth are lost because society is filling their heads with information before putting character and attitude into their hearts, elders told them.

"The information has no value in their heads if they don't have the attitude and character to use the information to work for the common good and to improve the situation of those around them," Tagalik said, recounting elders’ advice.

The elders suggested creating a course to improve cultural knowledge among parents. And the Inunnguiniq Parenting Program was born.

The class is taught in English and Inuktitut using group discussion, interactive activities and story telling. Participants are provided with a curriculum binder with six modules.

This time around, the class will be hosted in Arviat, Gjoa Haven, Iqaluit and Cambridge Bay.

According to Gwen Healey, executive and scientific director for QHRC, the new version features materials that are less text-heavy.

Plus, there is a greater emphasis on making the program inclusive. It’s not just for mothers, she said.

The program is open to grandmothers, fathers, grandfathers, aunts, and uncles, anyone who is involved in a child’s life.

Also, unlike past programs it’s not limited to caregivers struggling with children who have behavioural issues, added Tagalik.

"This is for everybody," she said.

"The elders said this is how we can improve society. This is how we can build stronger children.

"This is how we can improve resiliency and go back to the days when people were happy living a good life and not killing themselves."

The program, which is designed so that participants don’t have to attend all the sessions, is expected to start in September and last about three months.

Once it finishes, it will be evaluated, final adjustments will be made to the curriculum and it will be offered to anyone in the territory who wants to run it.

Currently, QHRC does not have the funding to offer the program beyond this point, but Healey said they’re looking at ways to ensure it keeps going.

"We want it to be sustainable afterwards. We don't want to put all of this work and energy and effort into creating it to have it become lost in the shuffle," she said.

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