NUNAVUT
Countless reports cross a Nunavut reporter's desk, reports filled with dismal statistics.

What none of those reports capture, or even note, is the living, breathing, creative force that are Nunavut youth.

A public concert May 4, during the Atausiuqatigiingniq Inuusirmi United for Life Summit, saw organizers bring together a group of young performers who are a testament to the power of self-expression, to historical grounding, and to forging a future where they, and all youth, thrive.

Fearlessly, they bared their souls, showing that music is a natural space of healing, honouring the past, and celebrating life.

MC Jessie Fraser of Sanikiluaq, her sister Kelly Fraser, Brian Tagalik, Terry Uyarak of Iglulik, Shauna Seeteenak of Baker Lake, and Julia Ogina and Sarah Jancke of Cambridge Bay performed for a crowd of all ages - from toddlers to elders.

Kelly began her set with a song called Fight for the Rights about the land referendum, with a strong message of saying "no" to the sale of lands. Her lyrics are politically aware and astute - she is a young woman confident in her message.

Then she moved on to her own personal story. When she was 16 her father took his own life and every March 5 thereafter she turned to negative ways to deal with the pain.

But this past March, she said, she decided to heal. She went to her uncle's.

"We celebrated his life instead of being down about it," said Kelly. "This song is about staying strong."

Kelly learned, with the help of people who believed in her, that she was a leader and "not useless."

"We need to help each other. You are the change," she said.

A striking lyric in one of her songs is: "When I fall I got parachutes." This song, Parachutes, sounds much like a manifesto, and a call to action. Kelly is one tough young woman, who nakedly shows her joy and pain, even anger, from one moment to the next.

Tagalik performed The Struggle, a song written in three voices - his grandfather's, his father's and his own.

Tagalik said he was sheltered growing up, then as a teenager he "realized what was going on with my people." Writing The Struggle took him a few years. He was "in fear of what it would have shown, why my people were committing suicide."

In his song he traces his lineage, his grandfather during whaling times, his father during the time of residential schools, and now his generation's struggle with suicide.

The chorus: "Open your eyes, stay together, someday we will have it all again, we'll celebrate when life is good, we made it through the struggle."

Uyarak is an accomplished acoustic guitar player, a gentle but powerful singer.

Seeteenak took the stage with an equal measure of courage and a compelling performance.

"I felt so much inside that I couldn't talk to anyone about. That resulted in trying to take my own life. I wrote this song to tell people what I went through," she explained.

"I have difficulty in speaking about feelings but I'm learning to."

The evening culminated with Ogina playing the traditional drum and Jancke leading drumdancing. It didn't take long for people from the audience to join.

There's a saying that goes: Expression is the opposite of depression. This evening of music and sharing stories and drum dancing demonstrated the truth of this.

Creative expression is life-affirming - that was the take-home of the evening.

As Kelly repeatedly stated: "You are the change."

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