by Jennifer Pritchett
Northern News Services

RANKIN INLET (Oct 13/97) - Rankin Inlet's Mariano Aupilardjuk wants his community to use its first-ever community wellness centre he designed to jump-start a support program that will mean fewer social problems and happier people who are in control of their own lives.

"We have to help each other now and in the future -- if we help each other it will be a great benefit to us," Aupilardjuk said at the sod house-wellness centre's opening, Oct. 4.

He's just one of a group of Rankin Inlet residents who want to make the community a better place to live and have been working on a community wellness program since last April.

The opening of the sod house and the completion of a community action plan has set the wheels in motion for a new beginning.

"This sod house is for you, the people of Rankin Inlet -- this is a community centre," he said.

Built three kilometres outside Rankin Inlet, the sod house is constructed from grass and dirt.

Plywood walls and canvas have replaced a traditional fur and bowhead whale bone roof to discourage bugs and to make the structure more permanent.

The community centre is a combination of the traditional and contemporary design to symbolize the partnership between elders and youth many believe necessary to bring the community closer together.

(sub) Health concerns addressed

Cathy Towtongie, who brought the Department of Justice into the project, said that getting back to more traditional ways of living and maintaining Inuit cultural is integral to the overall health of the community.

She remembers 13 people in her small Rankin Inlet high school class who have since died needlessly because of suicide.

"(They died) because of the change that has happened too fast and peoples' inability to cope with these changes," said Towtongie.

She hopes the sod house will be used as a place where people can go to use their traditional skills, as well as become involved in other community wellness activities. It will be available to all members of the public and will remain open all winter.

Youth also expressed interest in emphasizing traditional skills during the wellness conference Oct. 3 to 7 in Rankin Inlet.