NNSL (Dec 12/97) - Yellowknifer Suzie Napayok wants to revive a support group that's seen better days.

In 1994, Inuit living in the Yellowknife region organized a support group for city-based Inuit.

The Yellowknife Inuit Association was born with about 200 members. Within a year, however, many Inuit gave up. Many weren't interested in volunteering. Napayok hopes history won't repeat itself.

She's now gathering names and information, trying to revive the association.

"We've got to start looking after each other," she said, explaining the need for the organization. "There are many Inuit living in Yellowknife who depend on Social Services or the Salvation Army, who should be depending upon their own people."

She says services currently available to Inuit are limited because of language and cultural barriers.

"There are very few services available to them in their language," she says.

Napayok envisions an association that would serve not only the social needs of Yellowknife-based Inuit, but also their political needs.

"Right now, there are Inuit living in Yellowknife who feel left out of the process in Nunavut."

"There's no place to meet to talk about what's happening in Nunavut and many feel as if they are just observers, and not participants, in Nunavut."

Her efforts represent the most recent attempt to galvanize support.

Peter Ernerk, a former MLA from Rankin Inlet now living in Yellowknife, agrees that an Inuit association in the capital region could benefit many Inuit living in or visiting the city.

"You see Inuit all the time walking around the city at night, because there's simply no place to go and nothing to do."

Ernerk says an office in the city would provide Inuit with a place to stay in touch with their families in the Eastern Arctic. He says many Inuit are lonely here, and an association would offer valuable moral and emotional support.

He offered an example of how Inuit in the city have lost their political voice in the east because of their residency in the western Arctic. By resorting to proxy votes, he suggests, Inuit are losing something more important -- a connection to their families and leaders in the East.

"In a way, we're displaced people here." he lamented.

But Daniel Autut, a trainee with the Workers' Compensation Board, says it is not the responsibility of an association to help Inuit stay in touch with their families or offer financial or moral support.

He feels people need to understand they are responsible for their own actions and situations.

"Having an office like that would help, but it all depends on the individual and their needs," he says, noting that many Inuit only stay in the city on a short-term basis to attend school or get training.

Autut wonders who would pay for the costs associated with setting up an office for the association.

Napayok responds that while the association could survive on individual contributions and volunteer efforts, other Inuit groups like Nunavut Tunngavut Inc. should contribute to both capital and current costs, simply because it's important to some of their constituents, no matter where they live.

"Right now, we have very little money and a lot of interest in getting this thing off the ground."

Napayok hopes some 200 Inuit will attend the first meeting, which is scheduled for the first two weeks in January.

She says a new board, complete with a small budget and new mandate, will help Inuit leaders remain accountable to the people they serve.