Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

Iqaluit (Aug 21/00) - A veteran politician who juggles two tough cabinet portfolios, Manitok Thompson also has a reputation of being a career woman obsessed with her work.

But beneath the high-powered professionalism, Thompson is a mother plagued by the same worries that crease the foreheads of other mothers in the territory.

Raising two sons aged 12 and 17, what worries Thompson most these days is the lack of activities available for youth in Iqaluit.

That means her living room sometimes turns into a teenage hangout. That's okay by her, because at least it provides her sons and their friends with a safe place to go.

"Our youth must be desperate to find a place to sit down to visit with their friends," said Thompson.

Rankin offers kids options

Formerly a resident of Rankin Inlet, she said her family is used to a much wider array of things to do.

"I can compliment Rankin because there are three different places where the youth can go. These places are open until midnight and you know where your kids are."

After moving east to accept her cabinet position, she said she began to notice the capital was more focused on adult forms of entertainment, like drinking, and that youth were quite literally left out in the cold.

"The bottom line is in this community, the youth don't have a place where they can sit down and socialize. There are no activities geared towards 15, 16, 17-year olds, other than going to the theatre or the basketball court," said Thompson.

"It's true in a lot of the other communities too."

Thompson said she was forced to find a job for her oldest boy this summer just to give him something to do. That prompted her to go public with the worries she and other mothers carry around.

"There should be a youth committee that gets involved with the recreation person," she said. "I'm sure the recreation guys need some assistance in creating an atmosphere for youth."

New arena may help

Dave St. Louis, the Town of Iqaluit's director of recreation, said the department did host some youth activities -- many of which were sports related -- but that they, too, faced obstacles, including a lack of space and a limited budget.

"It would help if we had a location," said St. Louis. "But hopefully with the new arena, which has a youth centre in it, we'll be able to do more."

St. Louis said he'd like it to be part of his job in future to encourage Iqaluit youth to organize, to motivate themselves and each other to be more self-sufficient and independent in the long run. Miali Coli, a 19-year old Iqaluit resident is a good example of what St. Louis is talking about.

Coli has been involved in setting up and running youth activities in the capital for several years.

Off to Ecuador for the next three months with Canada World Youth, she said it takes an outgoing person to plan events. She said her peers needed to get more involved. "There's not a lot of support and what's there is kind of hidden," said Coli.

"I don't think there's a lack of things. It just takes energy. Do they have the energy to do it?"