Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

Kugluktuk (July 30/01) - When as many as 28 Kugluktuk residents head westwards for healing this summer, Joanne Taptuna won't be among them.

But she sure played a large role in getting them organized to attend the seven-day healing workshop in Deline.

Scheduled to run from Aug.14 to 21 in the Northwest Territories community, the workshop promotes the development of problem-solving skills and teaches people to look inward for solutions.

Residents of Kugluktuk make the annual trek to learn new ways of bettering their lives. Taptuna declined an invitation to attend this year's event because she's been through the workshop two times already.

"I said I'd like to save that place for someone who hasn't taken the workshop," said Taptuna.

She said she learned valuable skills that make her function more effectively in her daily life.

"I learned what causes day-to-day problems you have to deal with and how that puts you down," she said.

Part of the Ayakotak Committee -- meaning rainbow in Innuinaqtun -- Taptuna said they'd managed to secure $11,040 in funding from the local hamlet council. Committee fund-raising efforts netted an additional $4,900, meaning that space for 14 individuals was secured. Taptuna said they were now in the process of finding money to send another 14 people from the community.

"To get 14 people is good. To get another 14 makes it even better," she said.

While such a workshop would ideally be held somewhere in Nunavut, Taptuna said heading to a new community taught people skills they might not be familiar with.

"It's good to learn other ways of wellness," said Taptuna. "People deal with problems in different ways and it's good to get other people's input," she said.

Taptuna said final participants would be notified by the end of July. She said that would give the committee time to prepare people for the week of healing.