Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

Panniqtuuq (Feb 18/02) - It's because of spring camp and Simeonie Keenainak that many Inuit youth in Panniqtuuq reach an important milestone in life and get their first caribou.

All that is at risk now thanks to a $50,000 gap between the camp's cost and the available cash.

Organizers of the annual program learned last week that the Kakivak Association could only provide them with $17,000 this year. The budget for the 2002 camp -- including improvements and enhanced Inuktitut programming -- is $68,500.

"I can see their faces now, how proud they are when they shoot their first caribou or seal or baby seal," said Keenainak, a guide and participant in the camp for the last eight years.

Also a shop teacher, a language specialist, a traditional knowledge teacher and an accordion instructor at Attagoyuk school in Panniqtuuq, Keenainak knows how important the camp is to the community's students.

Some 450 students from kindergarten through Grade 12 spend time at the camp each year. They mix with elders and learn about their culture and survival skills.

"A lot of boys and girls don't have the chance to go on the land because their parents work or they don't have parents," he explained.

He said hunting and camping in Cumberland Sound allows students to see with their own eyes how their ancestors survived.

"These things really mean a lot to them. Even now, they can't wait to go to spring camp. It's what they're going to do for the rest of their lives."

School principal Donald Mearns is working hard to find the necessary dollars to keep the camp alive.

He said Kakivak, the funding arm of the Qikiqtani Inuit Association, fully funded the $50,000 camp last year. But cutbacks at the organization and the programs it supports left him scrambling.

Plans he had to increase the number of elders who participate and to bring them in prior to the three-week camp will likely have to be dropped for 2002. Celebrations planned to commemorate the 10th year of the camp are also out.

Mearns said the lack of financial support is especially frustrating given the emphasis supposedly placed on Inuktitut and Inuit qaujimajatuqangit in the territory. Language use and development and the relationship between science and traditional knowledge are key mandates of the camp.

All levels of government and Inuit organizations want to promote language and culture, but few come to the table when money is needed.

"You hear from the top down that they want more language involvement with elders and youth but the dollars are not there for the programs," said Mearns.