Darrell Greer
Northern News Services

Rankin Inlet (July 03/02) - A Rankin Inlet student represented Nunavut at the Canada Day celebrations on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on July 1.

Jennifer Oolooyuk, a student at Alaittuq High, was Nunavut's winner in the nationwide Canada Day Poster Challenge.

Lavenia Brown is vice-chair of the contest committee, representing Nunavut at the national level.

Brown has been involved with the Canada Day Committee for the past 12 years.

"It's such a great committee, because there's nothing political about it," says Brown. I really enjoy the experience of being so involved with Canada Day," says Brown.

"I encourage and would like to see more Nunavut youth get involved with the contest so they can express their pride in being Canadian."

For having her poster selected as the best in Nunavut, Oolooyuk received a free airline ticket for herself and another for a family member to accompany her to the July 1 Canada Day celebration on Parliament Hill in the nation's capital.

The Canada Day Poster Challenge is open to youth 18 years of age and younger, producing the vast majority of entries from Canadian schools.

A total of 11 of Oolooyuk's Grade 9 classmates submitted entries to the contest.

Brown says the poster challenge gives Nunavut youth the opportunity to learn more about their nation's history while working on their projects.

"When you look at it, those students must have exchanged a lot of history about Canada while they were working together.

"It really conveys both our pride in being Canadian and the rich history of Inuit.

"Jennifer's (Oolooyuk) poster contained Jordin Tootoo's No. 22 hockey jersey, which was a nice touch that showed her pride in his accomplishments.

"The poster challenge is a way for our youth to convey that pride along to other Canadians and, at the same time, present our rich Inuit history to them."