Spence Bay (Apr 28/03) - Casie Totalik has one goal in life -- to be a success.

Totalik, 20, has lived in Taloyoak surrounded by a huge family since being born. She is adopted but still has contact with her biological parents.

Casie Totalik wants to live in different communities across Nunavut to get a better understanding of her territory. - photo courtesy of Nunavut Youth Consulting

"My biological dad is from Iglulik and my mom is here. I see my biological mom every day but I've never met my biological dad before. We talk on the phone. I'm lucky to have two families," said Totalik.

With all the support available to her, Totalik graduated high school in June 2000 and went on to the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology to get a diploma in records and information management. Now, Totalik is working at the Taloyoak Community Access Program Site, a site with free Internet access, teaching people how to type and start e-mail accounts. She hopes to go back to school to study early childhood development in the near future.

Totalik also hopes to continue travelling as much as she can. She participated in the Nunavut Youth Abroad Program in 2001 and went to Amherst, N.S. It was during this trip that she began volunteering at the YMCA day care and her interest in childhood development began.

"I realized that I wanted to work with children after that and that people had a lot of questions about where I lived," said Totalik.

She said educating the people she met while in Nova Scotia was very important. She wanted to make sure everyone knew that communities in Nunavut had running water, and stores where they could buy their groceries.

Totalik also made sure she taught people about her cultural traditions.

"It's very important to keep the culture going. I'm trying to learn more traditional things especially my language," she said.

Totalik also wants to experience other Nunavut communities. She said she's ready for a change after living in Taloyoak for so long.