Iqaluit (Apr 07/03) - Scholars and administrators have been floating a capital idea around Ottawa lately.

More than 180 students have graduated from the Ottawa-based Nunavut Sivuniksavut training program (NS) since it began in 1985 and enough of them have made a request for a second-year program that it's on the way.

So, beginning in September, they'll get their wish -- a second-year pilot program is on the way.

Response to the announcement has been great. Many of the students graduating this May are waiting to apply for the second year.

The program will have its largest graduating class ever, with 19 students this year. By May, each of these students will have completed the eight-month program designed to teach about Inuit history, organizations and land claim agreements.

After completing the first-year program, students should feel more qualified to participate in the educational or career opportunities available to them in Nunavut.

Growing the program

Murray Angus has been an instructor with NS on and off for the past 18 years. He said the program started after officials from the Tunngavik Federation of Nunavut expressed an interest in getting young people involved in land claim issues.

Angus took on the challenge and started organizing a program.

"We didn't expect it to be a long-term thing but it turned into NS and it keeps growing," said Angus.

The main supporters of NS are Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, Kakivak Association, Kivalliq Partners and the Kitikmeot Economic Development Association.

The program's co-ordinator, Morley Hanson, said academics are not the only thing that will get someone into NS.

"We're looking for people that are enthusiastic about learning -- they might not always do that well on the marks side of high school," he explained.

June Shappa is a 2002 graduate and said if she had just finished the first-year program, she would definitely apply for the second year.

"It was a wonderful experience -- NS has many things to offer and a lot of things to teach. It mostly helped me understand the contemporary structure of Nunavut and understand the past," she said.

Shappa is now the co-ordinator of the northern contaminants program with Indian and Northern Affairs Canada.

Six or seven years ago, Hanson said, students started asking if they could come back for a second year. Hanson said administrators thought the students simply wanted to relive the positive experience they had with NS, but that wasn't the case.

"They wanted more integration with the college and university courses. They wanted to be able to try different programs and get a chance to see what they might really be interested in," he explained.

As part of the second-year NS program, students will take NS courses, a course at Carleton University and up to three different courses at Algonquin College.

"The idea is that hopefully they can see themselves being successful in these courses and in these programs," said Hanson

The second-year program will have a limited enrolment of eight students during the pilot year, which will start in September. If it's successful, Hanson expects it will grow.

Students line up for next year

Pauloosie Akeeagok, 18, learned about the NS program from his father in Grise Fiord.

"My dad is a former student. He was one of the first 10 students in 1985. He told me about it and it really interested me," said Akeeagok.

He applied in April, was accepted and started in September 2002. Akeeagok arrived in Ottawa when he was 17 years old, it was his first time living away from home.

He said that NS offered him a lot of support. He had friends from Nunavut and instructors he could talk to on a one-on-one basis.

Now with a little more than a month left to go in the program, Akeeagok said he thinks taking NS was one of the best decisions of his life.

"I feel so much prouder of who I am. I feel so much prouder of being an Inuk. I learned how our ancestors fought to be recognized and then fought for our own rights," said Akeeagok. He will be applying to the second-year program as soon as the forms come out.

"I'm planning on going on to university but I'm not to sure about what program. Right now, I just want to keep furthering my education. It would be nice to still have the support of friends -- and with NS, I'll still have the support just in case I feel down, or if I'm homesick or get confused or stressed," he said.