Iqaluit (Apr 26/04) - Asenath Idlout was all smiles as she smoothed out her black graduation gown.

Flashes popped as she posed for photos. Around her, Inuksuk high school's gymnasium was decked out with blue and silver balloons for Nunavut Arctic College graduation.

Asenath Idlout: "This is a dream come true for me." - Kathleen Lippa/NNSL photo

This ceremony was historic: Idlout and classmate Lily Amagoalik became the first nursing graduates in Nunavut Arctic College history. Idlout is from Pond Inlet, Amagoalik from Kimmirut. They were the only two of a dozen students who enrolled in the program four years earlier.

Idlout said she held back her tears while she walked across the stage to get her diploma.

"It was my dream to become a nurse," said Idlout.

Growing up, Idlout had known outstanding health care workers over the years.

They were kind, generous. They listened. But they came from the south and eventually went back. Idlout saw herself in them, and hoped one day she could make a difference.

But those dreams had to wait. After high school, Idlout became pregnant, so she stayed home and raised a family with Ezra, her common-law husband.

The couple now has four kids: Lucy, 17, Jemima, 15, Ezra Kadloo Jr., 12, and Isaac, 6.

It looked like Idlout was pretty settled into motherhood by 1998, with Ezra hunting and providing for the family.

But one day, Ezra heard about a new nursing program based in Iqaluit. He knew it was what Asenath really wanted in her heart, and he told her about it.

The program was not going to be easy. It was administered through Dalhousie University, one of the country's most well-respected schools, and attending would mean moving the family to Iqaluit.

Although the family was young and growing, Ezra urged her to apply.

"He knew it was my dream," she said.

"There is a tremendous need, especially for Inuit, Inuktitut-speaking nurses."

In 1998 the Idlouts moved to Iqaluit. Asenath joined the January-June Health Careers portion of the program.

The 12 nurses-in-training bonded quickly. They were all Inuit, and excited about the future.

Then suddenly, just as they were hitting their stride as students, they heard the course was being cancelled due to lack of funding.

"I had mixed emotions," said Idlout. "I wondered 'Is my dream going to come true? Am I going to fail? Am I just going to go nowhere?' There was some anger in there, too. I wanted to continue. It was a lifelong dream. And then all of a sudden it came to a complete halt. It was frustrating.

"The thing I got from the Nunavut government was that their goal was to have Inuit in the professional field," Idlout continued. "And here we were trying to get ready to go into the professional field and all of a sudden our funding was cut."

The nursing students decided to take action, marching through Iqaluit to then-health minister Ed Picco's office to demand that the GN re-instate the program.

When nothing happened, Idlout and her family had to move back to Pond Inlet.

She stayed home in Pond Inlet with her kids for a year wondering, "Is it going to happen or not?"

By 1999, the nursing program was a go. Still determined to be a nurse, Idlout and her family once again made the expensive trek back to Iqaluit.

This time she stayed.

"But I've come this close," she said squeezing her fingers close together, "so many times since then to giving up."

The nursing program turned out to be just as difficult as she imagined.

Much of the romance and wonder surrounding the profession began to melt away once she began dealing with the science, and the psychology, learning how to deal with people in abusive relationships, or with an alcoholic family or someone who is suicidal.

"It can come pretty close to home," Idlout said.

"I've seen it, experienced it myself. It was difficult. But it was also helping me to heal."

The case studies she had to read for school would often be like reading pages from her own life. That deeply upset her sometimes. But she kept reading, studying, determined to be a nurse.

Everything started to come together in year three and four, so by the end, there was a broad picture.

Now she doesn't worry about finding work. She made it. And hopes to return to Pond Inlet.

"I find it easier to explain things to the patients in our own language," she said.

"It can be challenging. But it is very, very rewarding."

Instructors proud

On April 16, nursing co-ordinator Anita Ludlow looked high and low for Idlout so they could pose together for one more photograph together.

Ludlow praised her students, saying, "I've been with them for four years. It's been a privilege. I've seen them come through their struggles. I've seen a real commitment to be a nurse, and I think they have a lot to give to nursing."

Elizabeth Kyplain, an instructor who worked with the students at the start of the program, came all the way from Alberta to attend the graduation. She was moved.

"The students come here to college from such far distances," she said. "The best part about this is they don't have to leave Nunavut to be nurses," she said.