Yellowknife (Feb 02/05) - Three decades have passed since the only two white faces attending school in Coral Harbour belonged to Edmonton-based lawyer Steven Cooper and his sister.

Cooper completed most of his schooling in the North, graduating in Hay River after spending three forgettable years in the south after leaving Coral.

He then returned to Hay River to practise for eight years after completing law school.

In total, he has spent 24 of his 40 years in the North.

"I've been a member of the Nunavut bar since it was founded on April 1, 1999," says Cooper.

"My firm does tons of work in both Nunavut and the NWT on just about every kind of law, except tax."

Cooper was flying back from visiting clients in Whale Cove this past year when he read about RCMP Const. Allan Nickerson starting the Chesterfield Inlet Taekwondo Club in a copy of Kivalliq News.

The holder of a blue belt in taekwondo himself, Cooper tracked down Nickerson upon his return to Edmonton.

The two kept in touch and the next time Cooper visited the Kivalliq, he made arrangements through his firm to visit Nickerson's club.

"I talked to my local master in Sherwood Park (Adam Forest) in preparation for the trip and he and other members of the club donated a bunch of sparring equipment to the Chester youth.

"We're collecting more equipment for my next trip."

Cooper says he was amazed by the enthusiasm of Chester's youth.

At the invitation of a staff member, he spent 90 minutes talking to senior students at Victor Sammurtok school on a variety of topics, including the Akitsiraq Law School in Iqaluit.

"I talked to the students about how important their generation is as the first generation of graduates since the formation of Nunavut.

"It is so important to the future of Nunavut for this generation to get the education necessary to be able to take over positions traditionally dominated by people from the south.

"That's not to take anything away from the contributions made by those people (Cooper's father was a teacher in Coral), but basically they were filling a gap.

"Hopefully, the future will see mostly Inuit holding many of those positions.

Impressed by class

Cooper says he was extremely impressed by the taekwondo class he attended.

He says the Chester students use a lot more Korean than students in his home club.

"I don't know the Korean names for all the different punches, kicks and blocks, but here's Allan in Chesterfield Inlet teaching the kids the proper Korean terms.

"I had to keep asking these young yellow belts what on Earth kick he was asking for during the class."

Cooper says he would like to see leaders of the Canadian taekwondo movement visit Chester as tangible evidence that the students are part of a bigger body of martial artists who carry on this ancient skill.

"As yellow belts Allan's students are equal, if not superior, to an average yellow belt in our club.

"That's staggering when you realize we have 500 members in our club, which is more people than the entire community of Chester.

"Yet, if you brought the Chester students to our class, other than the English names for kicks, they would fit in effortlessly."

Quick studies

Cooper says he was impressed by how good the Chester students were at performing the returning kick - one of the toughest to learn.

He says the classic spinning move is the one most people associate with taekwondo or karate because it's the one often highlighted in movies.

"You don't need it in the south until the blue-stripe test, which is the belt between green and blue.

"The Chester kids not only knew how to do it, they executed it almost as well as any blue belt with three or four years of experience."

Natural ability

Cooper says Nickerson has a natural ability as a taekwondo instructor and the Chester youth are lucky to have him in their community.

He says he's proud to have had the opportunity to take part in the Chester class and is looking forward to his return.

"The people who came out to watch the class while I was there got to see a cop and a lawyer kicking at each other without one of them being dragged onto the criminal docket.

"Believe me, that doesn't happen often."