Darrell Greer
Northern News Services
Wednesday, April 18, 2007

ARVIAT - A group of Arviat youths have high hopes for a new drop-in centre in their community.

Members of the Arviat Youth Piliriqatigiit (Working Together) group began looking into the possibility of a new centre when it became painfully obvious the Mikilaaq Centre couldn't meet the needs of local kids on its own.

With Arviat's rapidly-rising population, the youth group is worried too many kids will be hanging around with too much time on their hands if more programming isn't offered in the community.

Kukik Baker is the organizer-advisor for the group.

She said the Piliriqatigiit members wanted another centre so they could offer more outreach programs and have space available to be able to concentrate on cultural programming.

She said it was difficult trying to find a suitable building in Arviat that wasn't already in use.

"We were told by the hamlet that we could have the curling rink at one time, but there were a number of problems with that so things never worked out," said Baker.

"We were told the kids could use the back entrance to the curling rink, but that's where all the bears are during polar bear season.

"Having kids and bears in the same area isn't a great idea.

"Basically, we were given the runaround for a while before being told the hamlet had a building for us."

The building that will house the new drop-in centre has had a number of tenants through the years, such as drug-and-alcohol workers, an employment-outreach worker, search and rescue and the historical society.

The attractive thing about the building is its location, which is next to the elementary school in the middle of town.

The hamlet has agreed to do the necessary renovations to the building, and the youth group will supply the furniture and equipment for the inside.

Baker said Piliriqatiqiit submitted a funding proposal to Culture, Language, Elders and Youth (CLEY) about a month ago.

She said the proposal indicated the group could raise at least $2,500 on its own, more than half of which has all ready been raised by a raffle.

"We were asked to do a youth survey for the Department of Education and that will bring us well past the $2,500 mark.

"So now we're waiting to hear from CLEY to see if that department can help us out a bit.

"They e-mailed me a follow-up question, so I know they received the proposal."

Senior shop students at John Arnalukjuak high school have agreed to build the furniture for the new centre's lounge area, as well as the cabinets and counters needed for the canteen area.

Baker said the shop students will also handle a desk and bookshelf for the office area and provide seating for upwards of 20 people.

"The plans they showed me this past week had everyone sitting in a U-shaped arrangement in the main lounge, which also had good storage space underneath."

The Piliriqatigiit youth are being ambitious with their plans for the centre.

They want it to have a music room, kitchen, computer room, lounge, and small meeting area or counselling room.

Baker said they want to run a miniature soup kitchen to provide free lunches for the little kids, and hold special movie and game nights.

She said the youth also want the centre to offer more than just fun and games.

"They'd like to have day programs such as parenting skills, drug awareness, land-skills training, computer learning with free Internet availability, and nutrition and hygiene programs.

"They're also paying close attention to the cultural aspect of the programming and want to have special nights that feature Inuit games, elders' storytelling, ayaya, throat singing and drum dancing.

"We're hoping to have the evening drop-in program running as soon as we can, and we're looking at the end of June for the grand opening.

"Everyone is trying to be patient while we wait for CLEY, but the youth are also very eager to get started."