IQALUIT - The federal Department of Foreign Affairs has yanked its $80,000 annual contribution to the Northern Youth Abroad Program, denying several youth the opportunity to travel overseas.

Baker Lake's Dianne Iyago is seen here with a little boy named Gabriel during her stay in Botswana through the Northern Youth Abroad Program in 2006. Iyago is opposed to federal funding cuts to the travel program, which introduces youth to life in southern Canada and Africa. - photo courtesy of Dianne Iyago

The 42 Nunavut and NWT students who are already scheduled to fly to Africa at the end of this month will, in all likelihood, still make the trip, according to Keith Irving, chair of Northern Youth Abroad (NYA). Plans to include an additional six students, however, have now been dashed, he said. There were close to 175 applicants.

While Nunavut's high school graduation rate is close to 25 per cent, by contrast almost 95 per cent of the 120 NYA alumni have gone on to earn their diplomas, Irving said.

He said he received word of the funding cut at the end of May. The reason he was given by a federal bureaucrat was "changing priorities," he said.

"This hurts...we really believe that the federal government should be part of this successful program," said Irving. "We're named in the Berger report on education...as being a success in creating mentors for Nunavut youth."

The Department of Foreign Affairs' communications staff said they'd try to get an explanation for Nunavut News/North by press deadline, but that didn't occur.

The NYA program first introduces students to a host family in southern Canada.

If they proceed to the international phase, the students go to impoverished nations like Botswana or Swaziland to help native people in their day-to-day lives.

Dianne Iyago, of Baker Lake, got to volunteer with a home nurse and a youth co-ordinator in Keremeos, B.C., in 2004 She later explored Botswana in 2006.

While in Africa, she lived on a game farm and learned the San people's ways of life.

The program allowed her to graduate high school with extra credits and helped her decide to pursue nursing as a career, she noted.

"Sometimes you need to go out of the box, out ofyour own world, to learn and discover new things about your own culture and your own self, and by going to Botswana, I learned a lot of things during my trip and when I got back," she said.

"The experience I had was just amazing and something I will never forget."

As a guidance counsellor at Quqshuun Ilikhakvik school in Gjoa Haven, Simon Komangat said he has noticed the transformation of participants through the NYA program.

They become more confident and knowledgeable, he said.

"It is very valuable," he said. "I wish they could get some more funding for these students."

Nancy Karetak-Lindell, MP for Nunavut, has asked Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay to reinstate NYA funding for this year.

The program normally has close to 20 funding sources and a $750,000 budget was anticipated this year, Irving said. As of Wednesday, he was still waiting for the Kakivak Association and Kivalliq Partners in Development to confirm their financial commitments.

"Hopefully this won't be a year in which two major funders drop out at the same time," he said, adding that at least Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated has returned to the table this year after stepping away last year.