Philippe Morin
Northern News Services
Published Monday, September 10, 2007

INUVIK - The Inuvik Youth Centre first opened its doors in 1996, and many young people have been there since the beginning.

Inuvik's Andrew Bernhardt, for instance, started visiting when he was seven.

Now 18, he holds a job at the centre and represented NWT Youth Centres, at a Sept. 7 meeting of the Urban Multipurpose Aboriginal Youth Centre group in Whitehorse.

The meeting also welcomed delegates from the NWT, Yukon and Nunavut, to discuss ways of working together.

The idea, Bernhardt said, was to trade stories, tips, and ideas for the improvement of service.

Before leaving on Sept.5, Bernhardt remembered some stories about the Inuvik hangout and what it means to him.

"It was my brother who first brought me," he said. "Two of my cousins worked here too, and I know all the staff."

Asked what the centre could need, he supplied several ideas. .

Some perhaps veered towards the fanciful - such as a full-service bowling alley - while others were more pragmatic. Lifting the felt off a pool table, for instance, Bernhardt said a new one might be appreciated.

He added the basketball court has a broken net and the computers needed maintenance.

So would he want to work there someday? Help youth by becoming a counselor?

"No, I'm going into carpentry," he said.

It's a good answer, which will surely make the centre's directors proud.

And besides - a carpenter is a good person to know if you want to fix a pool table.