Karen Mackenzie
Northern News Services
Published Monday, January 14, 2008

PANGNIRTUNG - Youth in Pangnirtung are keeping their culture alive on the land.

A trio of young women recently spent a day netting fish with hunters on a nearby lake, while learning valuable skills for survival.

"We don't want to lose our traditions," said Karen Nashalik, head of the hamlet youth council, which organized the trip.

Nashalik, along with Laveena Alivaktuk and Gina Lucy Akulukjuk, braved -40 C weather on Dec. 19 to catch char for the community's elders.

The trip was supported by the Brighter Futures program, which provided funds for supplies and guides.

"They're pretty tough," said Noah Metuq, one of the hunters who responded to the youth council's radio call. "It's a great thing to help the youth go out and learn the traditional ways, try to cope with the cold weather and help the elders out when they share with them."

Initially, the group planned to go for caribou, but the trail wasn't great so they went fishing instead.

It was so cold that the drill normally used to cut through the ice froze, and the hunters were forced to do it the old fashioned way, "using ice chisels," Metuq said.

Using two nets, they brought "a good catch," while some in the group caught fish by jigging lures, he added.

It wasn't the first time Metuq has taken young people out on the land, and it's an activity he said he would like to see happen more in the community.

"I hope organizations and the government will start funding more trips. But in order to go out there you need money and there's not that much to go around. It's not cheap, even just myself going out alone, it's not cheap," he said.

"It's a big learning process for teenagers," he added.

Jevua Maniapik, manager of the local hunters and trappers organization, agreed.

"We have to carry on our culture up in the North, that's where we are, and we have to survive," she said, adding that the hands-on approach is a great way to do so. "For myself, I think the best way to learn is to see and hear what they're learning, not just to read some books, but to see actual events."

Curently there are about nine people aged 16 and up who regularly participate in youth council activities, according to Nashalik.

"We help 13- to 35-year-old people to learn stuff, for example sewing activities and skills like net-making," she said.

She herself got involved with the group over a year ago after she heard more counselling skills were needed in the community.

"I wanted to help out," she said.

There will be another hunt planned soon, "an overnight trip caribou hunting," she said.