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NUNAVUT - An ambitious three-day series of live multimedia broadcasts will explore Inuit experiences of youth issues, men's health and maternity care.

The Qanuqtuurniq-Finding the Balance TV series debuts tonight from 8 until 10 p.m. EST on the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN). Episodes two and three run at the same time tomorrow and Wednesday. All the shows will be webcast live online, as well.

Coordinated by Inuit Tuttarvingat of the National Aboriginal Health Organization and funded in part through the federal Program for International Polar Year, the project features live phone-in and online discussions surrounding health concerns and coping strategies in the North.

"It's quite a project," said Inuit Tuttarvingat director Dianne Kinnon. "Six hours of live TV is fairly taxing. In hindsight we're saying it was pretty ambitious, but opportunity knocks and we felt it was a chance to do a really thorough communications project."

Former CBC broadcaster Karliin Aariak hosts the episodes, which include interviews and stories from the Inuusivut Inuit Youth Media Project in Iqaluit, Artcirq in Iglulik, the Spousal Abuse Counselling Program in Rankin Inlet and the Rankin Inlet Birthing Centre.

Simultaneous focus groups composed of five to 10 Nunavummiut will share comments during the broadcast from Clyde River, Cambridge Bay and Grise Fiord. Other voices will be featured from Labrador, NWT, Yukon, Greenland and Alaska.

A virtual youth focus group involving youth from various communities will watch the show live on the webcast. The young people will connect to the show through Skype to provide comments and discuss issues with the panel members.

"This is an incredible model for social change," said producer Kath Clarida Fry.

Based in Ottawa, Fry has collaborated with the Inuit Broadcasting Corporation and Inuit Communications Ltd. for two decades. She was involved in the first interactive pan Northern TV broadcast in 1995. Called Connecting The North, the show attempted to bring Inuit viewers together using the technology of the time, such as television, fax, phone and early video conferencing. She has work on about 10 interactive television projects in the North in subsequent years.

This week's broadcasts allow viewers to interact through Skype, e-mail and by phone.

"Each one of these broadcasts has a different challenge," Fry said. "Part of the challenge is trying to make people understand the use of television. Television is traditionally a one-way medium. What we've always tried to do through these interactive communication models is to take away that end of the communication flow. People need to look at television in a different way and use it for what they want to use it for."

Tonight's show focuses on men’s wellness issues. Herb Nakimayak of Paulatuk is among the panel members providing commentary tonight.

Tomorrow's episode centres on maternity care and youth issues will be examined on May 12. The episodes will be presented in Inuktitut with English subtitles, with some English content with Inuktitut subtitles.