NUNAVUT
Last year, three teenage Nunavummiut put their pens to paper and voiced their concerns about the future of the territory and the Arctic.

Arctic Bay's Carla Oyukuluk came first in an essay contest held by Charlottetown, P.E.I.'s Confederation Centre of the Arts. She wrote about the past and present of the territory. - photo courtesy of Paulette Campbell

For their efforts, their entries were chosen amongst the winners in an essay contest held by Charlottetown, P.E.I's Confederation Centre of the Arts.

"I didn't believe it at first," said Carla Oyukuluk, a 17-year-old Grade 12 student at Inuujaq School in Arctic Bay.

Oyukuluk came first in the contest, which was open to students from Nunavut and Prince Edward Island in grades 11 and 12. For winning, she was awarded $3,000.

Students watched a lecture given by Mary Simon, president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami and were asked to write a 1,000-word essay.

Oyukuluk's essay, "Our Past and Present", discussed how hard it is to live in the Arctic.

She said with global warming and the opening of the Northwest Passage, the Nunavut she has grown up in is starting to change.

"People in the south don't realize what is happening," said Oyukuluk.

Her English teacher, Paulette Campbell, issued the challenge to Oyukuluk and her classmates to enter the contest last spring.

Campbell said Oyukuluk is an excellent overall student and writer and the school and her community are quite proud of her.

Third place was won by Teresa Tufts of Iqaluit. When she submitted her essay, the 18-year-old was studying at Lester B. Pearson College of the Pacific outside Victoria, B.C.

Kugluktuk's Angulalik Pedersen got an honourable mentioned for his essay titled Nunavut's Hunting and Fishing Economies Keep Inuit Values Strong.

The 18-year-old, who is studying at Toronto's Upper Canada College, wrote about the importance of hunting animals such as seal, fish, walrus and whales in maintaining a link to Inuit culture.

"I know from moving to Toronto the simple things like driving out on the land on a snowmobile and going to get a caribou in the winter I feel completely disconnected from my hometown and traditional values," said Pedersen.

He said not being able to hunt takes him away from feeling like an Inuk student and a citizen.

Both teenagers said closer bonds need to be made between elders and their generation.

"I think it is important for youth to learn about that to keep our culture strong and keep it going, we need to make sure our kids and our grandkids will be able to have the same experience we are having now," Pedersen said.

Once he graduates in the spring, Pedersen said he plan to study environmental law and would like to return to the North to work.

As for Oyukuluk, she likes to take each day as it comes, as "the futures always changes."

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