KANGIQTUGAAPIK/CLYDE RIVER - After much anticipation and many years of hard work and collaboration, Piqqusilirivvik opened on May 4 and will be the place where Nunavummiut of all ages will go to learn about their heritage and cultural traditions.

Elders Winnie Owingayak and Jean Simailak, both from Baker Lake, sing at the opening ceremony of Piqqusilirivvik in Clyde River. - Emily Ridlington/NNSL photo

"I thought I would never see this place built, it is a place for Inuit who have forgotten their Inuit ways," said elder Miriam Aglukkaq, of Gjoa Haven, who has been involved with the project for the last several years.

The cultural learning facility will officially welcome its first set of students in late August or early September.

It will be the home and school for 26 students, with two coming from each community to be taught by 14 staff.

Courses teaching youth the Inuktitut language and traditional activities such as hunting, craft-making, and Arctic outdoor survival will be offered. Satellite programs to test potential curriculum ideas have already been happening in Iglulik and Baker Lake.

Elders will continue to be involved and will serve as instructors, advisers and or student counsellors.

Construction of the 2,200-square-metre building began in September 2009. The idea for the concept has been talked about for some time with official discussions starting in 2004. The cost to construct the building which the Government of Nunavut is paying for is $23 million.

Piqqusilirivvik's director Johnathan Palluq said he is proud and excited for the students to arrive.

He gave those in attendance a tour of the sewing rooms, gathering hall, library, classrooms and other spaces for students, including a food preparation room which doubles as a skin preparation room complete with a walk-in freezer and stainless steel surfaces.

Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. president Cathy Towtongie perhaps said it best when she described Piqqusilirivvik as being a "true Inuit school."

One of the largest sectors of the Inuit population, the facility is hoping to attract is youth.

"Knowing who you are as an Inuk is so incredibly important," said Becky Kilabuk, Qikiqtani Inuit Association youth representative at the opening ceremony.

Kilabuk, who has been working with youth for the last 10 years, said she repeatedly hears of youth who "feel the pain of looking their culture and who do not have a strong sense of who they are."

She said she feels Piqqusilirivvik will fill that void.

At the community level, Clyde River Mayor Apiusie Apak said he is quite pleased with what has already been accomplished in getting the facility up and running.

"I'm very proud of it and people will be able to start working here."

A delegation from Greenland flew from Nuuk for the occasion.

While they arrived several hours late due to bad weather, their country's Minister of Education Palle Christiansen said Clyde River was the perfect place to be and he looks forward to other things like the cultural learning facility which will bring the two countries closer together.

"The cultural and linguistic community is still very much alive in Greenland and it is for you too," he said.

Piqqusilirivvik is largely based on a similar facility in Greenland called Knud Rasmussen Højskolia in Sisimiut. The Greenlandic government were partners for the project and provided insight.

The staff at Knud Rasmussen Højskolia including the chairman of the board Adam Dahl has been particularly interested in the project.

He told the crowd speaking in Greenlandic through translation a facility like this and the one he is a part of is necessary for Inuit.

"Although we are geographically far away we are the same Inuit, we are family," Dahl said.

He alluded to, in the future, student exchanges might be possible.

Founded on the principles of aajiiqatigiinniq, decision making through discussion and consensus and piliriqatigiiniiq, working together for a common cause, Premier Eva Aariak said Piqqusilirivvik is one way the Government of Nunavut is showing a commitment to Inuit values.

That being said, she added individuals also have the responsibility to share their culture with others.

"Each of us has a responsibility to ensure that our culture, which has been passed on for generations, lives on in our children and grandchildren."

Aglukkaq said the benefits of the facility will go beyond just its students and it has the potential to help all Nunavummiut.

"It will be a place of healing."

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