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IQALUIT - When it comes to defining Inuit identity, Iqaluit Mayor Madeleine Redfern has a good way of putting it.

Robin Anawak speaks about the need to get more young Inuit in the communities serving in organizations such as the military. He spoke at the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation's conference titled Citizenship from Coast to Coast to Coast in Iqaluit on June 10. - Emily Ridlington/NNSL photo

"Early in western society a lot is placed on your profession and where you live and when you are Inuit, it is who your family is," she said as part of a presentation on isolation, identity and inclusion on June 10.

She was one of many guest speakers at the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation's conference, titled Citizenship from Coast to Coast to Coast.

The conference was well-attended by academics from across the country as well as local political leaders and residents.

Redfern spoke about how she is often mistaken for someone with Chinese or some other Asian heritage.

"When they found out I was Eskimo, I was exotic, I was interesting and likable," Redfern said.

During her childhood, she had the opportunity to live in a number of places, including Yellowknife, Saskatoon, Ottawa and Vancouver.

With two siblings who chose to grow up elsewhere she said they had completely different childhood experiences.

Redfern then went on to talk about life in Iqaluit and what it is like to feel part of a community. She said because the city has a lot of newcomers from across the territory and the south, it is experiencing growing pains.

She said these pains could be reduced or alleviated by provided more programs and services to reduce the high rates of infant mortality, cancer, suicide and crime.

Despite this, Redfern said she wanted participants to know Inuit "are not tragic extras in a Farley Mowat novel."

Another speaker, Gordon Foundation Fellow Robin Anawak, who was raised in Rankin Inlet, suggested a way to reduce the high crime rates would be to get more young men involved in the military in the North.

"We have many young men who have never completed high school, who have no marketable skills and who are marginalized by the media and politics," Anawak said.

He suggested the military form Arctic brigades similar to those in Russia and Finland.

With military bases in Iqaluit, Cambridge Bay and Rankin Inlet barely being used, he said there is great potential for this type of initiative.

"These young men find themselves with nothing to do," said the 28-year-old.

If the military promised them they could stay in the North, use their own language, they could help with emergencies and work on community building. He said he thinks it would be a success.

Anawak said 80 per cent of those in the Baffin Correctional Centre are young men.

He said he worries about what life is going to be life for his six-year-old son.

"What is the world going to look like for those little boys?"

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