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MITTIMATALIK/POND INLET
Inuit youth may want to become qabluna, Regilee Ootova says, but they're Inuk and her goal is to show them why they should be proud of their culture.

The sewing, cooking and culture teacher at Nasivvik School in Pond Inlet uses her classes to introduce her Inuit high school students to cultural tools. Lately, she has ignited their interest in making palauga, or bannock.

"It's important because it's part of the Inuit culture," Ootova said. "You can survive on palauga for a week or two. If you have a bowl, flour, baking powder, salt and water, it's easy."

To be true to the culture, Ootova eschews the convenience of an electric stove or oven in favour of showing students how to light a qulliq and use it to cook palauga.

"With the qulliq, the palauga is more moist," she said. "It's slow cooking, so it's different from the oven or the stove."

One of Ootova's Grade 8 students, Justin Milton, prefers using the qulliq for palauga.

"There's a difference. The qulliq one is a little softer than the one in the oven. I think the stove one is the harder one to make, harder than the qulliq. In the stove, you have to use the levers and stuff, but in the qulliq, you only use fire."

While the qulliq requires more maintenance during the cooking, the students are interested in using the traditional tool, Ootova said.

"I want to show this exercise to the students because that's how I was born, without a furnace," the teacher added. "We used the qulliq to melt the ice for water, to cook, and it was the only furnace we had back then. I wanted the kids to experience how it was back then and how to light a qulliq."

For student Jesse Takawgak, it's not a new experience, but a worthwhile one.

"I've seen it done before," Takawgak said. "My grandma does it when we're cooking. (My teacher) explains things well and she shows us how to do it. It's fun."

Students study culture three afternoons a week with Ootova, and students also learn Inuit culture from two other teachers.

"We have language specialists at the school, but they wanted to be more active in doing traditional things. The school is the best way to preserve culture. Nobody's doing it at home anymore."

Ootova's students also learn how to use a drum for drum dancing and singing, and how to use accordions for music.

"We have also been showing them the game iyaga, where you have a caribou neckbone and a narrow piece of wood on a string, and you try to get the wood through the hole in the bone. Today, there are all kinds of games you can play at home, but I want them to know that if they go out hunting, they can play this game, too. When you're out camping and there is no electricity, this is the game we used to play."

Mixing fun with tradition may be the key, and it seems to be working in Ootova's classroom.

"I think it's good to keep in tradition with the Inuit," Milton said. When asked whether he will do these things on his own, he responded, "I think so."

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