Setting the foundation
Men's, women's groups building ties in Arviat
Darrell Greer
Northern News Services
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
ARVIAT
A series of meetings were held to help bring the community closer together and provide both men and women with an open and secure forum to discuss sensitive issues in Arviat earlier this month.
Kivalliq Counselling and Support Services staff elder Hannah Benoit and Trina Yank, Kathryn Misheralak and Bonnie Almon, back from left, held a series of women's group meeting in Arviat. - photo courtesy of KCSS |
The meetings were an initiative of the Rankin Inlet-based Kivalliq Counselling and Support Services (KCSS), and the Coral
Harbour-based Angutiit Makigiangninga (Men Rising Up).
Among those to attend from Rankin were KCSS executive director Noel Kaludjak, counselling manager Bonnie Almon, elder Hannah Benoit and culture support workers Kathryn Misheralak and Sam Tutanuak.
Community support worker Trina Yank of Repulse Bay (Naujaat) also attended.
Misheralak said she tried to host women's group meetings while visiting a specific client in Arviat this past January.
She said those efforts did not meet with success, but this attempt went much better.
"I was joined in Arviat by a number of my coworkers this time, and our efforts to host women's group meetings were way, way more successful than in January," said Misheralak.
"We reminded everyone what was said in the meeting stayed there, just to reassure them all that they could trust the group.
"It was a little difficult to get everyone to open
up at first, but one of us would introduce something and then somebody would relate to what was said and add to it.
"Forgiveness was one of the topics to come up, and it got people thinking and then sharing their stories in the process of their own forgiving."
Misheralak said regular group meetings in a community can build stronger friendships and help people deal with issues they may be struggling with.
She said people also know where they can go if they need to talk to someone.
"Regular meetings help ease tension and create better unity in a community.
"It makes a big difference when you have a place to be heard and understood.
"Just helping one person makes a difference, because, at the end of the day, you made a difference in someone's life just by listening to what they had to say."
Misheralak said the core group of women who attended in Arviat would like to see the meetings held on a regular basis.
She said she won't be involved in that because she leaves her position on May 1.
"I'm moving to a different job, but, hopefully, the ladies with KCSS will guide the Arviat ladies in starting their own group.
"The funding for this program ends on March 31, 2016, and I didn't know if I'd have a job after that.
"I took the new job for the security, but I really love my job with KCSS and it stings to have to leave it."
The meetings were the third time in Arviat for Angutiit Makigiangninga.
Kaludjak, an original founding member of Men Rising Up, said he doesn't concern himself with the number of men who attend every meeting.
He said it's about the quality of the meetings, not the number of people you can count in the room.
"Our attitude has always been the men who need to be at the meetings are at the meetings," said Kaludjak.
"We had 36 sign up for the three-day event in Arviat earlier this month.
"That's actually a good number to work with.
"When it gets bigger there's always the chance you'll overlook someone who really needs help, or not be able to give everyone the attention you want to."
The number of men to attend the meetings is impressive when one considers they had to be rescheduled when a severe blizzard rocked the region this past month.
That meant the weather was much nicer when Angutiit Makigiangninga made it in this month, and the thoughts of most Inuit men turn to fixing their qamutiik and hunting gear or travelling out on the land.
Kaludjak said a number of well-respected elders attended the meetings to show their support for the group.
He said the Arviat men are very close to the point where they can take ownership of their own meetings.
"We have three students taking our counselling course in Rankin who will graduate in October and then, hopefully, assume leadership of the men's group in Arviat shortly after.
"There are also some elders who attend the meetings regularly, and they absolutely know how to run a meeting if they have to.
"The plan from when we first started to visit other communities was to reach
the point where every community had its own men's group meeting regularly, and it hasn't really worked out yet.
"It's taking longer than I thought it would, but eventually it will happen."
