Hi! My name is Keira, I am from Cambridge Bay, NU.

Here is a little bit about myself; I am 19 years old, I like being out on the land, hunting, fishing, I am a sewer, I do some beading as a hobby once in a while (season depending). I like going out on programs like NYA and all the other programs that may fit in my schedule, meeting new friends, learning different things & travelling.

Northern Youth Abroad; I have been participating in Northern Youth Abroad programs since 2023. My first program was the Northern Youth in Service – for my project I did an Emma Louise Memorial tournament (basketball tournament). The Canadian program – I was placed in Campbell River with my buddy Josephina from Clyde River. Campus tours in Edmonton & Calgary. Last but not least the NYA Next program!

My last NYA program 🙁 and I couldn’t thank NYA enough to watch me grow into the person I am becoming, teaching me a lot of educational things; helping me find what I want to do as a career, giving me patience, structure and unbreakable bonds.

NYA Next – I came here to Ottawa for the program expecting to just experience living college life and to see if I like the trades, but this program has taught me so much more than what I came for. I now have unbreakable bonds, learned more about careers, hands on work and so on… I have been enjoying this program, it is very educational. Thank you to whomever makes it happen 🙂

Keira Tikhak-Kaomayok

Hello to everyone reading this blog, you might remember me from last year as this is my second time writing a blog with and for the Northern Youth Abroad program. My name is Mitchell Mannilaq and I am from Taloyoak Nunavut but I have been living in Gjoa Haven Nunavut for the past 2 years now. When I first heard about the NYA program I must’ve been like 10 because one of my older sisters was already attending the program, from there on I knew I had to attend the program once I get older. And here I am writing a blog for my NYA experience and also attending both of their core programs. I’ll always encourage the youth from Gjoa Haven and Taloyoak to always try and apply for one of the programs that NYA has to offer because believe me when I tell you NYA HAS CHANGED MY LIFE!

Okay I want to start talking about my NYA Next experience now! First off I obviously started with traveling, a group of us from the Kitikmeot region and almost everyone from NWT overnighted in Yellowknife, nothing too exciting as it was just an overnight. Next day we flew to Calgary, had a few hour layover then we finally headed to Ottawa. We arrived at Ottawa’s airport around midnight and I finally got to see the wonderful NYA staff again. They are all very beautiful in their own way <3. Next day orientation started and holy I was very very tired, I was very sleep deprived. After orientation was 2 weeks worth of waking early and getting work done, we did things like touring campuses, visiting a barn that is older than Canada, doing a lot of trades, delivering food from the food banks, doing a scavenger hunt and exploring Ottawa, touring the outside of parliament, using a golf simulator for the first time, touring Nunavut Sivuniksavut, and a really important one for me is attending the Assembly of First Nations. Very strong words and very very inspiring.

And this last experience I’ll be talking about is very recent so I can tell you about it in detail. So today July 17 2026 as I am writing this we went to TD Place and watched a professional women’s soccer game. It was the Ottawa Rapids versus the Halifax Tides. Although I was cheering for Halifax they lost 2-1, it was very fun and probably the best night so far. I got to eat pizza and drink some pop. After the game I got some pictures with team Halifax. It is getting very late as I am writing this blog now so I should probably get some sleep so I can be ready for trades tomorrow. I hope you enjoyed reading Mitchell Mannilaq’s 2026 NYA experience and I hope you have a wonderful day!

Hi, my name is Angela Ootoovak, and I’m from Pond Inlet, Nunavut. I’m a participant in the Northern Youth Abroad Canadian Program. I applied because I found it interesting and wanted to gain work experience, learn how to live in the world without my family around, and experience what the south is like.

My workplacement is in North Bay, Ontario, at the North Bay Indigenous Friendship Centre. I’m really loving it, because I used to work on a Youth Committee running programs and working with kids, and it feels the same. I’m looking forward to using this experience in the future, because I love working with youth and doing all different kinds of programs. I’ve even done a program that brought family, youth, and elders together for an 80’s dance off! I’m also looking forward to being with my friends at re-orientation, because we’ll have soo much fun talking about what we did this summer and being together again!!

My host parents are Alisdair and Rhea. They have 3 beautiful girls and 2 dogs, and I really love all of them, they’re such a welcoming and loving host family. They always have fun things to do in our free time, like going to the malls, the movie theater, swimming, and to parks.

My first 3 weeks in North Bay have been interesting, fun, and a little scary. It’s a big change going from a population of 1,800 to 50,000. Living here is interesting: beautiful trees everywhere, birds, and kind people. Everyone and everything is welcoming, and I feel comfortable here with my host family and my buddy.

It’s an honor to experience the south, make new friends, and gain work experience. I’m looking forward to being with my friends again, but I’m not ready to leave my host family to go home. We made a lot of fun memories and I’ll never forget them.

I’m so grateful to experience all of this, because NYA made it HAPPEN and chose me as a participant!

Hello everyone!

My name is Millie-Anna Aaruaq. I am from Baker Lake Nunavut with a population just under 2,500, living in such an isolated community limits your opportunities and desires to explore. Not that I don’t miss home at all, but just having the idea to find out who I want to be and what I am capable of in the future. Yes, there are many opportunities in Nunavut, but they don’t give me the same urge to learn new things and explore as much as I can with this program.

I am here in Ottawa Ontario with the Northern Youth Abroad Next program. This program has opened many doors for me as an Inuk student who has dreamed of becoming more then just a small community girl. Each and everyday is something new to me, trying new foods, trying different trades such as carpentry, plumbing and pipe fitting, welding, first aid, and many more to come. But my most favourite part of this program is learning about the other participants and project leaders culture and creating unforgettable moments and memories with them.

This program has made a huge impact on my life, it has open my eyes to what is being offered to me. I am great full for this opportunity from NYA as this is my last year to attend any programs from NYA as a participant.

I’d like to thank all the staff for their unconditional support and love they have given me over the years I’ve attended any of the programs, as I attended post secondary they will still have the support and love they have given me over the years.

While taking NYA programs I have grown and learn so much, I have learnt to be more independent, to be a leader, and learnt that having emotions and feelings is okay. I am becoming the woman I want to be because they taught me so much about who I am and who I will like to be in the future.

Once again, I’d like to thank the staff from NYA.

Thank you for reading my blog!

Millie-Anna

Hello, my name is Kupaaq Idlout, and I am from Resolute Bay, Nunavut. Right now I’m in Ottawa, Ontario with Albert Uttak who has been my best friend during this trip which has been so amazing.

The scenery here is beautiful, it’s a mix of the big city and countryside. I’m here now thanks to Northern Youth Abroad, my family, and my mentor. They have all put in so much work to support me and give me the opportunity to join this program. When I first heard of this program I wasn’t so interested because it sounded like a lot of work and Im typically a lazy person but for some reason I decided to join on a whim. I didn’t know it gave high school credits or excellent opportunities or fun experiences, I didn’t even know what it was and had barely read what it was about. I later found out afterwards that I got accepted out of the three other people who had signed up was surprised I was chosen. I also delayed most of the paperwork till the last few weeks of the deadline, and on the flight to Ottawa I was unusually excited to see what it was about.

When I arrived the first person I saw that was with the program was the tallest person I had seen in my life and that was new to me, since I had never seen someone above the height of 6 foot 4 inches so I was taken aback by his height.

In the first week I got to meet 18 amazing people who all went to the program for their own reasons and they all were unique people who I enjoyed getting to know. Then I arrived at my host family’s house and met Mariamanda who treated me like I was apart of the family even though we just met. She scolds me when I miss my curfew and cooks amazing meals for me and allows me to treat her house like home.

My workplace, equator coffee shop is awesome. The location I worked at was in Gloucester and the staff all became my friends that I enjoyed working with. My manager didn’t feel like a boss instead he felt like a close friend. I learned a few things from all of them some examples are; polite mannerisms when speaking to people, boundaries of what not to speak of when speaking to others, team building, and what it feels like to be on the other side of the counter of customer service.

During my trip I tried a few different things, the most memorable experience was the canoeing trip. This was my first time going canoeing in my life so I was excited to experience what it was like, and the location was Gatineau park which was beautiful. At the lake inside the park we swam inside the lake and I experienced touching weeds while swimming and it was extremely weird and made me freak out. I also saw a bog for the first time with lily pads and lily flower’s which are my new favourite flower.

I am thankful to everyone who helped me during this time!

Kupaaq,

Hi my name is Sydney, and I’m from Gjoa Haven, Nunavut the population is about 1,500 to 1,700 people.

My host family are Emily,Steve,Izzy and Sophie. They are very kind, caring, fun and supportive people I’ve met and I’m very glad I get to live with them for the summer along with my buddy Shelaine from Kimmirut. We both love to go shopping, taking pictures, trying new things and listening to music.

I chose this program because I want to gain more confidence, work experience , learn how to live in a city and try new things. I got placed in Edmonton Alberta at TELUS World of Science. The people there are nice, welcoming, friendly, hardworking and caring. I enjoy working as a volunteer student, it is a nice experience with them. I got to teach students arctic games in my first week of work. It really amazed me when they learned so quickly and I’m happy to share my culture with others.

A new thing I tried was going to the world’s biggest mall, West Edmonton mall. I went on the roller coaster and it was scary but at the end it was so fun! I did horse riding, went to the movies, swimming and rec centre. New food that I tried was chick- fil-A and it was so good. I also tried a new drink called boba raspberry lemonade from the mall (I forgot what mall but it was pretty good). I did some shopping for new clothes for myself and other things for home.

I’m getting used to going to the bus stop by myself. It was scary the first week but I’m used to it now as the weeks are going by so fast! For Nunavut day I helped people with sewing, colouring, watched taktu movie and teaching people arctic games & helped with other things. I just wanna mention that I have an uncle who did the Canadian program back in 2013 his name is Garrett and he told me some things he did! Also I have an auntie who did the NYA Next program last year, her name is Becky she told me the things we can do and told me about she did and learned during that program. I am glad to have family who experienced this program

I highly recommend youth aged 15-20 to apply to any program that NYA does, there’s lots of great opportunities when you’re done high school so try it! It’ll be worth going for, getting away from home and experiencing the city life! Thank you for reading my blog!!

Sydney,

I am Ian Landry and I’m from Fort Providence NWT. I applied for NYA to get high school credits, meet friends, gain confidence and get some experience of a city in the south. I want to explore the city or town a bit more and learn more about Medicine Hat and Redcliff. My first job was at Medicine Hat family services. I did not get a lot of experience there. I just learned basic stuff like organizing and helping other people there moving stuff around. My host family is really nice, they brought us to Medicine Hat to see the reptile exhibit. I saw scorpions, tarantulas, snapping turtles and snakes. We went to an arcade. We went to a nice restaurant and ate some good food. The view where I’m staying at is really nice and they have two good looking dogs. In the stores here and Medicine Hat, the prices are really cheap, which is really good. I walked around Medicine Hat and it was really nice. It’s has really nice stores and really nice people. I worked with at family services were really nice caring and they got me Tim Hortons and Dairy Queen. At lunch, I would usually go for a walk for an hour. Check out the stores get something to eat at a restaurant, and also wanted to try some new foods such as farmer sausage.

I am looking forwards to doing an escape room with my host family. We may also get to the Calgary zoo.

Hi! My name is Leela Bekale and I am from Gameti, Northwest Territories. I’d like to give my appreciation to my mentor, my family and the NYA staff for encouraging me to go on this amazing opportunity.

This program gives the northern youth an opportunity to travel, experience what it’s like to live down south, gain work experience, continue with education and meet new people. I signed up because of my sister, Hannah Bekale. She signed up and went last year and she told me her experiences, what she has done and the nice people she has met. She encouraged me to sign up even though she knew I was nervous or unsure about it. I’m very grateful she did. Here is a photo of me, Hannah and our older sister Amelia.

I’m in Kempt Shore, Nova Scotia for the summer with my buddy Brooklyn.

We have been here for about 3 weeks and it has been the best experience since. The scenery in the area is beautiful, there’s agriculture, cute animals and lots of nice people. In my first week I have been very anxious and homesick, it was hard to get comfortable because of not knowing what to do or where to go, how the city works or how to step out of my comfort zone. It was a challenge for me but luckily my host parents, Bronwen and Addyson’s support helped me through it all. They made sure I was comfortable and offered help when I needed it the most. And I am very thankful for that. 

My work placement is Wolfville recreation. Where I plan programs and activities, create a fun and positive environment, supervise children, build positive relationships with everyone, support coworkers and assist children that need help. I like my job so far and I’m excited for what the next 2 weeks have for me. 

Overall this trip has helped me grow and learn in so many ways. I became more confident, independent and willing to step out of my comfort zone.

I am very thankful to everyone who believed in me and encouraged me to take this big step even though it’s hard. I know for sure this is an experience I will never forget.

A couple days ago somebody told me “You only live once, you don’t want to run out of time and keep repeating the same things over and over. Make a difference and do the things you love.” And I keep thinking about that.