My name is Sky Kalluk. I am 18 years old and I am from Resolute Bay, Nunavut. I am placed in Flatrock, Newfoundland. My placement buddy is Renee Okalik. I am a participant in the 2019 Northern Youth Abroad Canadian program.

My work placement is a BNB Farm in Pouch Cove, Newfoundland. I fed baby goats, planted some flowers, walked dogs, met a lot of people from all over the world, and made a lot of jam and cakes out of rhubarb. Working with animals this summer made me so happy. Rhubarb is an interesting fruit. It’s so sweet but it’s good when you don’t have a lot and there’s a lot of it here. My bosses name is Elke and she’s from Germany.

I love my host family. My host parents are Willow and dave Anderson, host brother is Dexter and they (as in Willow and Dave) adopted him from Arviat Nunavut and he is 2 and a half years old. He is so cute, I’m going to miss him. I’ve only met Dave briefly because he works on a ship during the summer and he left two days after Renee and I arrived. I love being around them so much. They make me feel I’m home. I’m going to miss them so much.

Some fun things I did over the summer were going to a camp for adopted Inuit babies in Lewis Porte and met a lot of good people, went to a beach in Lumsden for the first week we were in Newfoundland.

Being a part of NYA 2019 has been fun. This program helped me with a lot of things like being more social, my mental health, I feel happier now, and going to work on time.

I want to thank everyone who helped me and thank everyone who supported me, and my host family for looking after me.

Hello, my name is Johnnybou Taukie, I am 16 years old and I am from a small community called Cape Dorset. It sits south of Baffin Island in Nunavut. I am one of the many participants in the Northern Youth Abroad program. First of all, I would like to thank all of the people that have supported me throughout this amazing journey.

The first week of this program was life-changing! I met some very nice and heartwarming people, I made some life long friends and created bonds that will never be broken. I find other peoples cultures to be pretty interesting and cool. Getting to meet new people was the best part of this program, the staff is very nice and loving. While I was at orientation the people there helped me come out of my shell, they opened up my eyes and gave me hope. 

They will always be in my heart. After orientation, all of the participants spread out all over Canada to try new things and explore new places. I was placed in Windsor, a city south of Ontario. when I first arrived in Windsor I was warmly welcomed, we started off slow but each and every day we spend together, we became closer and closer. We are family and we have each other’s backs. 

At my work placement, I volunteer as a camp counsellor at the University of Windsor. I love working with the kids and hanging out with my co-workers.

In my spare time I love going out for walks to the park, visiting the mall and doing things I wouldn’t be able to do back home like going to the water park. There were times when I went through some “low” times, my gears were grinding and I didn’t know what I was doing, all I have to do is move on and have as much fun as I can. I have the adventure to go to.

Overall participating in this program made me feel better about myself and made me an ongoing person who likes to try new things. I made unbreakable bonds with people and like I said this program really opened up my eyes and helped made me the person I am today. I highly recommend it will prepare you for the future, you will meet new people and you’re gonna have one crazy adventure. 

Thank you for reading my blog.

My name is Dawn Siutinuar. I am from Coral Harbour, Nunavut. I am part of the 2019 Canadian program.

I was placed in St. Johns, Newfoundland and I work at Paul Reynolds Community Centre. It is a summer day camp and I enjoy being a part of this work placement. I work with a small staff team, taking care of 40 kids (there are 9 of us in total). We do all kinds of things together such as swimming, playing active games, art crafts, go to the playground, and go to the gym at least once a day. Sometimes we go on fieldtrips too. Everyday I go to work through the city bus.

On my free time I go to the mall, watch movies, play soccer, and baseball (I will play in a baseball tournament this weekend), do things with my host parents and buddy, and sometimes just rest at home.  My buddy and I did a 2 day program called YWCA Young Women Leadership Program. We learnt so much and met quite a few people.

My host parents, buddy, and I do things whenever we have time. We went to a pride parade, a bonfire, BBQ in Flatrock, Whale watching, Ferry trip to Bell Island, and went hiking in Cape Spear, which is the most eastern part of Canada. We are planning on squeezing in more activities – as many as possible!

I’d like to thank my mentor Alyssa, my mom Doreen, my auntie Faith, host parents Erin and Kent, and everyone else who helped me get through this program.

My placement is in Beamsville Ontario, it’s about 2 hours to Toronto and about half an hour to Niagara falls, Beamsville is on the south side of lake Ontario.

We spent a day in Toronto, in the morning we visited the CN tower, my favourite part was the glass floor jumping up and down and the elevator going 15 mph. The view from the top was surprising and the people on the ground looked like ants, after the CN tower we went sailing. 

So far in the program I went to Niagara falls with my host family at day time and with Rebecca and Sean at night time. What I did like was seeing the falls, you could feel the mist and hear the falls, what I did not like was the crowds and cars. At night time the falls had colored lights and fireworks.

We also went to Canada’s wonderland. The Bat was the first roller coaster I went on and it goes backwards, the Yukon Striker is the brand new roller coaster just opened this year, it has a 90^o drop and it goes 130km/h. The scariest part on Yukon Striker was the drop. The leviathan was my favourite roller coaster because it was scariest and longest. I didn’t like the Time Warp because you had to hold on really tight.

Thanks for reading!

Hi, my name is Jeremi Boisvert and I’m from Taloyoak, Nunavut. I am 17 years old. I have lived most of my life in Taloyoak but I did live in Montreal when I was younger, where my dad is from, so I have been to the south quite a bit but never without my parents.

My placement is in Kingston, ON. I think it’s pretty nice here and I’ve enjoyed my time so far. I’ve always liked swimming, my buddy Dion and I went swimming in Lake Ontario, Big Salmon Lake, and to a couple of pools. I also like going to the movies with my buddy and I finally got to see Avengers: Endgame. There aren’t any theatres in my community so its cool not to have to wait six months to see new movies.

My work placement is at the D&D Auto shop, where I assist the mechanics fixing cars and have some cleaning duties. The guys there are really nice and I enjoy working there, though some days feel long especially when I don’t get my coffee in the morning. I drink a little too much coffee for someone my age, but what can I say, I get it from my parents.

My host family, Wilson and Caroline, are really nice and their home is as well. They have lots of space for Dion and I. I really appreciate that they welcome us into their home and for taking us to places to see and try new things.

I applied for NYA for a few reasons but the biggest being I wanted to get experience living in the south so that I’m ready when I go for post-secondary school. I wasn’t sure where I wanted to go, but I think I might try for Queens here in Kingston. I want to study electrical engineering, and at queens, they have good engineering courses and an indigenous entry program which all make Queens convenient for me. I will be going to an engineering camp there next week which I am looking forward to. I am going to Canada’s Wonderland with Dion and two other NYA participants, Nathan and Lutie which I’m really excited for.

NYA has been a really good experience for me so far, I made lots of friends at Orientation and I can’t wait to see them at Re-Orientation. I encourage anybody of age to apply it is an amazing experience, especially if you are from Nunavut, the pop is nice and cheap.

Hi my name is Ben. 

I’m from Colville Lake in the Northwest Territories and I’m 16 years old. My placement is in bear river First Nations in Nova Scotia. My host mom is Holly Meuse and my host brothers Brock, Cruizer, and Jesse. I have volunteered at a community center, band office, fire hall and a carnival. 

My host buddy and me have been going to a mall, a Virtual Reality stop, an escape room, rafting and mud sliding. My favourite part of the summer has been being with my mom when she visited. 

I had never done an escape room or rafting before. I’m excited to see everyone at orientation. 

Thank you for reading my blog. 

My name is Renee Okalik and I am from Whale Cove, NU. I am also a participant in Northern Youth Abroad (NYA). This opportunity wouldn’t happen without you guys believing in me.

For my job I am volunteering at is a Traditional Coffee House. I worked with mostly ladies and a few teenagers (they’re wonderful people). The responsibilities I had was to prepare for the busy lunch hour.

In my host family, they are Willow and Dave Anderson, and my host little brother, Dexter. Very loving, kind people they are. The things I get to do over the summer is to go on road trips/ vacation, go to concerts, and attend different activities like drum dancing.

Before this program, I was a timid person. NYA even got me doing a presentation which has helped me a lot so far about talking publicly.
After being a participant in NYA, I will volunteer in some activities at home. Encourage other youths to join this program. This program got me thinking about what I want to become. An Inuk educator to teach people about my people.

Thank you for reading my blog.
Sincerely,

Renee Okalik

Hello my name is Dion Sanguya!

I am in the Canadian program, placed in Kingston Ontario. I’m am in between Toronto and Ottawa where there are many things to do here and I have been having so much fun in the past 5 weeks and I can’t wait to meet all of my fellow participants at Re-orientation and have a great time.

While I’ve been here with my buddy Jeremi I’ve had a lot of fun doing many things and we went to Canada’s Wonderland not long ago and it was awesome while we went there we met up with Lutie and Nathan! We had an awesome time together and made many laughs on the rides and in the water park I was very curious of how I would do on the rollercoasters but it was awesome and I loved how fast we went, I can’t wait to see how everyone else is doing and I hope every single one of you are okay and having fun.

We’ve went to new places and had fun trying new foods too like, Thai foods and going to the theatres, I’m very excited to see all of my fellow participants again and going to make the most of my time having fun now and I hope you all will enjoy your times cause I’ve enjoyed mine.

Sincerely, Dion. PS I’m a goofy guy.

My name is Jolan, Jolan Kotchea, I’m from Fort Liard, NWT, and my placement is Squamish, B.C.

It’s currently treating me well, It’s very beautiful here, mountains are very nice to look at, and to hike. My work placement is a day camp and I work with children from ages 6-9. It’s very fun, I do a lot of activities everyday, and it’s a different activity each day so it doesn’t get boring. The day camp is called “Kid Kapers”. 

My highlight of the summer is seeing a lot of different things every day and learning more about my host community, and exploring the area.