Laila at Orientation in Ottawa, on Nunavut Night

Hi, my name is Laila Onalik and I am from Kimmirut, Nunavut.

I am placed in Glencoe, Ontario. I work at a daycare centre called the ELM Children Centre. This work placement is so much fun. To be honest I didn’t want to work with children, but I’m glad I was placed here, working with children. They enjoy me working here, I love them and the children and workers love having me here. I enjoy throat singing and singing for the children in Inuktitut although they don’t know what I’m saying. It’s fun. My co-workers are very heart warming and welcoming, we all have built a great relationship together.

My host family is very welcoming and comforting. I have 2 host siblings, Danielle who is 11 and Michael who is 10. They enjoy that I am staying with them. My host parents are awesome and fun, they treat me like their own. They have hosted students from Europe and France before, to learn English, and this is their first year hosting for NYA. They are very generous and amazingly kind!

Things here in Glencoe are very different from my home town. The price of food is lower, the weather is overwhelming – the humidity, the rain and thunderstorms. Glencoe is a small community. It’s quiet and the people all know each other, but the population is way different than home. There is about 2000 people in Glencoe.

I have done so many things so far. The week I arrived here my friend picked me up for shopping and we went to London, Ontario. I loved it! About 2 weeks ago we all went to the Toronto Zoo for the day! I had so much fun, I got to see some animals I have never seen before. My favourite animal there were the Pandas!! After the zoo we picked up a student in Toronto. Her name is Marie, she is here in Canada to learn English.

At my workplace I made some bannock for the staff and children. They all loved it, only because I made it like my aunt does (lol). It was their first time and they enjoyed every bite of the it; made me feel great!

We did a road trip too, to Niagara Falls! It was amazing to see one of the world wonders, I love it there. Those falls are a must see, it’s so beautiful and overwhelming. I had so much fun. We also went to this place called ‘Ripley’s believe it or not’ it had odd things but it was fun. We ate at a rainforest café, it was cool, felt like a real rainforest! I also went to the best place for chicken wings in St. Catherine’s, the wings were amazing!

My time down south has been a roller coaster, an amazing opportunity and life experience. This program opened my eyes, I can say I have stepped out of my comfort zone. I made it this far and I’m not giving up! I hope to be joining the NYA next program, next year. I encourage other Nunavummiut to apply – it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity. Thank you for taking your time to read!

Dallas posing in Squamish

My name is Dallas Sassie and I am from Fort Liard, Northwest Territories. I am 16 years old, and I am a participant of NYA Canadian program, where I get to experience life in southern Canada for five weeks.

My host family is Ken who watches us and his son Justin. They have two cats and a really nice house. The view is really beautiful where we stay and they are fun to talk to, caring and supportive when we are homesick, they take good care of too. Sometimes we have wild raccoons come by, the mother and her four little cubs when they are hungry.

I am placed in Squamish BC, and my workplace is at Greg Gardner Motors, where I volunteer and gain experience on how to repair vehicles. I sometimes work in the parts department where I stack parts that get delivered and watch technicians repair vehicles. The best part is that I got to meet everyone working in the shop and some of them were soccer players, so we get along well.

It gets dark around 10 here but it’s twenty-four hour daylight in my hometown. Squamish is a good place to get a good experience about life because they have a lot of shops, cafes, and services where people could get jobs and the people are friendly here too.

The people in Squamish aren’t to different from the North, we all respect each other, and we all love our family and friends. We both have strong ties to the native culture, and Squamish is strongly influenced by Vancouver.

When we arrived to Squamish we went to the restaurant A&W. Then we went to Whistler which is 40min drive, to watch a movie at the theater. We watched the new Spider-Man movie in 3D, and I got a chance to see my friend in Whistler, we hung out for a while, and went to the swimming pool.

This is the first time I’ve worked at a car dealership. I have worked in the parts and services departments and learned how to deal with professional people. I am grateful that I participated in the NYA program, and that I get to meet so many people along the way and make many friends like Delainea, Matt, and Seth. I also have got to learn about other people’s culture and this is a great opportunity to get experience on living south. It has been the best summer.

Hayley and Laila at NYA Orientation Camp

Hi, my name is Hayley Totalik and I’m from Taloyoak, Nunavut. This is my second year with Northern Youth Abroad. I completed the Canadian phase last year and I was placed in Truro, Nova Scotia. This year I’m taking the NEXT program along with 13 other participants from across Nunavut and The Northwest Territories. The NEXT program offers many great opportunities and our placement is for about 6 weeks. Currently we are staying at the Algonquin College and taking a construction trades class. We learned how to build picture frames and are now starting on dog houses. As simple as these projects sound, the picture frame was far more different than I thought, but I love the learning experience and getting comfortable with tools.

It’s been three weeks since I left home and I’ve gotten to do so many fun activities. For Nunavut day we took a bus to explore a little bit of downtown Ottawa and saw an Inuk artist perform. Last weekend we took a two day camping trip and I got to swim in a river for the first time. We also have sessions with “Let’s Talk Science” and learn cools things about different topics based on science. As a group we did a presentation to children between the ages of 5 to 13 where we talked about the northern life and its rich cultures; language, traditions, art, and climate.

In the next three weeks I’m looking forward to travelling to Montreal, seeing The Jerry Cans, and getting my first tattoo.

NYA has given me the opportunity to grow as a person in many ways I wouldn’t have imagined, including building my confidence, independence and self-motivation. Thanks to the staff and my mentor Lauren McFAdden for helping me get to where I am. Quyannamiik.

Hello my name is Rachelle MacCauley and I am a 2017 participant in NYA’s Canadian program. My placement is in Kitchener, Ontario, where I have been working at the Queen Street Commons Cafe. This work experience has been a great opportunity for me as I would like to have a career working in a bakery or cafe. The cafe offers a vegetarian menu with homemade meals, snacks, desserts, fresh roasted coffee, and has a unique gift shop. My host family are very kind and nice to me. They brought my host buddy and I to Niagara Falls which was so much fun. The experience being in the south is different coming from a small community of around 500 people. It has been unbelievably great having the opportunity to explore the south and experiencing the culture differences. This past week I have got the opportunity to work at the bakery and greenhouse where they prepare most of the food for the cafe which was awesome to be a part of. I have learned a lot of new things along the way and I look forward to seeing what else comes my way!

Richard in carpentry class

Hello NYA Program Participants, sponsors, future NYA participants and alumni. My name is Richard Tungilik and I am 21 years old. I started off with the Northern Youth Abroad in 2015 as a Canadian Program Participant, and this year I am participating in the NYA Next Program. This has been a busy but exciting year for me as I prepared myself for the program.

I have come to discover my career interests are either working in the Canadian Armed Forces, working in an environmental or wildlife job, or working in carpentry. I’m currently taking courses in carpentry at Algonquin Collage and have been learning a lot from the instructor. We work with a partner on class projects and are currently making a dog house.

I really respect our instructor as he owns his own business and I hope one day to have my own business in my home community. I still have a lot of learning to do before I can start my own business but the program has been a great start for me to gain experience. I’ve been able to set goals during the program which has helped me focus a lot on what I need to do next. Having the experience of living on a college campus has been really cool. Overall this experience has been really rewarding and I can’t wait put into action what I have learned.

Hi my name is Jame Duncan and I’m from Rankin Inlet, Nunavut. I am currently 18 years old and am doing the NYA NEXT Program!

In this program I have had the opportunity to see a lot of the beautiful city of Ottawa and particularly have enjoying visiting Parliament Hill. Our group is currently living on residence at Algonquin Collage and we have been taking a lot interesting classes including construction class. In this class I learned how to make a picture frame and am currently working towards completing a dog house. I’m really enjoying these classes and learning a lot from them.

One of my favorite things I’ve done while in Ottawa is enjoy a beaver tail which is a delicious pastry with different toppings on it depending on which kind you get. I got the Oreo flavored beaver tail and strongly recommend it.

One weekend we went camping and got the chance to go canoeing and swimming which was a lot of fun. My friend DJ and I also played volleyball on the trip with a group of people that were already playing and let us join. Both of us really enjoyed playing and the people we played with were super nice.

I’m looking forward to visiting Montreal and going back to camp for re-orientation to see all the other participants in the NYA program. I am also looking forward to completing the program and going home to share all my experience with friends and family.

My name is Des Beaulieu and I am from Inuvik, Northwest Territories. NYA’s Canadian Program has given me the opportunity to experience life in the South for five weeks. I have been place in Port Alberni to volunteer full time at the Friendship Centre.

My host parent have two daughter and a beautiful home. They also have three cats, a dog, and a fish. I don’t have any pets back home so it’s a nice change. My host family has experience living in the North, so it’s cool to talk to them about it once in a while. We’ve been to many places on Vancouver island so far such as Nanaimo and Ucluelet, along with Mclean Mill, and camping at Mussel Beach.

Working at the Friendship Centre has been a great experience overall. The culture, the people, the land, are all amazing. I had a change to help out with the Culture Camp at Qualicum Campground and it was really nice to see how many people showed up, helped out, and had fun. I did one of my presentations there and it wasn’t as scary as I’d originally though it would be. The people in the circle were welcoming and respectful. This positive experience with public speaking helped a lot and has made me more comfortable for my next presentation and something I’m looking forward to.

On my first day, I worked in the Out of School program with a couple of the summer students. There were about 20 kids and this daycare was used to having about seven as the most when it first started. Working with children isn’t my forte, and I din’t think I’d make through the five weeks if I was going to work in the daycare everyday. Thankfully, after speaking to my supervisor, he understood that I didn’t work well with children and would rather be in more of an office setting. Since then I’ve been helping with the morning parenting programs, preparing meals, and working in the office in the afternoons. The people at the centre have their own little quirks and mannerisms that make working in the office an enjoyable place to be.

My favourite party about doing volunteer work here in Port Alberni is learning about the differences in culture and lifestyle, talking about eh similarities, sharing stories, and just connecting with different people.

I would definitely come back to Port Alberni one day. It’s a wonderful place and there’s a lot to do in or around the community. I’d recommend NYA to anyone in the North who is interested in gaining experience living and working in Souther Canada.

My experience with NYA Next has been amazing! The first day we came to the Algonquin College campus was very busy. We had to help each other get all of our things unpacked.

We have learnt how to build picture frames out of wood at the Algonquin Construction Centre. I got to learn how to read a tape measure and calculate different measurements. We are now trying to more dog houses, but before we stat building we need to draft a picture.

We have seen a lot around Ottawa, we got to see Parliament Hill, and we had beaver tails (which were very good). We have also given a cultural presentation to summer camp students.

One night, we went to see the Jerry Cans perform at the National Arts Centre, which was awesome. We even got to meet the singer. All of us had a great time!

I am looking forward to going on our trip to Montreal next week.

Thank you Northern Youth Abroad for this awesome summer!

My name is Brenden Angotingoar, I am from Naujaat Nunavut, and I am 19 years old. My placement is on Salt Spring Island, B.C. My work placement is at Penny’s Pantry. It is a little restaurant attached to a golf course. I do cutting, sandwich making, baking, and I wrap cutlery. My host family is very kind and welcoming. They have two kids, one dog and a cat. I love the kids because they are very talkative and always want to play games.

When I was going to Salt Spring Island I had to flight to Victoria and we had to take a Ferry to Salt Spring Island. It took us over thirty minute to get to the Island. I like it here because everyone is kind and always welcoming. My host family really like to play baseball. It was fun to go watch my host parents play.

Thanks for reading 🙂

Brenden Angotingoar