Sally Paungrat, Hunting Program

Sally is starting a hunting program in Baker Lake, Nunavut for youth to be able to learn traditional skills and feed their families. The program will give youth the opportunity to learn all the skills they need to learn while hunting on the land. They will also learn our traditional culture so that they can gain and keep our culture alive. And then they can keep it with them their whole life, and pass it on to the next generation.

Cherylu Piugattuk, Sewing Program

Cherylu will be starting a sewing program in Igloolik, Nunavut. She will be teaching others how to sew parkas and amautis, and participants in her programs will get to keep their projects.

Nathan Maniapik, Hunting Program

Nathan will be starting a program in Pangnirtung Nunavut that will teach traditional hunting knowledge. He hopes to share knowledge, teach respect for the land, get elders involved, and feed those in need.

Renee Okalik, Traditional Drum Making

Renee will be teaching people in Whale Cove Nunavut how to make and use traditional drums. She wants to help youth learn how to make drums, and keep the tradition alive in her community.

Hayley Totalik, Youth Committee

Hayley’s project is to start a youth committee in Taloyoak, Nunavut. This project will help Taloyoak by getting youth to build strong leadership skills, as well as bring more recreational and entertainment activities to the town. Some examples of activities that the youth group would run are teen dances, craft nights, and movies.

Jaylon Atagoota, Leadership Program

Jaylon’s project’s main goal is to inspire youth to develop the characteristics of being a leader, to take on responsibility for their lives and think forward onto their future. He wants to do this by starting a project in Yellowknife, NT aimed at youth who are struggling with where they’re at in their life, lack confidence, unable to envision a path to tread down, etc. He’ll be calling this a leadership development program. Needing leadership abilities is a widespread issue and would it would do wonders to get more youth invested in themselves.

Shavanna Ashevak, Square Dance Sundays

Shavanna’s project is to start hosting square dances every Sunday in Kugaaruk, Nunavut. Her goal is to give the community something to look forward to. In December, she held her event and raised over $1,000 for the recreation committee’s Christmas activities.

Olivia Dobbs, A Place to Be

Olivia will be building a small cabin in Whitehorse, Yukon. She will have Indigenous youth come together and share their stories of how they started getting into their passion and activities, for example, carving, beading or making drums related to their culture. The goal os to have a group of youth who feel confident enough to share their stories and the obstacles they had to go through in sticking with their passion, such as possibly not having the resources necessary to follow through.