Inuit Youth Summit celebrates 10th year

About 100 youth from the four Inuit regions of Canada are coming together for five days in Iqaluit to take part in the 10th National Inuit Youth Summit.

"I'm here for inspiration, for rejuvenating my spirits," says Louisa Yeates, a youth delegate from Kuujjuaq, Que.

She says being a youth leader can be draining and isolating work at times and the summit is a great opportunity to meet face to face and learn from one another.

"You think we're so different, but actually we're really the same," she says.

"We all have a lot of the same issues, the same challenges, and it's so great to hear other perspectives on these subjects."  

So far, a conversation about residential schools and attempted cultural genocide really hit home for Yeates.

"The word 'attempted,' in the past tense, totally makes sense to me because they didn't succeed. We did," she says. 

"We still have our culture. We still have our identity. We still have our language, no matter what dialect it is. It's still strong."

Creating a space for the 100 delegates from Nunavut, N.W.T., Quebec and Labrador to have these kinds of revelations is the main goal of the conference.  

"It's important for us to revitalize our Inuit language and culture," says Maatalii Okalik, the new president of the National Inuit Youth Council.

"If I can have a hand in that, that would be my purpose." 

She says working toward this unity is her dream.

"I would love the Inuit youth to also feel that drive and ability to be able to do something and make a change for the future, and I know that National Inuit Youth Council is one way to make that happen."

Over the next few days youth will discuss suicide prevention, health, education, employment and political involvement. On Sunday, the group will head out on the land before everything wraps up on Monday.