Edition #10 – May 2022

Qarjuit Youth Council (QYC) holds an Annual General Meeting each year bringing youth ages 15 to 35 from across Nunavik to get together and make plans for the current year discussing priorities, budget, further plans and activities for youth. The last 2021 Meeting was quite different, with our first official Truth and Reconciliation day in Chisasibi, one of the 15 communities QYC represents. I have noticed a lot of different youth’s concerns and they really seemed to have a lot to say. This is, indeed, why Qarjuit always wants to prioritize voicing youth concerns and needs to different entities and all move forward together, listening to youth ideas and priorities. On the 3rd day of our meeting, we asked our youth what their concerns were and what they would want to see improved in their communities. A lot of them said that they would want a safe place to sleep for the night. They would also be concerned that most of the communities did not have a gymnasium to play sports. They would play in the school gyms and that was when they were lucky to. They were also concerned that their gyms were so old that they were falling apart. The majority of the youth were saying that they are so fed up, so drained by the fact that they have to live with their parents who abuse alcohol and drugs. The youth were so emotional talking about this and I think this is an important issue to put out there for the people to read. The youth were all happy to let this out there to be heard and to have a voice for the rest of them. As a Board of Director on Hudson Strait in Qarjuit Youth Council, I wanted to offer a space for these important needs from youth to be heard. These young folks are all Canadian citizens and deserve to be treated equally as any other youth. Unfortunately, Inuit youth do not have access to the same resources to fully embrace their potential. We need to change this and bring these priorities as a real matter of importance to our different political entities so we can bring more resources and possibilities in terms of mental health and education to Inuit youth. Qarjuit Youth Council is always looking forward to new collaborators and partners that want to work along youth making their voice heard and bringing resources to the 14 communities in Nunavik and to Chisasibi.
JUDITH ALAKU,
Hudson Strait Board of Director