Hopedale youths win $1M to build cultural centre, with ambitions for 'something potentially huge'

A group of youths in Hopedale in northern Labrador have won $1 million to build their dream of an Inuit cultural centre in their home community, marking the first Nunatsiavut project to win the top Arctic Inspiration Prize. 

The Arctic Inspiration Prize awards millions of dollars each year to projects in the fields that include education, health, culture, arts, language, science, traditional knowledge, climate change and the economy. The winners were announced Tuesday night in Whitehorse. 

"This is kind of the beginning of something huge, something potentially huge," said Veronica Flowers, one of the organizers. 

"We're really excited to bring it back to community, bring our projects back to the community, and that's what this is all about." 

The Inotsiavik Centre is the dream of five Hopedale youths: Malaya Kisa-Knickelbein, Kimberly Pilgrim and siblings Veronica, Nicholas and Vanessa Flowers.

Inotsiavik in the local dialect of Inuttitut translates to "a place to live well." The project aims to revitalize the local Inuttitut language and culture by opening a not-for-profit organization and cultural centre that would be an accessible place for education and programming for Nunatsiavummiut, with support from the Nunatsiavut government. 

Veronica Flowers said winning the award and the community support has been overwhelming. The award is going to bring a number of opportunities for traditional programming and language learning, she said.

The youths hope to co-ordinate and offer sealskin workshops, language learning programs, traditional tattooing and more, Kisa-Knickelbein said. 

Next, the group is heading back to Hopedale to hold a community celebration, Kisa-Knickelbein said. There will also be another round of the traditional black-bottom sealskin boot workshop held last year, Flowers said. 

"We have a lot planned. We're just taking it one step at a time," Flowers said. "We hope that it'll inspire young people in Nunatsiavut to run their own programming."

Nunatsiavut projects won in three available categories in the Arctic Inspiration Prize ceremonies Tuesday night, receiving a combined total of $1,398,000. 

Sharing Inuit strength amid trauma

Kisa-Knickelbein hopes bringing people together to share their history and connect to their cultures shows the strength Inuit have. 

"We do have intergenerational trauma, but we also have a lot of intergenerational strength," Kisa-Knickelbein said. 

Nicholas Flowers said he and his siblings were inspired by their grandmother, Andrea Flowers, who taught them their traditional practices. The group hopes to create a safe place for people to learn and make mistakes, like they did as children, Veronica Flowers said. 

"As a really young team too, we also don't know everything. Like, nobody's an expert here, but we also want to learn from elders and people who are more experienced," Veronica Flowers said. "We really want to focus on community, the community working together."

They dream of opening the Inotsiavik Centre for language and cultural programming, and then expanding throughout the north coast to offer programming in each Nunatsiavut community, Kisa-Knickelbein said. 

Hebron and Okak reunions, language app among winners

In addition to the top prize, the two other Nunatsiavut projects in other categories won the funds they were asking for. 

Five prizes up to $500,000 and four prizes up to $100,000 are awarded each year. 

Lena Onalik of the Nunatsaivut government won $298,000 to fund reunions in Hebron, Nutak and Okak Bay for able-bodied relocatees this summer. The reunions are meant to be healing for Inuit who were forced from their homes decades ago. 

LOVE Inuktut won $100,000 to revitalize and safeguard 11 dialects of Inuktut by creating a beginner-level immersion-style app to help people learn their traditional language in their specific regional dialect. 

"Right now there's no nowhere where there are all 11 main dialects of Inuktut in one location," team member Lianna Rice told CBC News.

"And right now, there are limited ways where users can track their progress through a learning path."

Rice said LOVE stands for "learn, observe, vocalize and empower." The team comprises Rice, Erica Jacque and Ocean Pottle-Shiwak of Nunatsiavut, and multiple other Inuit from other regions throughout the North. Rice hopes the team will be able work with elders, teachers, fluent speakers and more to create the app. 

Rice said users will seamlessly switch between dialects to understand the differences. She hopes it will help all Inuit have access to their traditional language, "no matter their geographic location, background, level of connection to their culture and language."

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