Introducing Nipatur̂uq, a magazine for Inuvialuit young people

Young Inuvialuit have a new place to tell their stories: in the pages of Nipatur̂uq magazine. 

Mataya Gillis, 16, and Cassidy Lennie-Ipana, 17, co-edit the magazine. The pair started the magazine last summer as "platform for Inuvialuit youth to have their opinions heard," said Gillis. 

Nipatur̂uq means "to have a loud voice," in Uummarmiutun, a dialect of Inuvialuktun spoken in Inuvik and Aklavik, N.W.T., said the editors. The first issue includes voices from young people and elders from across the Beaufort Delta.

"We also use Nipatur̂uq to connect the youth back to the elders," said Gillis, "because we learn from them everyday in our life, so we thought it's a good way to keep that connection going."

The magazine includes pieces on young people connecting to Inuvialuit culture and elders, and about going out on the land.

Editors want the magazine everywhere

It's also free.

"It is hard enough to get a youth voice heard, we didn't want someone to have to pay for it to get heard," said Gillis. "We want [the magazines] just to be everywhere, free, and just handed out … so we didn't want to charge anything for it."

The magazine was a team effort. 

"I really like doing interviewing, Mattea really likes photography, design and everything, and we both sort of combined and we just really liked how it turned out," said Lennie-Ipana. 

She said feeling the first issue in her hands was "amazing."

"I didn't really think that we were going to get it printed off," said Lennie-Ipana. "When we were holding it, it was just like relief, and it was like, 'Oh my goodness, I'm holding a magazine that we made.'"

Gillis said holding the first copy was "surreal," and that they've gotten great feedback.

"Everyone who I've met has told me how amazing this is," she said. "Everyone wants to be a part of it, which is really amazing."

Second issue is bigger

The editors hope to keep the magazine going.

The second issue was recently completed. This one focuses on climate change.

"This one is actually a bigger magazine because we just have so many youth who are interested and they have so much to say," said Gillis. 

"It was really nice to get people from Sachs Harbour and Ulu [Ulukhaktok] involved, and Tuk [Tuktoyaktuk], because we haven't had that yet."