11 hours ago
I never expected I would lose so much of my Inuit culture when I moved South
I went from a small community of 400 in N.W.T. to a big city in Manitoba
First Person columns are personal stories and experiences from kids written in their own words. For more information and to learn how to submit your own piece, scroll to the bottom of the page.
My name is Kaia Kanayok, and I'm 17 years old.
I live in Ulukhaktok, a small, isolated community of about 400 people in the Northwest Territories.
It has two grocery stores, one convenience store and one big school from junior kindergarten to Grade 12 and a daycare.
I haven't always lived here. Ulukhaktok may seem boring compared to a big city, but I love it here — and I realized how much it meant to me after I moved away.
When I was 11, I went to live in Winnipeg, Manitoba, for five years.
The experience of being far from my Inuit community was challenging for me because we were far from family and friends.
I suddenly had to deal with racism at a young age.
A sudden change
Moving to Winnipeg was a huge change.
I hadn't been in a big city before, except for Inuvik and Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, for medical travel.
We moved because my mom wanted my sister and me to have a better education, as well as easier access to health care as I am hearing impaired.
For a while, it was lots of fun.
We got to experience new things and made new friends. I got into sports like volleyball, basketball and badminton.
When COVID-19 hit, the house we were renting came off the market so we moved.
After a while, my stepdad left my family.
We didn't have any extended family around. Birthdays and holidays were isolated and lonely. Moving again made it harder to have friends because I was at a new school.
There weren't a lot of Inuit people in Winnipeg, and the ones I met were from Nunavut. Our dialects are a bit different, and I didn't feel a connection to them like my friends back home.
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Kaia, right, when she was 11, met Inuk singer Kelly Fraser in Ulukhaktok. (Image submitted by Kaia Kanayok)
Explaining my culture
When I would tell my class about my culture, I felt like many of the students were judging me.
After a while, I just stopped.
For example, I explained to a friend in Grade 7 that the way we survive off the land is from hunting and fishing.
I told her that the fur on my parka is from a fox, and she told me that we were endangering the animals and that she felt sorry for them.
My classmates made me feel like I was a bad person for the way we live.
This bullying and racism really got to me.
I felt so ashamed to be Inuit.
I felt ashamed for feeling ashamed.
Moving back home
We first came back home for a visit in the summer of 2022, and we spent a lot of time with family. I didn't want to go back to Winnipeg.
Eventually, my mom realized there was nothing for us in Winnipeg: no family, no real friends.
We officially moved back home in the summer of 2023 and lived with my grandparents.
Kaia, left, sometimes rides on her friends' snowmobile to get around her community in the winter. Here she is in front of her school. (Image credit: Marielle Ortañez Torrefranca/CBC)
I didn't realize how much being in a city affected me until we moved back home.
I didn't remember much of my culture. I had forgotten how to drum dance and do Arctic sports.
Living in Winnipeg changed me and how I view the world.
It made me realize that the only people who truly understand me are people at home.
I no longer had to explain myself because everyone already knew our way of life.
My home, my community
Now that I'm back in Ulukhaktok, I'm grateful for the opportunities offered by my school that I missed out on in Winnipeg.
We have game nights at the school gym.
Twice a week, we play games, bake and hang out at the youth centre.
On Thursdays and Saturdays, the arena becomes an indoor playground.
On top of that, the school tries hard to have the kids learn more about the land and Inuit culture through hands-on experiences.
The high school and junior high students go muskox hunting or fishing.
We have Inuinnaqtun class where we learn our language and we also learn to sew or bead.
Now I'm graduating from high school, and if I want to pursue my education, I have to leave again.
It's scary because this time I'd be by myself.
That's why I've decided to take a gap year to spend more time with my family, especially my grandparents.
Maybe in a year, I'll be ready to leave again, but I'm in no rush.
As time goes on, with fewer elders and more modern technology, it's harder to maintain those traditions.
My generation hasn't had to learn things like hunting and fishing for survival, but they are still important for our culture.
I'm grateful that the school and community offer these experiences so our culture can live on.
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