Temagami-Nunavut 2019

In the summer of 2019, the Canadian Canoe Foundation once again supported the Ayalik Fund program. Ayalik works to give Inuit youth who would otherwise not have such opportunities a chance to build self-esteem and confidence, through challenging outdoor adventure. This year, three Inuit boys from Nunavut – Michael Haniliak and Andrew Anavilok from Cambridge Bay, plus Iola Oshoweetok from Cape Dorset – travelled to Camp Temagami to participate in a ten-day canoe trip in one of Ontario’s premier canoeing regions. They faced the bugs and the rain (it was July!) with smiles, and worked together as a team to complete a challenging canoe loop across Lake Temagami and through a surrounding chain of lakes to the west. For Mike and Andrew, this was (respectively) their second and third big canoe trip with Ayalik support, so both of them now feel quite accomplished, comfortable in the stern of a canoe, thinking they would like to begin some assistant guide training next year. Said Andrew: “The canoe trip was really fun. After the trip, I felt so good and happy.” These three boys were among the 17 Inuit youths sponsored by the Ayalik Fund this summer, to a variety of camps, canoe trips, and tall-ship sailing expeditions. For more info, please visit: www.AyalikFund.ca