Christopher Idlout, aka TheRealRezPaul, and five other Inuit youth from Nunavut and Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories, participated in an Inuit youth-led townhall session at ArcticNet/Arctic Change Conference in Ottawa on December 10, 2024. Co-chaired by Naomi Tatty, SeeChange Initiative’s intercultural health lead, and Brian Kowikchuk of the Canada-Inuit Nunangat-UK Arctic Research Program (CINUK), the session convened youth from across Inuit Nunangat who exchanged experiences, stories, tools and initiatives related to the interconnected themes of wellness, climate change, and art.
We sat down for an interview with Christopher, who lives in Nunavut’s capital Iqaluit, to learn more about the challenges young Inuit are facing, and some of their coping mechanisms and hopes for the future.
Tell us about some of the issues that you are concerned about as a young person living in Nunavut
The main problems we face day to day include mental health, the schooling system that's not built for Inuit, the parental neglect that's so often behind closed doors, the generational trauma that's been passed down from the residential schools, and the suicide pandemic that's been going on for a couple of years now, that's been hurting a lot of people.
I became awarne of suicide epidemic amongst youth I know a little over two years ago. It was a little bit after my mom married my late step-dad. I had a step cousin through marriage, and we hung out once, he was really chill. A month later, I heard he was in a car crash. It really messed him up mentally, and he took his own life, and ever since then, his friends took their own life, and so on and so forth. It's been going on for a few years now. It's scary to lose somebody. There's always a thought that one of the people you know closest to you will go, because so many people around us are.
You mention intergenerational trauma - can you talk more about that?
With the way life is up north, people like to take a lot of their experiences personally. But as I grew older I understood none of this was because of me, and I understood intergenerational trauma before I knew the word.
The first thing I think about is that generational trauma and parental neglect went hand in hand after the residential schools stopped. Parents were affected really badly by the residential schools, and they weren't allowed to see family 90% of the year, and when they did see their family, it was very brief. A lot of the parents never knew their kids whenever they came back, and all the bad stuff that's happened there. It really changed and traumatized them, and it's unknowingly been passed down from generation to generation. And even though my parents haven't been in the residential school system, my family beyond that has been affected by it really badly, and it's unintentionally getting passed down.
There's a lot of people up north that don't see intergenerational trauma. They're not really friends with the people that go through it. If you're going through it yourself, you can tell when someone else is - it’s kind of like trauma bonding. It's only the people that are traumatized and affected by it who can recognize another person that is.
How do you support each other? How do you cope?
Most people up north, when you understand that someone else is going through stuff, it's not really common to talk about it. When you see your friend is going through a traumatic event, you don't really bring it up or talk about it, you hang out with them, you try to cheer them up, and you do the same as you usually would, but more supportive in the background. It's only when we're feeling past it and we feel like we've accepted it, that's when we start opening up and telling our friends exactly what's been going on. The main thing that I've seen work is being very supportive, being very kind and patient. Because some Inuit, if you're just kind to them and nice, they'll open up to you right away. And then there's other Inuit, if you keep trying to get them to open up, they'll take it as an insult. So it's kind of like a 50/50 gamble, and it's different with everybody.
When I see my friends going through a tough time, I go hang out with them, and probably make some songs, just to let out emotions. And we almost never talk about it straight up.
Do you think you should talk about it?
I feel like it does have to be talked about, to let people open up. We do have psychological services in Nunavut, but it's bottom of the barrel. I remember when I was trying to get mental health support, I had to go through a little wait. I was trying to seek quick help because I didn't know where else to turn, and I understood mental health services aren’t good in Nunavut.
But then that's one thing that would help people open up more, if there's more ways to talk about it. This is the reason I came here. I came here to spread awareness and try to make a change up north as best as I can.
What's the best change you could see?
The best change I could see is somehow finding a way to stop this generational trauma and let kids grow up like kids. Because most people up north, such as myself, had to grow up at a young age, we couldn't just be kids and enjoy our life. When we were young, parents could be very neglectful behind closed doors.
There's not one right, direct answer on how to break the cycle. It's more that you gotta brush through the gray areas until you find the right thing that works, because just like everywhere else, everyone's different, including Inuit. Inuit are better at hands-on learning, and it's kind of harder for them to open up, since we aren't used to opening up at all.
We should try to find a way to let the youth open up, for example through psychologists, and if not that road, then find a way for the youth to spend their energy and at least have something to do to enjoy life while they're young. So mental health resources or activities are important, because there isn't much to do up north and a lot of repetition of the same thing. Especially when it's bad, that can really ruin somebody.
At the event, you spoke about housing. You said, “We're talking about mental health, but we need to talk about housing first.”
The housing system, they didn't build it for Inuit. Around half of the buildings they build are, like, million dollar houses that you can only buy - no renting, no leasing, nothing. Inuit mainly rely on housing [Nunavut Housing Corporation].. My mom wanted me to sign up right when I turned 18, but I didn't, I kind of stalled, and after a little while, my mom told me she waited eight years just to get her own place. And that was only because she just had my older sister. If she didn't have any kids, she probably would have waited 15 to 20 years just for her own house. The housing crisis in Nunavut is really bad. There's a lot of overcrowding. I've heard a lot of stories of Inuit having to share beds, sleep on the floor, on the couch. And that's something that really needs to get fixed up north. We need more affordable and sustainable housing for Inuit.
You said there was more you wanted to share on the stage at the ArcticNet conference. What was something you feel you wanted to add?
I really wanted to talk about how happy I am to be here and how much I appreciated the opportunity. I'm a very anxious and nervous person, and I'm not really good with crowds, but once I found out the program was for spreading awareness, I couldn't help but say, yes.
One of the things we were talking about was how to continue Inuit culture with art and storytelling. I wanted to say that we need more places. In Iqaluit we only have one museum, and it's closed half of the time. And when it is open, it's only open for a few hours, and you don't really have much time to go there. The few times I have been there, they don't really have much Inuit art, it's mostly just random pieces of art that they found around Nunavut and just hung up. Personally, I feel like we need more museums, we need more art programs, we need more places to do things like drawing or music. For Inuit art, there's not really many ways to preserve it. I feel like we need more art schooling systems and more places that are accessible, not only to Inuit but for everyone else too.
Sadly, the truth about Inuit is when they don't have any outlets for their energy, or any way to put out their anger, sadness or just to express themselves, they kind of turn to drugs and alcohol and they take everything they went through personally. And I feel like Nunavut - all throughout - needs more ways for the youth to expel their energy and just spend time and enjoy life.
What is your biggest dream?
When I was younger, I loved football, like American football. But as I got older, I'm not as into it anymore. I don't watch it anymore, but I'll still take the chance to play it. But ever since I met John, he got me into music, and ever since then, one of my biggest dreams is to spread my music and just become an artist, not only to spread awareness, but to spread positivity, or any positive emotions, the best way.
There's a few people that also make music that are a few years younger than I am. They have always looked up to me, and every time they saw me, they got super excited because of the music. And I really want that to continue as I grow older, I want people to look up to me, not or not only as a good role model, but as someone like an artist, or, I don't know how to put it, but I just want to be known as like a good person that spreads awareness and tries to spread positivity.
You also said on stage that whenever you leave Nunavut, you keep coming back.
It's the people. I'm not saying that the place itself is bad, the scenery is really beautiful, and the animals there are awesome. Every time I leave it, if I'm away longer than a week or two, I always find myself wanting to go back. I was born and raised there. I made a life there. It's not that I don't want to start a new one somewhere else, it's that I don't want to give up on the life I've already created there. And there's a lot to it, but I have a few friends back in my hometown that are going through a lot in their day-to-day life with family and such. And that's another reason I want to stay, to let them know I'm there for them, and I know I help brighten their day. So that's also another reason to come back.
I think we heard many times that people’s only dream is to leave. Inuit didn't put themselves there because they wanted to. They were colonized, forced to live in certain places, forced to move and all that. And it's part of the intergenerational trauma, and it's passed down. Youth don’t understand that it’s intergenerational trauma and they just want to get out of there because they see it as only bad. Also, it’s a tough time growing up, when you're going through puberty, or just starting to realize stuff. They don't really see the good sides, and it's kind of hard not to focus on the bad, especially up north, when there's almost nothing to do.
You also talked about education, the school system in Nunavut.
This is a hard topic for me. I grew up in a lower-class family, we kind of struggled - not to have a place over our heads, but there were times where we struggled to put food on our plates. And I remember when I was starting to grow up, I took everything personally, and I tried to drop out. I thought I wasn't going to learn anything at all, and nothing was going to come of it.
But as I got older, I matured more, like I tried to pull myself up. I was trying not to be in the lower class anymore, I wanted to at least be stable and healthy and not have to worry about anything. I remember I tried to go back to school, and my English teacher walked up to me and looked me straight in my face, put her hands on the table, and said, “What's the point of coming to school if you're going to fail? There's only, like, two months left.” That really hurt me, because once I finally smartened up and wanted to go back to school, a teacher brought me down, and I felt like I was at the lowest, when I first dropped out.
And there was another teacher I really looked up to. He was my social studies teacher. I would talk to him often and learn a lot about social studies, just because he was a really good teacher. And right before I graduated, he walked up to me with two grade nine students, and he pointed right at me, and he's like, “Don't be like this guy.” I kind of looked sad. And I asked him why, and he was laughing and smiling, and said, “You dropped out, you were supposed to graduate already.” That really hurt me, too. And it's not only that the l school teachers are kind of insensitive -it's that they don't teach Inuit the way Inuit are used to learning. The regular schooling system is based on memory, like you have to write stuff down.
With the way Inuit learn, it's more hands-on. The type of stuff we would learn is hunting, the best time to go hunting, the best strategies, and then once you do catch an animal, how to skin it, how to butcher it. And Inuit would look first and then they would try it themselves. But the way they're teaching them in the school system is like they're teaching everywhere else in Canada. They're not trying to adapt to the way we're learning. They're just trying to force Inuit to adapt to the way they were taught.
Can you talk more about what Inuit culture means for you?
Some of the best things that I learned about Inuit culture is going out hunting, the migrations of the birds, the best time to hunt for seals, learning the best times to go fishing or fox hunting or how to catch hares. That's what I feel everyone should at least have a chance to do, especially up north, because there's not much green in the scenery, but it is really beautiful up there, it's amazing. And something about just going out on the land, turning off the machine and just sitting there - it's like the quiet is deafening, and it's just very lovely. And that is one thing I feel everyone should learn who aren't Inuit. I feel like they should at least go up north once, just to see what it's like. Because Inuit going hunting and being out on the land is some of the most therapeutic stuff you can do, because it is quiet and you aren't necessarily by yourself, but you're with the people you care most about.
You talking about being on the land and being together, that was beautiful. You also mentioned the impact of global warming. What changes are you seeing?
The biggest changes I see in global warming is the difference in how cold it is. When I was a child, I remember going to school or going to the bus stop, and it was almost a blizzard, and you couldn't even see like 20 to 30 feet in front of you. And it was like that, a couple times a month, up to a couple times a week. But nowadays, we get a blizzard once or twice a year at most. And it's not only that. When I was younger, people had to stop boating three or four months before December. But before we left, it was just the start of December, and somebody took their boat out into the ocean. This is the latest the ocean has frozen up. And it's really noticeable year by year. Usually by now, the ice would have already frozen up. But there were a couple days it got really, really cold. And if you tried to look at the ocean, it looked like there was like 50 feet of fog from how cold it was and how much it didn't freeze. Yeah, you can definitely see changes. Many people talked about different things during the conference. They're seeing animals not coming. Another big change I noticed with global warming is the plants. They're only green for about half a month to a month, right? But this year, it was about two months, it was nice and green and it's usually not like that. It's more brown, orange.
What did it mean to you to meet Inuit youth from other parts of Canada at the conference?
I found it very enlightening, very interesting to see Inuit that aren't from Nunavut, because being born and raised in Nunavut, I don't really see people from Greenland or South Baffin or south or north Quebec, or the North West Territories, so I think it's a really cool opportunity to meet other Inuit that aren't from the same area I am from.
The interview was conducted by SeeChange’s Bayan Alabda and Carol Devine on December 11, 2024, in Ottawa.
Watch the song ‘See Change’ written and performed by Christopher Idlout (aka TheRealRezPaul) and John Tatty (aka Ayesick) in Ottawa on YouTube or listen to it on Spotify.
Find John Tatty (Ayesick) on Spotify
Find Christopher Idlout (TheRealRezPaul) on Soundcloud
Find Iola Oshoweetok (South Baffin Inuk) on Soundcloud
SeeChange and CINUK, led by and working with Inuit scholars, youth advisors, artists, community members, and partners, aim to support Inuit youth to thrive. They live in the Arctic, the fastest warming place on Earth, with climate change affecting mental health, food security and sovereignty, culture, and well-being. Yet our organizations recognize that youth are working on solutions, including climate adaptation, and also aim to heal from historical harms affecting all generations.
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