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After another year of rapid change and accomplishment, we have released our second annual report to shine a bright light on the many ways Ilitaqsiniq supports the empowerment of Inuit. We named it Sivusiktuq to represent this “step ahead.”

Our Strategic Plan for 2021-2026 is affectionately called Makippallianiq because it embodies the action of standing up on your own independently. It is a term of empowerment, one that illustrates the growing ability of Ilitaqsiniq as an organization.

Our very first annual report introduces our unique culture-based Inu-vative programming with embedded literacy and essential skills, and our contributions to Nunavut communities.

This Resource Guide is aimed at our partners, funders, non-profit organizations, community coordinators, and others who are involved in formal and non-formal learning for adults and youth in a northern context.

Many northerners face barriers to employment or training opportunities because of low literacy. Literacy, like any other skill, can be increased through positive and meaningful learning and training opportunities. Intentionally embedding LES into learning programs is one way of addressing these barriers.

The Guide was developed by the Northern Alliance for Literacy and Essential Skills (NALES), a collaboration between NWT Literacy Council, the Yukon Literacy Coalition and Ilitaqsiniq.

The Miqqut project was a participatory action research project through which Inuit language and literacy learning was embedded in a traditional skills program. Community-based researchers tracked learners’ progress through entrance, exit, and post-program interviews and questionnaires, as well as through participant observation. Results show that participants became more willing to communicate and improved in Inuktitut language and literacy. The program built strong identities and relational networks. Participants became anchored in lifelong learning as they gained confidence in contexts within which they would continue to practise and develop what they had learned.

The Northern Men’s Research Project was an innovative study led by Ilitaqsiniq, in partnership with Yukon Literacy Coalition, Northwest Territories Literacy Council, and Literacy Newfoundland and Labrador, along with their community partners.  The study examined northern Indigenous men’s experiences with learning and work. The objective of the research was to identify barriers and supportive factors to northern Indigenous men’s engagement in schooling and employment.

The results of this phenomenological study into northern Indigenous men’s lived experiences of learning and work showed that men are more engaged in learning and work than statistics might reveal. However, the research also showed that statistics suggesting exclusion from certain areas of work and learning resonated with northern Indigenous men.

The Northern Men’s Research Project was a community-based investigation of factors influencing northern Indigenous men’s participation in learning and work. This narrated PowerPoint summarizes the project’s origins, methods and results.

A summary of the full research report that looked at how participants in five non-formal learning programs were affected by the programs, the skills they developed, and the changes they saw in their lives.

This was a research project that Ilitaqsiniq carried out in Nunavut over three years (2009-2013). The research looked at how participants in five non-formal learning programs were affected by the programs, the skills they developed, and the changes they saw in their lives. The research also reviewed the teaching methods used in the programs to find out what worked well. Ilitaqsiniq staff carried out two of the programs. The other three were offered by different community organizations in the Kivalliq region of Nunavut.

As part of a collaborative effort, Ilitaqsiniq contributed to the development of this 2014 food security strategy that set out the actions to be taken to improve food security in Nunavut.

Ilitaqsiniq participated in Nunavut’s first Poverty Summit in 2011 sponsored by the Government of Nunavut and Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated. At the heart of the plan is the belief that the way forward to a Nunavut without poverty is the path of collaboration and healing.