A project proposal from the Northern Farm Training Institute is one of two contenders for a $1 million prize.
NFTI's proposal, called From-the-Land – Food Ambassadors Program, is on the shortlist for the top award in the sixth-annual Arctic Inspiration Prize.
Jackie Milne, the president of the institute, said she was really happy when she found out about the nomination about a week before it was publically announced on Nov. 30.
"I was jumping up and down and screaming with joy," she said.
"What we've done is look at the joint challenge of both wanting to have food security occur in the North, but not having very many people available to help re-skill us," she explained. "And so From the Land – Food Ambassador Program is about finding key people from across the North and empowering them, mentoring them so they can become teachers in their community while they also produce food."
The program would be for the NWT and Nunavut, said Milne. "It would be a brand new thing."
The other contender for the $1 million top prize also has a distinct Hay River connection.
It is the Arctic Indigenous Wellness Project, which is led by Dr. Nicole Redvers, a Yellowknife naturopathic doctor who grew up in Hay River and considers it her hometown.
The Arctic Indigenous Wellness Project is an urban land-based healing program for Inuit, First Nation and Metis at risk of suicide or incarceration that combines Indigenous cultural education with traditional therapeutic interventions in a wilderness urban setting.
Redvers noted the project is happening on a smaller scale this month.
The proposal to the Arctic Inspiration Prize would expand the project, which has been developed to revitalize and ensure traditional health principles get applied to people who need care within the territories.
"So the original goal was to create an urban land-based healing site within the proximity of the city of Yellowknife to access populations that aren't necessarily able to go out to regular on-the-land programs, who are accessing regular counselling services and who are at high risk, particularly those on the street in Yellowknife who come from many of the different communities around the territories," said Redvers.
The project would also expand into small communities and provide traditional and western healing services in traditional settings like tipis and canvas tents to connect to culture.
Both Milne and Redvers are pleased that two NWT projects are vying for the top prize.
"I'm happy to see these NWT teams be nominated," said Redvers. "It's great."
As for Milne, she read about the other project to be nominated and was impressed.
"I think it's fabulous," she said. "Say we were to win, I would actually love to invite the doctor to come and join us, because it's all about healing and wellness, and healing our culture. I mean that's really what we're doing, too. It's like both of the ones nominated have the same vision."
Milne said, either way, it's going to be really good for the NWT and all its people.
The winners are to be announced on Jan. 31 in Ottawa.
Milne plans to be in Ottawa for the announcement, while Redvers said she will likely be there.
Both also say the $1 million prize would mean a lot to their respective projects.
"We would continue, of course, doing what we do, but this would give us the ability to have a much broader reach," said Milne. "It would allow students from across northern Canada to come, whereas before we were really territorial. So this is really about opening up and finding ways to really work together and build on our strengths. It's really exciting. It's super exciting."
Redvers said it would be very exciting for her group to win.
"It would be absolutely amazing in terms of being able to increase the capacity, not only for our project, but to increase the capacity for the communities," she said.
While she grew up in Hay River and graduated from Diamond Jenness Secondary School, Redvers spent the first five years of her life in Fort Resolution and is a member of Deninu Ku'e First Nation.
The Arctic Inspiration Prize selection committee nominated 10 projects in three categories to be considered for support totalling up to $3 million.
Along with the $1 million prize, there are prizes of up to $500,000 and of up to $100,000.
The only other NWT project nominated – in the up to $100,000 category – is the Dene Heroes Publication Project in Colville Lake.
That project will support young Dene men and women as they learn how to compile, publish and distribute a collaborative four-colour book that honours Dene heroes.