In a place where shipping and infrastructure are often prohibitively expensive, technology stands out as one way Northern youth can keep up with those anywhere in the world.
Stewart Burnett/NNSL photo
The Inuvik Youth Centre is hoping to take a leadership role in giving youth in remote communities the opportunity to pursue a technology-based career through an online contest run by Aviva. The centre has submitted a proposal in the Aviva Community Fund contest to “Tech the North,” seeking $50,000 to $100,000.
Cheryl Zaw, executive director of the centre, has a lot of dreams for what that funding would mean, including 3D printers, virtual reality goggles, robotics equipment and more in the centre. She also wants to bring in an expert to teach youth how to engage with the technology.
“When we’re sitting here at different tables talking about the economy and where we’re going to go, the realities of remoteness, of isolation, the cost of shipping mean that we really need to be on the top of our game with technology, because that’s stuff that doesn’t cost anything to ship,” said Zaw.
“There are all different kinds of skills you can develop and make an economy out of, especially today if you have those skills and they’re sharp. There’s a whole untapped section of economic possibility because the majority of our people aren’t coming out with really defined concepts of technology.”
Youth enjoy playing with technology, but Inuvik is a bit behind the ball on it, she said.
“Communities here are really struggling and youth are struggling to make good use of the technology they have,” she said.
Should the youth centre receive the funding, it also wants to bring that technology to four other communities in the North.
Zaw envisions sending a technology expert, one of the centre’s staff and a youth to another youth centre, perhaps in Aklavik or Tuktoyaktuk, giving them several thousand dollars worth of technology, and spending a few weeks teaching staff and youth how to use it. She hopes that would create momentum for more funding and technology opportunities in remote communities.
That idea ties into the organization’s overall vision.
“The short version of our vision is we want youth to be healthy, confident, successful and contributing,” said Zaw.
“That last piece there, contributing, means we look beyond ourselves and we give to others. We can’t really ask the youth to be doing that if we’re not modelling it ourselves. It’s good to be ambitious. Take on big challenges and then you get the chance to see big things happen.”
Voting for the Aviva Community Fund contest ends today. If the youth centre receives enough support, it goes to the next round, which will see judges choose which projects to support. Aviva has committed more than $1 million to funding projects this year.