• ACTUALITÉs

< go back to the list

Westmount, December 11, 2017 - The Avataq Cultural Institute is one of eight winners of the Rights and Freedoms Award from the Quebec Commission for Human and Youth Rights. This year, to mark the 10th anniversary of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the prize was awarded to eight initiatives that have worked to support the rights of indigenous peoples in Quebec.

The award ceremony, led by Alexandre Bacon, Co-Founder of the KISIS Circle, was held on December 10 at the BAnQ Old Montreal with Geoffrey Kelley, Minister responsible for Aboriginal Affairs of Quebec, Ghislain Picard, Chief of the First Nations Assembly of Quebec and Labrador, and many other guests and dignitaries.

Rhoda Kokiapik, Executive Director of Avataq, was very grateful to receive this award, which recognizes 36 years of efforts to promote and safeguard Nunavik Inuit culture. "Elders coexist today with younger people who have never known anything about this life on the territory, a rough and demanding life... in the space of a single lifetime, our elders have gone from a pre-industrial reality to the age of omnipresent digital technologies. Many youths are experiencing a serious identity crisis.” Ms. Kokiapik said. The issue of identity is indeed the focus of Nunavimmiut's concerns and "Avataq looks to the Inuit youth as it moves toward its 40th anniversary in 2021 with renewed energy and hope for even greater achievements in the future." said Kokiapik.

The jury members were Ghislain Picard (Chief of the First Nations Assembly of Quebec and Labrador), Viviane Michel (President of Quebec Native Women), Alexandre Bacon (Co-Founder of KISIS Circle) and Béatrice Vaugrante (Executive Director of Amnesty International Canada Francophone).

Contact :

Michel Patry

Institut culturel Avataq

514 989-9031, poste 286