In April, 15 Royal West Academy students went to Salluit, near the Hudson Strait. Last week, 16 students from the Inuit town's Ikusik School visited Montreal"I like the bigness," Putulik Saviadjuk says about Montreal. Saviadjuk, 17, lives in Salluit, Quebec's second-northernmost community. His hometown, located on the Sugluk Inlet near the Hudson Strait, has a population of 1,350.
Saviadjuk is one of 16 students from Salluit's Ikusik School who visited Montreal last week as part of an exchange program with Royal West Academy in Montreal West. In April, 15 Royal West students spent nine days in Salluit.
All the students' worlds got a little bigger.
This was Irsutuk Kadjulik's first trip outside Nunavik. He never stopped looking out the airplane window on all four flights it took to get to Montreal. His favourite part of the visit wasn't the day trip to Ottawa (not even when a fire alarm went off at Parliament and the students got to meet NDP leader Jack Layton and Alouettes star Anthony Calvillo) or zip-lining in Rigaud; it was going for a swim at Bain Émard, a public pool in Ville Émard. It was the 15-year-old's first time in a pool.
"I'd like to go again," he said.
Though Royal West student Megan Wade-Darragh, 13, ate raw caribou and beluga in Salluit, she was surprised by how much she and her new Inuit friends had in common.
"Before we went, there were lots of stereotypes. But when we got there, we realized they have the same interests and hobbies as us. The girls watch Gossip Girl, and we all love hockey," she said.
Until he saw it for himself, the Hudson Strait was just a place on the map for Royal West student Dylan Macdiarmid, 14.
"That was when I realized we were somewhere else,' he said. "Montreal is my world. But that's when it hit me - this is somebody else's world."
James Walker, a Royal West graduate who has been teaching in Salluit since 2008, came up with the idea for the exchange. Funding came mostly from the Society for Educational Visits and Exchanges in Canada, although students at both schools raised funds to offset costs. Walker managed to turn fundraising activities into a lesson.
"My students sold sandwiches and muffins at lunch. They calculated profit margins," he said.
Irsutuk Padlayat, 13, stayed with Dylan's family in Notre Dame de Grâce. Irsutuk enjoyed beaver tails at the Old Port, but he can't understand why Montrealers make such a fuss about hot dogs. Irsutuk admits he got a little homesick.
"We left on Mother's Day and I missed my father's birthday."
Salluit has only two grocery stores and a small convenience store. So like many of the Ikusik students, Irsutuk did some shopping in Montreal. He found presents for both his parents - a red skirt for his mom and a T-shirt for his dad.
Students also collaborated on an art project that will be divided and displayed at both schools. Royal West students used mostly collage to create a maple leaf. Their artwork included references to life in Montreal, such as the symbol for the métro and an image of the city skyline. Ikusik students made a three-dimensional inukshuk (a figure of a human), decorating it with miniature caps they had knit and their own soapstone carvings.
Also on last week's agenda was a stop at Dawson College. "I wanted them to see a CEGEP so they'd know what to expect," Walker said.
Saviadjuk is the youngest of 15 siblings. He hopes to be the first in his family to attend CEGEP: "My parents really want me to go."
Now when he returns to Montreal for CEGEP, he'll have plenty of friends in the city.
Saviadjuk would like to study astronomy. "The stars are more beautiful in Salluit," he says.
wow! :)
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