Meet this year’s NWT recreation award winners

A Northern Games expert. A student bringing skills back to Kakisa. A woman inspiring Inuvik’s Elders. A trio using moose hide to help a community stay together.

The NWT Recreation and Parks Association has announced the six winners of its 2023 NWTRPA Awards. On this page, you can learn more about why each person won.

Inuvik’s Amanda Pokiak won this year’s innovation award. Kakisa’s Maverick Simba-Canadien won the youth leadership award while Steve Cockney, from Tuktoyaktuk and living in Inuvik, won the Elder award.

An on-the-land award was shared by Ashley Okrainec, Megan Okrainec and Rosa Wright for their work in the Dehcho.

Below, we’ve reproduced excerpts from the winners’ nomination forms that set out why their fellow residents chose to nominate them. (Excerpts have been lightly edited for clarity.)

---

Innovation award: Amanda Pokiak

NWTRPA: What does the nominee do that is new, creative or different?

Nominator Shandy Onishenko: Incredible community outreach and Elder support. Creation of Elders’ Range of Motion Aquafit Class.

How has the nominee shown a commitment to improving access and opportunities for community members to choose an active and healthy lifestyle?

Creation of Elders’ Range of Motion in partnership with the Town of Inuvik and taxiing participants to and from the pool to reduce barriers to access.

How does the nominee increase opportunities for others to be healthy?

Development of new programs and transportation to programs.

In what way do you think the nominee’s commitments will be continued by others in the community?

Amanda has inspired our Elders to encourage others to join the class.

In what way is the nominee a role model in their community?

Amanda is vibrant, compassionate, active, engaged, and always does what it takes to support the elders in our community. Amanda has also partnered with the Town of Inuvik to launch the Lifejacket Loaner Station at the Inuvik Boat Launch and co-hosted our National Drowning Prevention Week event.

Amanda played a critical role in organizing funding for the event and booking an Elder to speak to our community about the impacts of not wearing a lifejacket.

Scott McAdam youth leadership award: Maverick Simba-Canadien

NWTRPA: How has the youth demonstrated achievements or contributions towards improving the quality of life in their community?

Nominator Steph Woodworth: Maverick Simba-Canadien has numerous achievements in his young life. He works tirelessly to improve the quality of life in his community, Kakisa, by sharing his knowledge and skills with his community and by representing on numerous youth councils. He achieved academic success at Pearson College and is now taking a year before post-secondary studies to bring his knowledge home.

When he finishes going to post-secondary school to become a doctor, Maverick plans on moving home to improve the health and wellbeing of people in the NWT. Maverick is always thinking about how he can help support his family and community.

How has the youth demonstrated outstanding leadership qualities?

Maverick is an outstanding young leader in the NWT. He has been selected to be on the Prime Minister’s Youth Council, Dene Nation Youth Council, and NWT Youth Ambassadors Program. He recently graduated from Pearson College, bringing his knowledge and skills back to his home community of Kakisa. Maverick is dedicated to supporting young northerners and ensuring Indigenous youth voices are heard at the local, regional, territorial, and national levels.

What does the youth do that is creative or different?

Maverick adapts to unfamiliar environments and new situations very well. Since he was a young kid growing up in Kakisa, Maverick has sought opportunities to travel around the world, learn from other people and cultures, and bring knowledge home to his community.

His experiences travelling to new places taught him how to adapt to different environments and learn from his surroundings, with great consideration for how he would use that knowledge to support the North. He graduated from Pearson College in BC, where he learned alongside a diverse cohort of students. Maverick adapted well to the school and new city and has since returned to Kakisa for a year before entering post-secondary studies.

He is eager and willing to step outside his comfort zone and find new ways to adapt. I am constantly impressed by Maverick’s ability to navigate new environments and learn from others, and the ways he shares those experiences and teachings with people in the North.

In what way is the nominee a role model in their community?

Maverick is a natural teacher and the younger kids gravitate towards him. During my years of working with Maverick, he has always been kind and respectful to those around him. He never talks back or argues with anyone. He is always supportive of others and speaks with care. He encourages his peers, supports the younger kids, and respects his advisors, teachers, supervisors, mentors, and community leaders. He understands how to engage youth and he treats them with the utmost respect and compassion. He is encouraging and uplifting. Maverick is an outstanding young leader in the North.

Elder award: Steve Cockney

NWTRPA: How has the Elder participated in and inspired recreational activities in their community?

Nominator Karen King: Steve “Guluk” Cockney Sr continues to educate the youth of the Beaufort Delta in the sport of Inuit Northern Games. As a young man he competed in these games, then he assisted the Elders in instruction of the games and now he is an Elder himself, continually promoting, instructing and assisting in keeping these games alive.

How has the Elder participated in, supported, and shared traditional activities or knowledge?

He instructs the youngest peoples in learning Inuit Northern Games by holding classes, instructing and assisting the young athletes. He also is involved in competition by judging, measuring, adjusting heights on equipment and promoting sportsmanship.

In what way is the Elder a role model in their community, or to you?

The youth know that “Guluk” was very good at Inuit Northern Games when he was young and they look up to him as an instructor. In the community at large, Steve is respected for his knowledge of Inuit Games and the length of time he has been involved in one way or another.

In what way do you think the Elder’s commitments will be continued by others in the community?

As long as the games continue to be promoted, they will survive. The youth Steve teaches today will be the ones to continue these traditional games.

How has the Elder promoted the long-term growth of community recreation?

He brings the knowledge of Inuit Games he gained as a young man and promotes it to the youth of the community, just as Edward Lennie and Billy Day did when Steve was young. He commits to keep these games alive. He is a humble man, never looking for prominence, only to have the sport carry on to another generation.

On-the-land award: Ashley Okrainec, Megan Okrainec, Rosa Wright

NWTRPA: How does the nominee increase access to wellness through on-the-land programs?

Nominator Tracy Waugh Antoine: During the spring of 2023, our community of Łı́ı́dlı̨ı̨ Kų́ę́ was facing multiple stressors and issues that were leading to some division. Megan Okrainec, Ashley Okrainec and their mother, Rosa Wright stepped up to address the need for community healing by organizing a community moose hide camp at the Fort Simpson Territorial Campground for three days, and welcomed all community members to participate.

They set up meals, had hides ready for scraping and tanning and taught people how to work on hides. They had sewing tents set up, activities for children and they welcomed people to visit, have tea and eat traditional foods together. It was an amazing experience. Megan and Ashley both bring their love for the land and for traditional practices and food to their work, and their mother Rosa is always open to sharing her knowledge of moosehide tanning with the community.

At a difficult time, these ladies showed us all how to come together in a good, positive way and they are all leaders in their own ways.

In what way do you think the nominee’s on-the-land work will have a lasting impact on the community?

I think these amazing women have an impact on the community because they “walk the talk.” They take children and nieces and nephews out on the land, practise land-based practices in their work, and they always include youth in their projects.

In what way is the nominee an on-the-land leader in their community?

The Okrainec-Wright women are leaders of on-the-land learning in Łı́ı́dlı̨ı̨ Kų́ę́ because they lead by example and share their skills and knowledge with others. They welcome people to participate, whether in teaching people to fish for their families, in cooking programs, or moosehide tanning camps. These Gwich’in women are doing the everyday work of infusing culture into daily practices to revitalize culture, and deserve to be recognized for their quiet leadership.