Arctic Youth Voices- UN Climate Change Conference

Climate change is an emergency and we are the faces of climate change. Every day you may read a story on the topic, but this is actually happening to us in our community. That is why we decided to make a movie called Happening to Us, to share how this global problem has serious local consequences for us in Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories, on the shore of the Arctic Ocean in Canada.

We have been invited by the Inuit Circumpolar Council to present Happening to Us , our 20-minute documentary film, at a side-event at the United Nations Conference on Climate Change in Madrid, Spain from December 2nd to the 9th, 2019. During that time, we will also participate at two panels (including the UN Youth Climate Report  press conference on Dec. 3 at 10am), meet policy-makers, as well as being invited to present at the press conference for the Youth Climate Report, a UN initiative. 

Our team includes the youth who played a major role in the film, Nathan Kuptana, Eriel Lugt and Carmen Kuptana as well as chaperones closely involved with this project and facilitated the film workshop with the youth last June: Maeva Gauthier (PhD student, University of Victoria) and Jaro Malanowski (Avatar Media). In addition, we have been granted permission to film this event and will bring one of our youth camera operators in order to document our story.  For more information about the background of the Nuna Tariuq Silalu (Land, Sea, and Weather) film project and how it came to be, visit this blog post . 

The cost for flights and accommodations are very expensive due to the remoteness of our community on the arctic ocean. We estimate that the funds needed are upwards of $10,000 per person. That said, we have reached out to local, regional, and federal organizations for their support and have launched a fund raising campaign to help reach our goal. 

The participation at this world-renowned event will allow us, as young filmmakers, to share our experiences and knowledge of the Beaufort Sea Coast and represent our community on a world stage. This is an incredible opportunity that will allow us to share our story, represent our region, understand international politics, meet and network with international climate experts and gain an incredible worldview to expand our current knowledge and understanding of the world.