Inspire Nunavut supports participants to set their own career or entrepreneurship goals guided by their interests, culture and community, while connecting with like-minded individuals from across Nunavut.
Applications for our Fall 2025 Cohort are now closed.
If you missed this round, stay tuned—details about our next intake will be announced soon!
A program designed by and for young people in Nunavut.
Led by Nunavummiut instructors, and featuring community leaders and entrepreneurs, this 12-week program aims to connect entrepreneurship, education and culture through experiential workshops and real world activities.
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Weekly live sessions with instructors and coordinators who come from Nunavut or have significant experience living in Nunavut
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Group health and wellness sessions with local experts and community leaders who bring in cultural knowledge
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24/7 mental health and wellness phone-in supports and on-going one-on-one check-ins with program coordinators to help keep participants on track
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Weekly guest speaker sessions with local business owners who share their stories and knowledge of change, leadership and entrepreneurship
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An artist specific cohort for Fall 2023, to help young artists from Nunavut turn their talents into a business or community project
Inspire Program Features
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Skills to start a business, community project or explore your career goals
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Learn marketing, operations, finance, branding and communication skills
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Support from instructors, leaders & local business owners
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Weekly allowance and start up grants
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Access to a laptop and internet
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Earn up to three micro-credentials from the University of Toronto's School of Continuing Studies
“There was never any major assistance provided to Inuit…so we look forward to your generation so that our people will never experience this again. And I believe Inspire Nunavut is part of that and we’ll have a group of people that are determined to make a change in their lives.”
— Tagak Curley, Order of Canada Recipient, Guest Speaker and Champion of Inspire Nunavut
Since September 2015, Inspire Nunavut has reached more than 250 participants from 21 communities across Nunavut.
The Inspire Nunavut program continues to create a space for young people to feel empowered, develop and bring their innovative ideas to life. In a culturally responsible and locally adapted training program, participants explore their entrepreneurial, career and education goals. Click below to learn more about the curriculum, program structure and features.
Inspire Nunavut Curriculum
The Inspire Nunavut Program focuses on providing participants with the opportunity to develop skills that are key for the future. Innovation, creative thinking and a growth mindset are at the foundation of this program, which explores the concepts of entrepreneurial leadership and community development, and provides participants with the foundational skills needed to achieve their personal and professional goals.
The Inspire program has three distinct levels which helps participants grow and apply their knowledge and ideas as they move through the program – Inspire, Innovate and Initiate. Learn more about them here.
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Build confidence, self-awareness, and resilience to meet challenges in life and in community.
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Cultivate connections to culture and heritage. Develop leadership skills that facilitate being a positive influence in community.
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Engage with community members to investigate challenges, identify existing resources, and recognize opportunities for change.
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Use empathy to understand and identify problems, develop creative solutions, validate ideas, design and test solutions, and make fact-based decisions.
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Using storytelling techniques, develop brand identities to create messages that resonate with others.
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Identify, evaluate, and connect with the key activities, partners and resources needed to sustain projects and businesses.
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Identify channels and use techniques to create strong connections with people, from customers to future employers.
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Develop financial literacy to accurately plan, track, report and sustain personal and project finances.
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Develop professional skills - such as digital literacy, goal setting, and interpersonal communication - that can support the achievement of personal, employment or entrepreneurial goals.
Hear From Our Participants!
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Kourtney Bergen
Gjoa Haven
“I had a really good experience, I learned a lot. I met some awesome people, there are good guest speakers. That they (Inspire Nunavut) are willing to help people and other people to get more knowledge in all this stuff. It was my first time learning online and I did not mind learning online.”
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Geela Kango
Iqaluit
“It was a very positive experience, it was a very uplifting program. I really loved it, I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to pursue an entrepreneurial pursuit or business. Iit was exactly what I needed to hear. Everyone had great questions and outlooks. It was very very unbiased, I loved it!” Read more.
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Mary-Anne Stokes
Iqaluit
“My experience was quite beneficial. It opened new doors for me. I learned a lot from Inspire Nunavut.” Mary-Anne Stokes is from Iqaluit, Nunavut and cares about creating healthy, clean living spaces for people in her community. Her goal is to create a professional residential and commercial cleaning service in Iqaluit that would also help create jobs for other young people who are interested in this field. Read More.
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Robin Avaala
Robin was an eager and keen participant during the Inspire Nunavut program. Robin graduated from the program and is working on a recycling project, delivering recycling bins to schools, hotels and other businesses in the community. Read more.
Meet Our Inspire Experts!
Our Inspire Nunavut Experts are local experts who share their stories of entrepreneurship, acting as inspiration for participants, and helping link our curriculum to the real world.
Inspire Nunavut Team
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Niroja Thirugnanasampanthar
Watch our film!
Participants, community leaders and the Inspire team share their aspirations from the program, their experience the impact it has caused in their lives.
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While the program primarily recruits Indigenous youth from Nunavut, if you are committed to working on your business, professional or education goals, and are aged 18-30 years, we welcome you to apply for the program.
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It’s a simple two-step application process. Learn more about it here.If you are interested to apply for the program, fill out our application form to express your interest. A member of the Inspire Nunavut team will be in touch with for a short interview and to chat with you about the program, and your goals.
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Participants are expected to be passionate about creating impact, learning about their community, and combining personal and cultural values with their business, education or career goals.
The program runs for 12-weeks, three days a week (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday). Participants will be expected to participate in the classes and commit to the program for 12 to 15 hours per week.
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Through the 12 weeks of the program, participants will explore their communities, entrepreneurship, design solutions, identify opportunities and plan actions while learning about branding and marketing, operations, finances, and how to operate a business.
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Definitely, yes. The program is designed as a space to not only explore entrepreneurship, but also professional and educational goals.
Many of our successful participants have joined the program with just a conviction for change, and explored their goals and themselves through the 12 weeks of the program.
FAQs
Our Partners
The Inspire Nunavut program has been operational in Nunavut since 2015, and has been made possible through collaboration between diverse individuals – youth, Elders, artists, educators, entrepreneurs, community leaders – and organizations focused on innovation on locally driven responses to community challenges.
Contact us.
We’re always looking to meet and work with knowledgeable people from across Nunavut to deliver the program or join us as guest speakers, instructors, business mentors and career coaches. Their insight and expertise ensure that we deliver the highest quality content-always from a Nunavut perspective.
If you’d like to get involved, learn more about us, connect with a staff, use the contact form to drop us a message, and we’ll be in touch.