Ambleside Youth Exchange

IT'S a great story of small town kids, big city fun and home grown values. On Sept. 28th, the Ambleside Youth Centre put on a special ceremony as they welcomed nine Rankin Inlet teens and their supervisors to West Vancouver. Technically, Rankin Inlet is not the North Pole, but it's darn close. It lies about 200 miles northwest of Hudson Bay (in Canada's Nunavut region) and has a population of only about 2,500 people. Earlier this year, eight of our local kids headed north to the inlet to live with the native Inuit families take part in an Arctic survival camp. Now it's Rankin's turn to see it they can survive in Vancouver. Judging from the results, the entire exchange was a great success.


Noah Tiktak made the trip with the kids. He works at the Pulaaruk Kablu Friendship Centre in Nunavut.	Friendship centre worker Guy Nipisar (left) came to Vancouver with exchange coordinator and supervisor Jacintha Howard.	West Vancouver Mayor Ron Wood received a beautiful hand-made vest emblazoned with an "inukshuk" landmark/hunting symbol on the back.	Vancouver's Melanie McCready (left) welcomed her billet Charlene Tasseor.	They're a couple of North Shore boys, namely West Vancouver's David Summers (left) and Bowen Island's Julian Levy.

Bowne Island's Katrina Thomson (left) enjoyed some giggles with her Rankin counterpart Mishael Gordon.	Rankin Inlet's Adam Tanuyak (left) and James Connelly were ready to face the big city.	Bowen Island's Dave Gourlay (left) and Nunavut's Johnny Aupilarjuk are friends despite the distance between here and there.	Make new friends and keep the old is what they say. From left: Leslie Dean and Maya Scott.	BIG Youth outreach worker Peter Chisholm (centre) deserves a lot of credit for organizing this exchange. So does Capilano Kiwanis members Tim Christie (left) and president John Howard for all of their support.

West Vancouver Coun. John Clark (left), youth centre coordinator Ira Applebaum (centre) and social planner Richard Wagner were on hand to see all the activities.	Provincial MLA Ted Nebbling and West Vancouver recreation supervisor Josie Chuback were delighted to meet all the kids.

Because the larger photos take up so much memory, I have not posted them here. If you want a copy of one of these larger photos, please feel free to email me at cbarr@westvancouver.com

Page created by Catherine Barr on 6/9/00