Farm community welcomes Nunavut students

Creemore welcomed a group of students Wednesday from Nasivvik High School in Nunavut, giving them a taste of rural life.

The visit was part of a cultural exchange with Collingwood Collegiate Institute students that took them to see the greenhouse at Stayner Collegiate Institute, try a butter tart at Giffen’s, sample jersey milk at Miller’s Dairy (pictured), lunch at the United Church, tour the Millsaps’ beef farm and the McLeods’ cash crop operation. 

The day was designed to give the 15 students from Pond Inlet, located in northern Baffin Island, a sense of farming and food production. 

Nasivvik High School teacher Brady Fischer grew up near Chesley and said he has shared stories about rural life with his students so he wanted them to be able to see the animals and the machinery. 

Food is much more expensive in Pond Inlet, where bagged milk sells for almost $13 and they don’t have access to a lot of imported foods due to the high cost of shipping. 

The student group arrived Saturday after a 14-hour trip that required three separate flights, and are touring the area for one week. They are visiting Rama First Nation and meeting with Ojibwa elders, talking reconciliation, visiting Blue Mountain Resort, going to a Barrie Colts hockey game and finally, a day in Toronto to visit the CN Tower and Royal Ontario Museum before heading home. 

Student Mariah Erkloo said downhill skiing has been a highlight. 

She looks forward to welcoming 16 CCI students to Pond Inlet at the end of the month where they will travel by dogsled, build igloos and take in the mountainous landscape and glaciers, and they will spend a lot of time with the community’s Inuit elders learning about traditional Inuit culture.