For elders, caribou meat trumped blowing out candles when it came to celebrations marking Nunavut鈥檚 quarter-century anniversary in Baker Lake this past week.

Karen Yip, the hamlet鈥檚 community wellness co-ordinator, came up with the idea of delivering a package of caribou meat to every household in Baker with at least one elder, 60 years of age or older, living there.

Yip said she thought of the idea while pondering things she could do that would be both helpful and welcome for the elders.

The position calls on Yip to work a lot with elders, due to their importance to the community and the fact they don鈥檛 always get the attention they deserve.

There hasn鈥檛 been a lot of caribou sighted near Baker Lake during the past few months, so a little bit of caribou meat went a long way with many of the elders.

In an effort to exclude as few as possible, the hamlet included anyone set to turn 60 this year and ended up with a grand total of 116 households. For example, two people in a household both 60 and older got one package and one person 60 or older living alone also received one package.

With no hope of finding that many matching boxes in the North, Hamlet of Baker Lake bags, with freezer bags inside, were called into service and packed-up inside the community freezer.

Yip said the plan received positive feedback.

She said some elders have difficulty finding an opportunity to receive caribou meat and haven鈥檛 had any for awhile, so they were quite happy when their package arrived.

鈥淥ne elder in particular was really happy that it was already cut-up in usable-sized pieces,鈥� said Yip. 鈥淯sually, if you鈥檙e getting a caribou or half a caribou, you have to cut it up yourself. So, he was really pleased that it was in usable-sized pieces coming right out of the bag.

鈥淭hat was kind of a bonus for them to find out. Some of the caribou was packaged meat and some of it was chunks cut-up into cooking-sized pieces.

鈥淭his was a special one-time thing we did while celebrating Nunavut鈥檚 25th anniversary. It鈥檚 an expensive and time consuming project, so I don鈥檛 think we鈥檒l be able to do it every year. It was a one-time bonus.鈥�

At the time of the interview, the hamlet had only delivered about 25 per cent of the packages, so not too many responses had been received. Those that were, however, were incredibly positive.

Yip said she鈥檚 always happy working on projects such as this, but, when you receive positive responses, you feel even better about everything.

She said they had people thanking them, people being overjoyed receiving it, and everyone being just very grateful overall.

鈥淓ven when caribou are near, there are some people, for whatever reasons, don鈥檛 get as much as they would like. Some were great hunters in the past, but, circumstances have become quite different for them now, as they鈥檝e reached the age where they can鈥檛 go hunting anymore.

鈥淭here鈥檚 widows and other lone people out there who are not always the first to be remembered. And some, unfortunately, will get forgotten and go without in silence.

鈥淢ost people in their 60s, or older, aren鈥檛 out there actively seeking caribou hundreds of miles away. So, all in all, people were very happy to get a little bit delivered to their homes.

鈥淲e鈥檙e just trying to help out, bring a little joy to people, fill some needs and try to give as many as we can a little piece of happiness.鈥�

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