“$60 million,” said Madeleine Allakariallak, hosting the 2017 Arctic Inspiration Prize (AIP) ceremony. “We’re going to be saying that a lot tonight, I think.” 

A few minutes before, Nathan Obed, President of the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, had made an announcement that sparked a buzz in the crowd: Arnold Witzig and Sima Sharifi (who co-founded the Arctic Inspiration Prize in 2012) were donating a further $60 million – nearly their entire fortune – to the prize. The contribution will ensure the AIP can continue contributing about $3 million every year to programs that operate in Canada’s North. 

“We wanted to inspire, enable and somehow celebrate all these achievements of the people in the North,” Witzig told the Globe and Mail. “Without having grassroots and youth really participate and come forward with their own ideas, you can try as much as you want as a government, it won’t work. Here, we thought the prize could step in and really contribute.”

It was a fitting announcement, since so much of what the AIP represents is about continuity – of traditional ways of life, sustainability, and (perhaps above all else) Aboriginal culture. 

It’s a thread that runs through all of the prize winners, which tackle different questions – one program was for a men’s mental health program, another a hockey camp, and one program that is working to revive traditional kayak-building practices – with the same desire to see their programs and their communities not only survive, but thrive in Canada’s North. 

“All of us sit in this room and imagine a better North, together,” said Obed. “What is really special about the Arctic Inspiration Prize is that people have given to the prize because they believe Northerners are fully capable of finding their own solutions and creating new opportunities.”

“Northerners are seen, more and more, for who we really are – capable people,” said Kevin Kablutsiak, Executive Director of the AIP. 

Canada’s former Governor General David Johnston, who was instrumental in founding the prize, praised the award and the spirit it represents. “What the Arctic Inspiration Prize does is help us realize [Canada] has three coasts – coast to coast to coast,” he said. “We want to advance the culture of innovation, and just doing things better.” 

The prize was awarded as part of the Northern Lights 2018 conference, a biennial showcase of the businesses and cultures of the Canadian North. This year, the event was held in Ottawa, and drew over 1,200 delegates from across the country. 

The top $1-million prize for this year went to the Arctic Indigenous Wellness Program, an urban land-based healing program targeting Indigenous men and women at risk of suicide and/or incarceration on the streets. 

For Be’sha Blondin, who is part of the team behind the project, the award is more about what’s in front of the group than what they’ve already accomplished. “You all know that our hearts and minds can come together, so the Arctic can heal,” she said. “We see in the future, there will be no more pain, no more struggling, if we can work together.” 

The 2017 AIP was the first year to include a Youth category, which awarded prizes to four different programs, including a hockey camp in Rankin, Nunavut, which received $80,000 to train coaches and fund the camp.