Initiating conversations around masculinity, relationships, and community

Funded by Women and Gender Equality, Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada has taken a lead to develop a project that will initiate conversations around masculinity, relationships, community, and violence as it relates to raising healthy and happy children. 

With the support from the Pilimmaksarniq toolkit, developed for the Engaging Men and Boys past project, the idea is to develop a Parenting Life Skills programming in partnership with Inuit subject matter experts and local facilitators,  for young men and boys that focuses on teaching parenting skills and benefits of healthy relationships with relevant cultural programming that celebrates Inuit traditions and pride in one’s community, including Inuit-specific activities.

The project also aims to develop a Parenting Life Skills toolkit that serves to articulate and reinforce the benefits of working with Inuit young men and boys and to provide practical strategies for doing so in ways that address underlying gender norms. The toolkit presents practical information on engaging Inuit young men and boys in promoting gender equality, healthy relationships, and providing care and support in efforts to prevent gender-based violence. The tools and activities it will provide can be adapted and utilized by organizations, in addition to offering guidance on advocacy, needs assessment, and monitoring related efforts to engage Inuit young men and boys.

The toolkit content creation will be based on the input, evaluation, and survey results from facilitators, advisory committee members, participants of the workshops, and subject matter experts from the National Engagement virtual session. To enhance the toolkit content appropriately PIWC will incorporate learnings from the following activities: the key messages highlighted during the National Engagement Sessions by the subject matter experts, workshop facilitators, advisory committee, and Inuit organizations and youth participants of the Inuit Parenting Skills workshop.

On October 5, Pauktuutit held a virtual National Engagement Session for the project. The Engagement session provided a platform to discuss the format and content for the resource, Inuit approaches to understanding skills, knowledge, motivation for a traditional life, and parenting skills. Pauktuutit would like to thank each participant for their contribution, time, and dedication giving to this event.

Next steps

The department is now focused on the drafting of the resource toolkit and the programming development.