Annual Toy Drive supports families

For the past several years, and in partnership with friends at Canada Goose, Canadian North staff have been proud to donate and deliver gifts to children and youth across Inuit Nunangat. In 2019, over seven skids full of donated presents were delivered to families in Pangnirtung, Igloolik, and Kuujjuaq, Nunavut. 

In 2020, the Annual Toy Drive was able to share holiday cheer with families in Grise Fiord and Kugluktuk in Nunavut and Ulukhaktok, in the Northwest Territories. Grise Fiord is Nunavut’s northern-most hamlet on Ellesmere Island. It has a population of about 130 of which nearly 35 per cent are under 20 years old. Kugluktuk is a hamlet located at the mouth of the Coppermine River in the Kitikmeot Region of Nunavut. It has a population of about 1,490 people with approximately 36 per cent under 20 years old. Ulukhaktok is in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region in the northern Northwest Territories on Victoria Island. About 400 people live in the community of which about 40 per cent are under 20 years old. 

As many staff and friends are working from home and weren’t at the office to donate toys and gifts in person, a GoFundMe account was set up for the annual toy drive this year where funds were donated towards the purchase of gifts. $14,000 was raised. 

The Hamlet offices in the three communities provided a list of families who needed gifts along with ages of the children. The Hamlets delivered the wrapped and tagged toys to families before Christmas.