In her third year of a nursing degree program at Nunavut Arctic College, mother of three Kyra Kilabuk was chosen from a pool of 49 candidates to receive the 2023 Danielle Moore Scholarship, worth $2,000.
On track to graduate in spring 2025, Kilabuk is currently preparing for a six-week placement in Halifax, where nursing program partner Dalhousie University is located.
“It’s going to be hard leaving my family for that long,” says Kilabuk, who lives in Iqaluit.
An early graduate of high school, she initially didn’t know what she wanted to do with her life, but she knew she loves working with children. She thought about becoming a teacher and took a few courses. However, she then got pregnant with her first child.
After returning to work, Kilabuk describes having an “Aha!” moment about working in nursing instead.
“All my values, beliefs and passion lined up with nursing. Even three years later, I’m still passionate about what I’m [studying]. It just clicked… sounded right, like who I am,” she said. “The great thing about the program is you try all the areas of nursing. So far, I feel like I might like to work in labour and delivery, or become a breast feeding consultant, or work in the ER.”
Kilabuk is also contemplating taking her education further and becoming a nurse practitioner, which would allow her to prescribe medication. However, she wishes to work in the field for a few years first.
She credits the Moore family and their scholarship for allowing her to explore her options in post-secondary education.
“The scholarship helps. Just living up here is super expensive, and we have a busy household. Getting that scholarship helped me relax and focus on school. It was a really big help to me and my family. It wasn’t just [beneficial] for me, it was for my kids,” says Kilabuk, who is currently raising two teenagers and a five-year-old. “Life in Nunavut isn’t easy sometimes.”
On the subject of the difficulty of living in Nunavut, and her desire to help others by becoming a nurse, Kilabuk says, “With what I hear, there are very few Inuit nurses and doctors, so that’s also why I’m interested [in healthcare]. I’ve seen firsthand, especially with many Elders in the ER department, there’s definitely a lack of people speaking Inuktitut. There’s supposed to be translators available… but it’s definitely been [more] my experience of dealing with a unilingual [medical professional], which makes things harder.”
Kilabuk grew up in an Inuit-speaking household and can hold basic conversations in Inuktitut, but she blames the lack of language programming after Grade 1 for her loss of true fluency in the language.
“I think it’s super important to have more long-term residents here who understand [our] culture and representation, and put work into also understanding the language, and I don’t mean just Inuit,” she says.
She then relates a personal anecdote of hospitalization after a C-section, and being shocked at having an Inuk nurse.
“I didn’t even know it was possible! When you’re at the lowest point in your life, it’s important to have someone who understands your background. I want people to have more moments [like I did]. It would be great to see more Inuit not just [becoming] nurses, but doctors, and personal support workers.”
Pursuing the path
Advocating for Inuit is how Kilabuk envisions her role in a greater sense. Even before nursing school, she was deeply involved in addressing the food security crisis, for which she still maintains a “huge passion.” She collected many rounds of food for the community and delivered them, using her house as a base of operations.
She plans to continue her work in food security as a nurse.
“When you’re in this [position of authority] with people in a vulnerable place, I feel it’s doing our due diligence to advocate with the power we have,” she says. “What I didn’t expect was what I’ve learned in nursing so far, such as the realities of language barriers and addictions… You see firsthand how bad the housing crisis is. It goes back to advocating better for Nunavummiut.”
Having taken several years off after high school, Kilabuk says she didn’t retain fresh knowledge of science and other subject matter as she entered the nursing program, “but if you’re so passionate, even if it’s hard, people can do it… “It’s never too late to go back to school. The representation may not be there, but it can be with you, so start again.”
Kilabuk acknowledges she would not be in her position if it were not for the generosity of the Moore family and their scholarship. “Thank you again for your support,” she says to them. “It did not go unnoticed. It really helped myself and my family, and I think it’s a really good way to honour Danielle. It’s so important to help people on their education journey.”