{"id":106018,"date":"2026-06-19T13:28:06","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T17:28:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=106018"},"modified":"2026-06-19T13:28:06","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T17:28:06","slug":"elder-shares-what-national-indigenous-peoples-day-means-to-her","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/19\/elder-shares-what-national-indigenous-peoples-day-means-to-her\/","title":{"rendered":"Elder shares what National Indigenous Peoples Day means to her"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By William Koblensky Varela, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Nunavut News Annie Shappa was born in a camp outside Arctic Bay and says integrating into the community was very difficult. When she lived on the land, it was only with immediate family members. \u201cIt was so hard to move to the community because it was kind of prejudice, discrimination. All of that, we have to face it,\u201d Shappa said. She said Elders like her are important because they can provide a bridge between Inuit and non-Indigenous people, who she referred to as \u201cQablunaat,\u201d a term commonly used for non-Inuit residents. June 21 is National Indigenous Peoples Day, and Shappa said she wants to see investments in Inuit education realized. \u201cI want to see in Nunavut, a university. We need a school&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, Canada Print and Online, and USA Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F06%2F19%2Felder-shares-what-national-indigenous-peoples-day-means-to-her%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By William Koblensky Varela, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Nunavut News Annie Shappa was born in a camp outside Arctic Bay and says integrating into the community was very difficult. When she lived on the land, it was only with immediate family members. \u201cIt was so hard to move to the community because it was kind of prejudice, discrimination. All of that, we have to face it,\u201d Shappa said. She said Elders like her are important because they can provide a bridge between Inuit and non-Indigenous people, who she referred to as \u201cQablunaat,\u201d a term commonly used for non-Inuit residents. June 21 is National Indigenous Peoples Day, and Shappa said she wants to see investments in Inuit education realized. \u201cI want to see in Nunavut, a university. We need a school... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, Canada Print and Online, and USA Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F06%2F19%2Felder-shares-what-national-indigenous-peoples-day-means-to-her%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-106018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-level-8","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Elder shares what National Indigenous Peoples Day means to her - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/19\/elder-shares-what-national-indigenous-peoples-day-means-to-her\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Elder shares what National Indigenous Peoples Day means to her - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By William Koblensky Varela, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Nunavut News Annie Shappa was born in a camp outside Arctic Bay and says integrating into the community was very difficult. When she lived on the land, it was only with immediate family members. \u201cIt was so hard to move to the community because it was kind of prejudice, discrimination. All of that, we have to face it,\u201d Shappa said. She said Elders like her are important because they can provide a bridge between Inuit and non-Indigenous people, who she referred to as \u201cQablunaat,\u201d a term commonly used for non-Inuit residents. June 21 is National Indigenous Peoples Day, and Shappa said she wants to see investments in Inuit education realized. \u201cI want to see in Nunavut, a university. 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