Cynthia Teddy

Cynthia Teddy

WORDS BY DEENA ALLUM

After sitting down and chatting with Cynthia, I learned that she has a very strong connection to her family. She was born in Inuvik, NT, but was raised in Tuktoyaktuk, NT with her family. She is the youngest of ten siblings; she has three brothers and seven sisters. Through her whole life, she looked up to both of her parents and her older sisters.

While growing up in Tuk, Cynthia enjoyed hanging out with her friends. They did fun activities like going sliding, and going out on the land together for school trips. While being on the land for school, they went hunting, fishing and were taught new survival skills, like putting up a tent and cleaning and cutting animals they hunted. In the summers, Cynthia would enjoy going out to summer camps where she got the chance to set nets, go hunting and play games. One year, she got to learn how to make bannock and build a fire. She remembers getting stranded at camp for one week because the weather was too bad to travel in. Cynthia believes that being young means having fun by doing whatever you want without worrying about the consequences that come along with your decisions.