Started in 2001, the Iqaluit Community Greenhouse Society has been growing thanks to a group of dedicated board members and volunteers in the community. 

Beginning in May or June of each year, the site springs to life from frozen earth, and wraps up around September or beginning of October (weather-dependent). 

This growing season, the Greenhouse Society is "working on more education" says board member Jordan Blake. The drop-in youth program is held Sundays, like the session held on July 21, a particularly hot day in Iqaluit. Participants such as Katie Yu, 18, spend time learning to replant seedlings, weed, water, and take care of all kinds of plants, from herbs like the arugula seedlings being replanted in hydroponic chambers to vegetables and flowers.

"It's about trying to get things to grow in the Arctic," says Blake.

Part of the youth education is giving them the knowledge and skills to grow their own food, helping with food sovereignty. Blake says much of the food grown is sent home with youth from food insecure households. In the past, the society also helped supply the food bank and men's shelter.

Yu, who just graduated from Inuksuk High School and has enrolled in the University of Waterloo's chemical engineering program, says, "I personally like being with the plants because it's summertime and for the cause."

Food sustainability is an interest of hers, and "along the lines" of why she has chosen to study chemical engineering.

"I'm thinking of [going into] renewable energy," says Yu, who intends to return to Nunavut after university to help the territory. "There's an opportunity for that up here with the unique challenges."