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According to Barney Tootoo of Rankin Inlet, all too often when people hear the term traditional skills, they think mainly of land skills and completely overlook water skills, which are every bit as important.

Tootoo said the way he sees it, a lot of youth today don't even want to go out on the water. He said he often struggles with convincing members of his own family to go on such expeditions.

鈥淓ven my own grandkids, they don't really want to go out,鈥� said Tootoo. 鈥淭hey seem to think they know everything already, so you can't really tell them anything because they just ask their phone and that tells them what to do.

鈥淭hat can get really frustrating for me because, when our kids were younger, the wife and I used to take them out all over. They were really happy out there when we used to take them out.

鈥淭hey still like to go out today, so I'm pretty sure something caught on with them.鈥�

Tootoo said things like going boating, walrus hunting or whaling hold great value, but it sometimes confounds him how the younger people like to do it in Rankin Inlet.

He said in Churchill, they used to harpoon the whales, grab the drum, pull the whale in and then shoot it.

But now, in Rankin, he adds, they mostly shoot or harpoon the whales first, then go along and wait for them to come up and then try to shoot them again without grabbing the drum.

鈥淚t's a lot harder that way and it takes a lot longer. You harpoon a whale, you grab the drum, you pull it in and then you shoot it instead of going a long way waiting for it to come up.

鈥淭o me, I think that's one of the harder skills to teach, but, out on the land, it's a lot easier with a Ski-Doo or a Honda because you can go right up to the caribou or whatever.

鈥淪o, I see whaling out on the sea as one of the hardest things to teach the kids today because, like I said, some of them don't even want to go out anymore.

鈥淭hat's something I never had to really deal with in years past.鈥�

Tootoo said he often worries because some of today's youth don't seem to truly grasp how quick you can get in trouble out on the land or water.

He said he also doesn't understand why he often sees them trying to make their way back to the community at night when it's pitch black out.

鈥淎ll you can try and do to teach them properly is to get them to go out with you and show them the proper way. But, even then, they have to watch and listen and not think they already know everything.

鈥淭o me, even basic things like if it gets too windy you hunker down, not try to keep on going and make it anyway. That's how a few people lost their lives up here trying to come home.

鈥淚t should always be safety first out on the water or on the land before trying to do something or go somewhere, even if you have to stay out there for a day or two longer.

鈥淚f everyone just followed that rule you wouldn't see us lose people out there so often. It should always be safety first!鈥�