Kugluktuk’s Danielle Adjun was partway through her studies at Okanagan College in British Columbia in May when she received devastating news.

Her father, Colin Adjun Jr., had died at the age of 56.

Known by many in the hamlet as “Nick” Adjun, he had been one of the youngest negotiators of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement.

He was also the son of the famed “Fiddler of the North,” Colin Adjun Sr., and a big supporter of his daughter’s goal to study sustainable building technology.

“He’s always been such a positive influence in my life,” she said.

Losing him was such a heartbreaking experience for the 30-year-old that it brought her nearly to the point of “giving up” on her schooling.

Two weeks after her father’s funeral, however, Adjun finally built up the courage to check her emails, “trying to get back into the swing of things,” she said.

She learned then that she had been chosen as one of 25 recipients of the inaugural TD Scholarship for Indigenous Peoples.

The scholarship gives each recipient $10,000 a year toward their studies for up to four years of their program, an additional $5,000 per year for living expenses, and places students with summer work opportunities with TD that align with their career aspirations.

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