March
26, 2004
Rebuilding education
Don't look now — but it's "education week" in Nunavut. Education
Minister Ed Picco proclaimed it this week, and at the same time, threw in a
couple of "days:" Teacher Appreciation Day on March 23, and Early
Childhood Educators' Appreciation Day on March 26, which is, um, er, today.
Missed it? Don't worry. Just about everyone else did too. And there's no evidence
that many of your friends and neighbours heard about it either. Given the education
system's many woes, not to mention the low opinion with which most Nunavummiut
regard their school system, that's just as well.
At the same time, Picco announced the creation of a 10-member education advisory
committee, to be drawn from the ranks of front-line educators working at all
levels of the system. Its job is to "provide direction and guidance for
the development of a Nunavut Education System."
Wait a minute. Isn't that what the Department of Education's highly paid staff
are supposed to do? The Department of Education, from the deputy minister on
down, already employs a small army of advisors, policy analysts, coordinators,
officers, specialists, curriculum developers and so-called "education consultants."
The answer, likely, is that the minister wants reliable information and advice
from independent sources who actually know what's going on inside Nunavut's
classrooms, and not from self-serving civil servants. That's a better way of
getting advice than to indulge in expensive, time-wasting public meetings, where
it's often the biggest loud-mouth who sets the agenda.
If that's the case, then the 10-member committee isn't a bad idea, because
Picco has no easy task. Breathing some life into Nunavut's burned-out school
system is going to be a lot tougher than replacing a burned-out school building.
In other parts of the country, young aboriginal people are flocking to colleges
and universities in droves. They're earning advanced degrees, assuming leadership
roles, and above all, gaining power over their own lives. In Nunavik, for example,
many leadership positions and influential jobs are now filled by young Inuit
with university degrees. Some are fluent in three languages.
That's not happening in Nunavut. The people of Nunavut are rapidly falling
behind the rest of the country, and it won't be long before Nunavut's scholastic
decline degenerates into an enormous tragedy.
Over the next four to five years, Picco will be expected to deliver more Inuktitut
curricula and learning materials, reduce the drop-put rate, pass a new Education
Act, and against all odds, raise standards. He'll be under pressure to put more
money into daycare, adult upgrading, vocational training, and to create a trades
training centre somewhere.
Our unsolicited, and possibly unwelcome advice? Keep it simple, and stick to
the basics.
The first task the education department should do, and quickly, is to figure
out what the school system should do, and want it shouldn't do. Unless the Government
of Nunavut does that, any attempt to amend the Education Act, restructure the
system, and pour more money into the system will be pointless.
After that, the department should figure out how to handle education governance.
Right now, Nunavut's grandly entitled "district education authorities"
are little more than Mickey Mouse talk-shops for professional meeting-goers.
If they're going to exist in the future, then the government should supply
some reason for their existence. If they're to be given real authority, then
the government should be prepared to supply these bodies with competent advice
and administrative support. If not, their name should be changed to "school
committees," which is what they really are right now.
At the same time, the government should make a decision about the ridiculous
school tax, which property owners pay without have any control over how it's
spent. If the government decides not to give the school tax to local education
bodies, then they should get rid of it altogether.
Finally, once the government figures out what the school system is for, they
should figure out ways of measuring how well they've done to get there. That
means the application of Nunavut-wide academic standards, and some form of testing
to ensure that the public has tools they can use for holding the government
accountable for its work in education. JB
March 19, 2004
Are you hopeless yet?
On March 23, Nunavut residents will find out if the Paul Martin government's
throne speech last month was really as deceptive and cynical as it sounded.
On that day, Ralph Goodale, the federal minister of finance, will stand up in
the House of Commons to deliver Ottawa's 2004-20005 budget.
Remember this little gem?
"While some progress has been made, the conditions in far too many aboriginal
communities can only be described as shameful. This offends our values."
That quotation is from the Feb. 2 throne speech.
But don't expect much action in the federal budget next week. At a meeting
with three national aboriginal leaders in Ottawa on March 11 Martin pledged
no new money. For their part, the three leaders —
Jose Kusugak of the Inuit Tapiriit, Phil Fontaine of the First Nations, and
Clément Chartier of the Métis - spent their time talking to Martin
about ways of getting themselves invited to cabinet committee meetings and first
ministers' conferences. And they came away with nothing.
So in Nunavut, where conditions are about as "shameful" as they can
get in a G-8 economy like Canada's, hopelessness will continue as the operative
state of mind.
That's especially true in the one policy area where the federal government
is most directly responsible for Nunavut's misery —
housing.
Nearly half of all Nunavut residents —
45.9 per cent —
live in public housing units maintained by the Nunavut Housing Corporation through
its system of local housing associations and authorities.
They're crammed into 3,854 units, many of them badly overcrowded. Numbers gathered
by the Aboriginal Peoples Survey and released last year show that overcrowding
is worse among Inuit than among any other aboriginal people in the country.
The evidence shows that almost all of Nunavut's social housing tenants are
cash-poor, under-employed or unemployed. So are most of the people whose names
languish on social housing waiting lists around Nunavut. The housing corporation
estimates Nunavut needs 3,000 new units just to meet the current short-fall.
For the most part, these tenants are people who don't, and likely never will,
earn enough money to build, buy or rent housing units on the open market. Neither
are many of them likely to get housing-supplied jobs with government or other
large employers any time soon, especially in the have-not communities where
even government jobs are scarce.
All the evidence, not to mention common sense, points to one simple conclusion:
Nunavut will need a large, well-funded social housing program for generations
to come.
Of Nunavut's 3,854 social housing households, only 26 had been assessed "full
rent," according to information that the minister responsible for housing
at the time, Kelvin Ng, tabled in the legislative assembly last October. That
means only 26 likely earn enough money to think about becoming homeowners.
In contrast, 2,041 households were assessed "minimum rent." That
means they're either very low income families, or they're on income support.
Indeed, 1,722 households were on income support, as of last fall.
We hear a lot of talk about homeownership these days. But where are all these
new homeowners going to come from? Certainly not from the ranks of Nunavut's
social housing tenants.
We all know that Ottawa withdrew from the construction of new social housing
in 1993, and that every year since, Nunavut's social housing needs have mushroomed.
The average cost of building a new social housing unit now stands at around
$250,000 a unit. This means that it would take a whopping $750 million —
more than it costs to run the entire Nunavut government in a single year —
just to meet that need. And that's not including future population growth.
However, Nunavut still gets money from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.
to operate and maintain its existing social housing stock. But there's a poison
pill built into even that agreement —
by 2037, Ottawa's O&M contribution will shrunk to zero. The gradual phase-out
starts this fiscal year.
Feeling hopeless yet? When it comes to Nunavut's social housing crisis, you
should be. JB
March
12, 2004
A stronger team for
Nunavut
From the legislative assembly
chamber to the cabinet table, Nunavut now enjoys what looks like a stronger
system of governance, thanks to the MLAs we chose in the Feb. 16 election.
Premier Paul Okalik's portfolio
assignments are dripping with political symbolism, of course, but every single
cabinet member also seems more than capable of doing his or her job.
At the same time, the regular
members caucus, packed with political veterans like Tagak Curley, Keith Peterson,
Hunter Tootoo, Joe Allen Evyagotailak, Peter Kattuk and Levi Barnabas, ought
to produce a strong legislative committee system, and some effective question
periods.
Here's a quick look at
Okalik's new cabinet, and some the challenges they're likely to face:
- Levinia Brown: Deputy
Premier, Health and Social Services
Though few observers stayed
around to hear it, Levinia Brown, a former mayor of Rankin Inlet, made one
of the best speeches last Friday when the legislative assembly's 11 cabinet
candidates each stood up to ask for support from their fellow MLAs. She talked
knowingly about the obvious, common-sense links between health, economic development
and education.
Now she'll take on one
of the biggest and most difficult departments in government. Her challenge
will be to continue the momentum created by Ed Picco's various measures, while
handling the sometimes harsh public criticism that, in time, every health
minister must endure.
- Leona Aglukkaq:
Finance, Government House Leader
Though she's still
a young woman, Aglukkaq owns a wealth of experience in government administration,
having served as deputy minister, assistant deputy minister, deputy clerk
of the legislative assembly, and other jobs within the governments of Nunavut
and the Northwest Territories.
Now she'll take on the
Nunavut government's financial management responsiblities at a time when spending
is growing faster than new revenues. She's got a tough job ahead of her: hold
the line on spending at a time when unionized workers are making expensive
new demands, win the confidence of the business community, and learn to say
no — politely — to a long list of supplicants.
- Olayuk Akesuk: Environment,
Workers' Compensation Board
The young MLA from Baffin
South came into his own last year as the Sustainable Development minister
who steered the all-important Wildlife Act through the assembly before dissolution
last year. Now he'll preside over a separate environment department whose
mandate will no longer conflict with the business and mining functions of
the former Sustainable Development department.
- Peter Kilabuk: Community
and Government Services, Nunavut Housing Corporation
The well-liked and highly
capable MLA from Pangnirtung will continue to deal with the department responsible
for Nunavut's cash-strapped, infrastructure-starved municipalities, some of
which are operating under deficit-reduction plans, and will preside over Nunavut's
desperate social housing shortage. He'll get a big boost if Nunavut is able
to negotiate more infrastructure and housing money from Ottawa.
- Ed Picco: Education,
Nunavut Arctic College
Picco has always displayed
a strong interest in education, but until now he's been required to observe
the department from a distance. There are so many priorities requiring attention
in the education portfolio, his biggest challenge may be figuring out where
to start first - though the public will want to see action soon on Inuktitut
curriculum development, a new education act, academic standards, and school
governance issues.
- David Simailak: Economic
Development and Transportation, Energy
Simailak, a prominent
community leader and businessman from Baker Lake, will likely be involved
in the Northern Development Fund that Premier Paul Okalik announced in the
assembly last Friday during the premiership debate. His toughest challenge
may lie in the energy portfolio. He will be required to preside over the creation
of a new rate system for the Nunavut Power Corporation — whose rates
have remained unchanged since 1998.
- Louis Tapardjuk:
Culture, Languages, Elders and Youth; Human Resources
As expected, the MLA from
Amittuq, who held many leadership positions in Baffin and Nunavut over the
past 30 years, will take over the GN's small culture department, as well as
Human Resources, the department responsible for staffing. Tarpardjuk's presence
in those portfolios will help Okalik's government deflect criticism directed
at the GN's Inuit employment levels.
JB
March 5, 2004
Keep the competition going
In splitting its latest scheduled medical travel contract between Nunavut's
two dominant air carriers, the Government of Nunavut has sent out a strong message
- airline competition is hear to stay.
The deal, signed just before Nunavut's outgoing cabinet was to have been replaced
by a new one today, divides the work between First Air and Canadian North on
a 60-40 basis.
For Nunavut airline customers, this is good news. Canadian North now has a
guaranteed share of north-south medical travel business on the busy Iqaluit-Ottawa
route, strengthening their position in the Baffin region. In turn, Baffin residents
may continue to choose between two viable airlines for north-south airline travel.
Not so long ago, that wasn't the case. In the mid-1990s, First Air's owner,
the Makivik Corp., used its political muscle to help drive Canadian out of the
Iqaluit-Kuujjuaq-Montreal route. First Air ended up with an unregulated monopoly
on jet service between Iqaluit and the South.
But Norterra - owned on a 50-50 basis by the Inuit of Nunavut and the Inuvialuit
of the western Arctic - bought Canadian North in 1998. Norterra's Inuit board
- along with numerous Nunavut organizations and residents - insisted their new
airline return to the Iqaluit market to help reduce the cost of north-south
air fares.
Though their financial records are not in the public domain, it's no secret
that in the years since, Canadian North has often lost money on its Iqaluit-Ottawa
route while carrying out its mandate to provide competition. This week's medical
travel contract, however, will surely help put Canadian North's eastern operations
on a stronger financial footing.
Airline customers shouldn't expect miracles, however. The northern airline
business is a low-profit business with brutally high costs. Northern consumers
will continue to pay those costs through air fare and cargo rates that are many
times higher than in the South.
But the continued prospect of competition means that Nunavut's two dominant
airlines will continue to try to outdo each other through seat sales and charitable
acts of corporate citizenship. And to encourage such competition is the best
possible use of the Nunavut government's purchasing power. JB
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