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Around Iqaluit

September 10, 2004

IDEA plans French immersion survey

The IDEA will soon survey parents in Iqaluit about whether they want French immersion available in their children’s schools.

While the department of education considered chopping French instruction from some schools this year, the IDEA is moving in the other direction, lobbying Heritage Canada to finance a questionnaire on whether parents want to expand the French curriculum.

The survey would compliment the group’s efforts to draft a four-year funding proposal to the same federal department to increase second-language school services.

No date has been chosen for the survey, which will be discussed at the IDEA’s meeting on Monday.

The increased interest in French comes after IDEA members claim to have rescued French classes from cutbacks at most of the community’s schools this year.

Katherine Trumper, an IDEA member, said the Government of Nunavut toyed with the idea of cutting French classes from the curriculum in all but one English school in Iqaluit, until she and former IDEA member Kathy Smith lobbied to keep the status quo.

Suzanne Lefebvre, French curriculum coordinator for the department of education, said the government was considering the cutbacks because of budget pressures but confirmed students will have as much French language instruction this year, as they did before.

September 10, 2004

IDEA seeks funding for better English instruction

Iqaluit’s education authority wants the federal government to boost funding to classes for students studying English as a second language in Nunavut.

IDEA members expect to hear from staff on Monday about whether the federal commission of languages will provide the extra funding.

At their last meeting, IDEA member Katherine Trumper said students speaking Inuktitut as their mother tongue often struggle with school because the education department isn’t giving them enough support.

Trumper said that the federal government should treat Nunavut the same as Quebec, recognizing that the majority of Nunavummiut speak English as a second language.

Iqaluit education authority seeks replacement

The Iqaluit district education authority invites residents of the community to apply for a board seat, vacated shortly before the board adjourned for the summer.

Anyone interested in applying for the replacement position should contact the IDEA Office Manager at 979-5314.

The IDEA will meet at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 13, in the Nakasuk school library.

September 3, 2004

Food bank party a success

Live, outdoor music drew a crowd in Iqaluit. (PHOTO BY GREG YOUNGER-LEWIS)

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Chilly weather was no deterrent for Iqalungmiut who gathered in front of Nakasuk School for an outdoor concert and barbecue last Friday, organized by the Niqinik Nuatsivik Nunavut Food Bank.

The cold weather may have shortened some people’s stay but Jen Hayward, a food bank volunteer, says the crowd remained “steady all night,” with people listening to music, examining crafts for sale and perusing garage sale items.

By the end of the evening, when headliners Jamal Shirley and Don Corbett took the stage, there were just one or two dozen hardy people left on the grounds.

The Food Bank raised $2,700 and collected two overflowing truckloads of food that will go to hungry families this winter, and called the event an enormous success.

“The community always surprised me,” Hayward says, referring to donations from the Elk’s Lodge as well as Arctic Express, which loaned the group a truck to move stage blocks all afternoon.

“Next year we’ll try to order up some nicer weather.”

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