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May 19, 2006

NTI opposed to “red-listing” of polar bears

I am writing to respond to the article, “Vulnerable” polar bears make danger list” (Nunatsiaq News, May 5, 2006).

Though Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. does not take exception to your accurate reporting, we do oppose the World Conservation Union’s decision to list polar bears as a vulnerable species on their red list.

It should be noted that the recent designation of polar bears as “vulnerable” was initiated because of a change in the criteria and categories for the group’s threatened species system, not because of a change in the polar bear population. The World Conservation Union’s previous assessment of polar bears as conservation-dependent no longer exists.

As mentioned in your article, only one criterion was used to qualify polar bears as vulnerable — a prediction that the global polar bear population will experience a 30 per cent reduction in approximately 45 years because of a decline in the Arctic ice.

There is no evidence provided in the reassessment to support the conclusion that polar bear populations will experience a population decline. On the contrary, according to a 2005 Government of Nunavut survey, certain Nunavut polar bear populations, such as the Davis Strait population, appear to be extremely abundant.

The statement that “Other threats to the polar bear’s survival include over-harvesting ‘due to increased quotas or no quotas in Canada and Greenland,’” does not recognize that one of the best managed and most regulated polar bear management systems in the world is in place in Nunavut.

The polar bear quota system was introduced in 1967 to address conservation concerns when snowmobiles were introduced, and the harvest increased from an annual average of 450 bears to approximately 700 bears. The initial quota was conservatively established at a value of 350 bears in 1967 and was steadily increased to over 500 bears in the early 1980s. The quota was again reduced to 403 bears in 1986, and increased in 2005 to 518 bears.

Only recently was Nunavut’s quota returned to historical harvest levels after careful scrutiny by scientists, users and wildlife managers. The increase is in accordance with acceptable harvesting levels, and allows harvesters to take bears without the risk of population decline, while still respecting the principles of conservation.

Raymond Ningeocheak
Second Vice-President
Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.

May 19, 2006

In the loving memory of my uncle, Davidee Itulu

My uncle Davidee Itulu passed away on April 15, 2006 after fighting cancer.

I just wanted to share a little somthing about him, as he was my only blood uncle that I knew about from my real mother’s side, Nee Itulu.

When my real mother passed away more than 12 years ago now I got really close to my uncle. He told me some stories about the old days and how they used to hunt with dog teams and how life used to be in those days.

He also told me that one day he will record himself, to tell me other stuff he’s been wanting to tell me, but he passed before he did. I will never wonder what he wanted to record, for, as he had told me so many things that people will never know, I will only tell them to my generation when I get old too. He had lots of nice stories to tell and really sad ones too and I am so proud to be able to keep those, as he said he never told them to just anyone.

He told me that I was his favorite Ujuruapik, which means his niece, and that he really thought the world of me knowing I am also his blood. That made me feel so special and truly loved by my real mother’s only brother who was the only one living in the time after her death.

Now there are no more of my real mothers, sisters or brothers living that I know of, so it has hit me really hard that I don’t have any more real blood uncles or blood aunts, so how am I going to know my generation now that my uncle is gone to heaven?

Last week I dreamed about my uncle and it seemed so real. He was at the Anglican church and he was sitting down on his knees with a white little square thing on his neck and I think it was what the ministers have on their uniform while preaching. He held my hand and said “akuluk” and gave me a big smile telling me not to worry. So that made me realize that he is in heaven and telling me not to worry.

I am just so happy and proud that he was my real uncle and that I have stuff from him in my heart that no one has. Davidee Itulu was a well-known ivory carver and he was also known for his kindness and being very caring to others. My uncle in heaven I miss you very much, but I know in my heart that you are with me and you always will be. I’ll see you one day, and please look over me at all times.

Pauline Alainga
Fort MacMurray, Alta.

May 19, 2006

Abolish the status quo

On May 2, 2006 the Nunavut Electoral Boundaries Commission started its Nunavut wide tour to consider any changes to the electoral boundaries.

I wish to share with Iqalungmiut some of my suggestions.

The three Iqaluit electoral ridings should be combined into one riding to abolish the boundaries that divide the community. A divided community is a disconnected place, when it is essential that the whole community is united to deal with the tasks on hand.

It is frustrating and democratically wrong during elections that we are restricted to considering candidates from only one riding and are not able to vote for the people who we strongly support and who are running in the other two ridings where we have no democratic standing.

We do not have the opportunity to determine the election results in the majority of our community. The whole electorate of Iqaluit should be able to vote for all the three representatives for the Legislative Assembly.

If you are not from a riding, you are literally right off the map. Democracy fails us when we cannot determine who is an elected community leader from the very community that we reside at. If we are not allowed to vote for an elected leader of our community, then I perceive that is a form of dictatorship, for a lack of a better word.

When the imaginary lines, as restrictive as they are, are abolished, the whole community should be further advanced by being able to vote for one elder, one woman and one man as the three MLAs to represent the whole community.

The elders are always spoken about and are usually given token ceremonial roles, such as lighting the qulliq, but they are not accorded the full participation in the power structure. Elders should no longer be used only for PR purposes.

Prior to living in communities, elders had immense power that was taken away from them, ironically, in part due to the democratic process. A society that doesn’t reap the benefits from the wisdom and experience of elders is a “greenhorn” society. It is the elders that waited the longest for and were given the greatest expectations from the creation of a Nunavut Government. We may love to hug and shake the elders’ hands, but real power is not fully shared with them.

The former Nunavut Implementation Commission recommended that the Legislative Assembly be comprised of both male and female MLAs elected to represent each individual riding.

Ironically again, through a democratic process, this was railroaded off the tracks. A good seed was intended to be sowed but the benefits withered, largely due to petty politics. The women outnumber the men, but rarely get elected. Before there were settlements, the women had a powerful role and responsibility in the social structure.

We may have a “Father of Nunavut,” but “a motherless society” is indeed a socially weak group. Women may have passed the women’s liberation movement and equal rights may have been accomplished, but bluntly, it is still largely the men who hold on to the power structure, hence the old boys’ club. Smiles may be directed at you, but lip services comes with no real power.

We currently have three members and with the ever-increasing population, one day, we will have a fourth member. Would this be an opportunity to have a youth representative elected and be the minister responsible for youth?

The youth outnumber any group by far. One day if the youth are fully organized they could have a greater influence in determining their place in the power structure of a public government. You may be given recreational facilities, but you really have not yet become the real power player that your numbers warrant.

Through the legislative process, Iqalungmiut do have the opportunity not just to erase imaginary lines, but give the whole community a true representation coalition to share power. This could indeed be a model for any form of democratic systems and governments. When only a few have power, it is human nature for some of them to hang on as long as possible to that power, in essence not sharing it. Democracy fails when power is only in the head and not in the heart.

We need to do further constructive destruction of the status quo so that Nunavuumiut have a sense of “ownership.” Although, a lot is being accomplished by the people who make the commitment, we still need to involve more people to reach greater levels. If the power structures and the ways and means do not change for the better, then, “aah-same” will be in the heads, when the legislative assembly could be unique and “awesome” in the hearts.

I also hope, one day that all Nunavummiut will be able to vote for the premier of Nunavut, instead of having a secret process, known and done by only a few. I would suggest to the Legislative Assembly that they should also review the process of selecting the premier, when they do the review of the governing body.

Sytukie Joamie
Iqaluit

May 19, 2006

Who is taking care of the land in Nunavut?

Sara Minogue and Nunatsiaq News are to be congratulated for recent articles on Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.’s behind-closed-doors efforts to change longstanding Inuit policy regarding uranium mining, and your coverage of the Beverly and Qamanirjuaq Caribou Management Board’s concerns regarding the future of caribou.

The NTI Lands Department should simply be renamed for what it really is — the NTI Mining Department — because so far NTI, along with the Government of Nunavut and Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, have shown very little interest in ensuring that sufficient land remains useful as caribou habitat.

Some communities have spoken up. But what has been the response so far from their “leaders?”

• The Baker Lake HTO, in January, expressed concern about issuing new mineral permits until they decide what balance they want between protection and development on the calving grounds of the Beverly herd. Rather than getting support from their political leaders, their request was shut down, and they were pressured to change their mind.

• The Gjoa Haven HTO, over a year ago, requested follow up on consultation that the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board proposed regarding the upgrade of the Queen Maud Migratory Bird Sanctuary to a National Wildlife Area, in particular, to protect the calving grounds of the Ahiak herd. No response.

• The Hudson Bay Neighbours Regional Round Table, comprised of the mayors of Baker Lake, Arviat, Whale Cove, Rankin Inlet, Repulse Bay, Coral Harbour, Fox Lake, Gillam, and Churchill, unanimously passed a resolution in May 2005, supporting in principle the September 2004 recommendations of the BQCMB to permanently protect the calving areas of the Beverly and Qamanirjuaq herds, because existing caribou protection measures are not adequate. The mayors then wrote to all relevant ministers and officials. The result? No action, except for issuing hundreds of mineral permits in these very areas.

• The community of Clyde River has waited nearly 20 years for designation of a marine protected area for critical bowhead feeding habitat off north Baffin Island. They are still waiting.

You can get a prospecting permit for virtually anywhere in Nunavut in 10 minutes; but getting action on community requests to protect the land takes decades, if ever. It takes only months to come up with a Mineral Strategy for Nunavut; but there is still no Conservation Area Strategy, and land use planning has been deliberately ground to a halt.

No one could reasonably deny the need for jobs and new economic prospects for Nunavut, including mining. But where’s the balance?

Every other jurisdiction in Canada is also pursuing mining. And every one of them has a conservation area strategy. But not Nunavut. Instead, your leadership seems determined not to establish any new protected areas, and to revisit existing ones with the intent of abolishing them, making them smaller, or opening them up for industrial development.

For example, the Kitikmeot Inuit Association recently wrote: “The KIA will only participate in developing such a strategy [a conservation area strategy] if the current boundaries and conservation status of all existing conservation areas in the Kitikmeot be open for negotiation.”

Is this what the people of Nunavut really want? Is this what you voted for?

The BQCMB has said: “At some point there’s going to be a threshold crossed.” If the caribou upon which people depend are to be conserved, then protection of their habitat needs to be addressed now.

My own organization, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) — one of the largest conservation organizations in the world — has been branded an unwelcome “outsider” whenever we raise such questions. This, despite the fact that we were the first conservation organization to establish an office in Nunavut, and to have Inuit on our board of directors.

We have been invited, cited and even thanked for standing by Inuit on the seal hunt issue — in fact, we have lost thousands of members worldwide because of that stand. It has been the same for trapping and aboriginal whaling, especially for bowheads.

We have worked co-operatively with Nunavummiut in the international arena on climate change and reducing toxic contaminants in northern wildlife.

But whenever we support a community interested in protecting the land (at their request), we suddenly become “outsiders.” Worse, we are accused of being “against mining.”

Well, WWF is certainly not against mining. In fact, we have worked successfully with many companies and other jurisdictions in Canada to ensure a sustainable mining industry. But when we have offered the same to Nunavut the response we get is, “not interested.” Nevertheless, the offer still stands.

Paradoxically, Nunavut’s lack of interest in conservation is jeopardizing the future of its own diamond, gold and uranium industry in international markets. Because those markets now expect higher standards of their suppliers than to promote mining at the expense of everything else.

And why should the federal government devolve authority for managing natural resources to a jurisdiction that has not demonstrated balanced policies for the exercise of such authority?

Frankly, there is only so much an “outside” organization can (and should) do. It is now time to hear from the founders of Nunavut. Is what’s going on there today really consistent with your original vision, as stated in the NLCA?

And it’s time to hear from the people of Nunavut. When you have accountability sessions with the premier, his ministers and your MLA’s. When you hear back from the elected leadership of NTI and Regional Inuit Associations. And when you talk to your federal MP, who is supposed to make sure departments like INAC reflect your wishes.

It is time to ask them all: “Who is taking care of the land in Nunavut?”

Monte Hummel OC
President Emeritus
World Wildlife Fund Canada

May 19, 2006

NTI pro-uranium policy still just a draft

In the May 5, 2006 edition of Nunatsiaq News, you published an article entitled, “NTI endorses uranium mining on Inuit-owned land.”

The first sentence of the story states that, “NTI has reversed its previous ban on uranium mining on Inuit-owned lands.” The story mistakenly communicates the notion that Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. has come to a decision regarding uranium mining, which is not the case. This needs to be clarified.

The NTI board of directors and executive officers have authorized the Lands Policy Advisory Committee to create a comprehensive “Draft Policy Concerning Uranium Mining in Nunavut,” and for LPAC to present its draft policy to the NTI Board of Directors for consideration.

When LPAC has completed its work, NTI and the regional Inuit association boards will make the final decision concerning the policy.

NTI and the RIAs are committed to developing a policy on uranium mining in the coming year. LPAC, which includes the vice-presidents of the RIAs and NTI, will oversee the development of the draft policy.

This process will involve the communities of Baker Lake and Kugluktuk, where advanced exploration for uranium is taking place and where there are known deposits of uranium that may be developed in the future. Inuit own the mineral rights to some of these deposits. The process will also include Inuit organizations, government, Nunavut’s Institutions of Public Government, industry and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.

NTI and the RIAs have worked together to monitor and research this issue for a long time, and we have gathered a great deal of information. This included taking a first-hand look at uranium mines in northern Saskatchewan in 1999 and again in Sept. 2005 with about 30 NTI and RIA employees and board members.

We met with industry representatives, mine employees, contractors and Dene leaders to learn how modern uranium mining is done and what processes are in place to protect workers, nearby communities, wildlife and the environment. Later that month, territorial and federal government representatives, IPG representatives, elders, council members and community representatives from Baker Lake also toured the mines.

On March 4, 2006, LPAC members approved, for consultation purposes only, a draft consultation document and draft uranium policy. On March 5, 2006, the documents were circulated to Baker Lake and Kugluktuk community organizations, Nunavut Impact Review Board, Nunavut Water Board, Nunavut Planning Commission, Nunavut Wildlife Management Board, Government of Nunavut, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, Inuit Circumpolar Conference, Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission and several exploration and mining companies for review and comment.

The draft documents were also made available at this year’s Nunavut Mining Symposium in Cambridge Bay. LPAC members are still receiving comments on these first draft documents.

Once LPAC has received, and reviewed all comments from these organizations and finalized a consultation document and draft uranium policy, LPAC plans to present the documents to stakeholders in Baker Lake and Kugluktuk. When consultations have concluded, final drafts will be presented to the NTI and RIA boards for their review and consideration.

Please be advised that the NTI and RIA boards have not made a final decision concerning uranium mining in Nunavut. LPAC is currently conducting consultations with organizations, which will be followed by community consultations in Baker Lake and Kugluktuk.

James Eetoolook
First Vice President and Vice-President of Finance
Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.

May 19, 2006

Effects of mineral exploration not monitored

Thanks to Nunatsiaq News for investigating the development of a pro-uranium mining policy for Nunavut (“NTI endorses uranium mining on Inuit-owned land,” May 5, 2006), the lack of consultation on this issue with Nunavummiut and others that could be affected by opening up Nunavut to uranium mining (“Caribou left out of uranium talks,” May 5, 2006), and the need to protect barren-ground caribou herds from the impacts of increasing levels of mineral exploration — including exploration for uranium — across their ranges (“Caribou at risk with all mining activity, biologist warns,” May 5, 2006).

I would like to elaborate on one comment in that last article, in which I said that exploration is a special area of concern because it “isn’t regulated that much, if at all.”

My comment relates to three key areas regarding the potential impacts of exploration on caribou:

• Prospecting permits are issued in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut with no public consultation or environmental assessment, providing mining exploration and potential development with precedence above any other use of the land.

• The Caribou Protection Measures, which were developed in the late 1970s to protect Beverly and Qamanirjuaq caribou, have not been updated to reflect current range use patterns or evaluated to determine if they are providing any real protection for the caribou herds.

• The cumulative effects of increasing human activities, including mineral exploration, are not being monitored or regulated across the caribou ranges.

I recognize that there is some regulation of individual exploration projects, including the terms and conditions placed on land use permits for exploration.

However, regulation and management of human activities — including mineral exploration — must be improved across the caribou ranges to provide necessary protection for barren-ground caribou herds and their habitats.

This is critical to ensure that caribou will continue to be available to feed the families of Inuit, Dene, Métis, Cree, and non-aboriginal people who live in 20 communities on or near the Beverly and Qamanirjuaq caribou ranges.

Leslie Wakelyn, Biologist
Beverly and Qamanirjuaq Caribou Management Board

May 19, 2006

Kill ‘em all now before nature gets ‘em

I can’t help but wonder why the federal government is thinking about decreasing quotas on certain animals.

Aren’t they the exact same people who don’t want the Kyoto Protocol passed?

Personally, I think Inuit should harvest as many animals as they want before global warming kills them all. We eat these animals. The generation after the youngest generation we have will probably never taste what polar bear meat tastes like due to global warming.

Pilitsi Kingwatsiaq
Cape Dorset

May 12, 2006

DIAND boss thankful for northern tour

Recently, I was able to travel north for the first time as the minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and it reminded me how near and dear the North is to my heart. As you may or may not know, I travelled in the North before I was a minister and I plan to continue to travel regularly now that I have assumed this important role.

I want to thank everyone I met for their warm hospitality and frank dialogue.

I value the time I spent with the three territorial leaders, aboriginal leaders, mayors, ministers, and a number of other northerners. I participated in meetings, discussions, and events including Toonik Tyme in Iqaluit, the Circle of Northern Leaders in Norman Wells, and a roundtable meeting with the Council of Yukon First Nations and Yukon First Nations Chiefs in Whitehorse.

While I was on the trip I was able to announce some important initiatives including $6.36 million in funding for a number of economic development projects in Nunavut and $3 million in funding towards a national marketing campaign to promote the North, linked to the 2007 Canada Winter Games in Yukon.

Our government is committed to the North and it is a very important part of my portfolio. A number of key items are on the agenda including:

• reinforcing and asserting Canadian sovereignty;
• moving forward with the Mackenzie Gas Project;
• devolving land and resource management responsibilities and negotiating towards resource revenue sharing arrangements;
• improving the regulatory regime;
• balancing environmental protection with economic prosperity; and,
• working with northern governments, aboriginal organizations and others to ensure that quality health care, housing, education and economic opportunities are available to northerners.
• By working in partnership, we can make great progress on these priority items and continue to keep the North, and northern development, at the forefront of the national agenda.

This trip was the first of what I hope will be many trips north as minister and I look forward to meeting more of you when I travel to the territories again later on this year. Thank you again for your exceptional hospitality.

Jim Prentice
Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians
Ottawa

Clean nuclear energy idea all propaganda?

The article “Uranium deposit found near Nunavik park” (Apr. 28) contained the sentence, “Nuclear energy is seen as a cleaner alternative to diesel or coal produced energy — and nuclear energy needs uranium.”

It would have been more accurate to state that “The nuclear industry maintains that nuclear energy is ‘clean and green,’ the solution to global warming, inexpensive, and safe — but critics maintain that the facts belie the current barrage of nuclear industry propaganda.”

Every step of the nuclear fuel chain, from uranium mining to the decommissioning of reactors, produces radioactive pollutants. Billions of taxpayers’ dollars have yet to find a safe way to dispose of the highly radioactive nuclear waste that nuclear power plants produce. Just last week, the California Energy Commission recommended that the state continue the moratorium on construction of nuclear plants that was put in place in 1976. The commission disagreed with President Bush, and concluded that the U.S. still has no adequate facility in which to store the waste from nuclear power plants. Neither does Canada.

Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, now chair of the environmental think-tank Global Green International, recently urged the leaders of the industrialized world to invest massively in renewable energy sources rather than nuclear or oil. Nuclear power “doesn’t add up economically, environmentally or socially,” Gorbachev said. “Nuclear power is neither the answer to modern energy problems nor a panacea for climate change challenges.”

The Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, recently stated that he “would have been prepared to back a nuclear gamble if it could have been demonstrated that it was the best or only solution to tackling global warming. The truth is that, if you ask the question properly, nuclear power is definitively not the answer.”

Australian Dr. Helen Caldicott, the founder of Physicians for Social Responsibility, sums up the case against expanding the nuclear industry in her new book Nuclear Power Is Not the Answer: To Global Warming Or Anything Else. Anyone inclined to believe the propaganda of the nuclear industry should read it.

Jack Hicks
Iqaluit

May 5, 2006

Commissioner mourns the loss of Jobie Nutarak

To the People of Nunavut;

We are saddened and mourn the loss of our friend Jobie Nutarak, MLA, Speaker of the House from Pond Inlet, who died suddenly on Saturday, April 22, 2006.

Our prayers and love go to his widow Joanna, sons and daughters Dennis, Harvey, Angela, Melanie and Mark, grandchildren Bradley and Caroline.

In the short time I’ve known Jobie, he welcomed me, showed genuine friendship and respect. When I needed advice on Inuktitut terms or proper ways to say things, he was always willing to share his extensive knowledge. I will surely miss him. I am fortunate to have lived the same time as he did in this world.

We are thinking of his family members, relatives, friends and all the community members of Pond Inlet. We face a huge loss and we are very sorry.

Ann Meekitjuk Hanson
Commissioner of Nunavut
and Mr. Robert Hanson

May 5, 2006

Bands wanted for Aqpik Jam!

The Aqpik Jam committee is once again searching for bands for the next Aqpik Jam music festival in Kuujjuaq scheduled for Aug. 15 to Aug. 18.

If you have a band, new or old, we would like to hear from you.

All you need to do is send a demo of your music to:

Aqpik Jam Committee
Municipality of Kuujjuaq
Box 210
Kuujjuaq, QC J0M 1C0

A selection process will be done by Friday, July 14, so send in your demos. Earlier is better, since we will have limited invitations, so make sure you send in your demos soon.

Sammy Koneak
Aqpik Jam Committee
Kuujjuaq

May 5, 2006

Idling city trucks fouling the air, wasting fuel

I would like to extend congratulations to Sheila Watt-Cloutier on her Global Green award, especially in the face of the unwarranted, naive criticism of the Sea Shepherd Society.

Their web site urged a mass boycott of the awards because of her views on the seal hunt. Kudos to Sheila for presenting a good face, and representing the peoples of the Arctic with dignity on an international scale.

Today, after finishing lunch, I stepped onto my back porch after having noticed a loud hum outside all lunch hour.

Sure enough, I saw the City of Iqaluit’s blue and yellow dump truck idling for the whole duration of the lunch hour. It was only -2 C outside, if it was that low. The cold could not have been the reason for this. I looked up Hamburger Hill and saw the city’s white tanker idling outside a house, as usual, for lunch.

I have to ask, with an international champion of environmentalism living in our town and the number of complaints people make about “southern pollution” affecting our climate, wildlife, and water, is it really necessary to be so negligent and ignorant?

We shouldn’t be complaining about the South so much when we cannot keep our own backyard clean. The City of Iqaluit, with all its wondrous bylaws and big ideas should be enforcing more rules with the operators of these vehicles. All other vehicles, business or civilian, should follow suit.

Idling vehicles, especially large trucks, is one of the largest contributors to toxic emissions. Also, as taxpayers, we should be asking the city what gives them the right to allow our precious taxpayer dollars to fuel the waste of idling trucks for one hour every day, not to mention coffee breaks and many other frequent stoppages of work.

I can understand some idling when it is 40 below, but it was like a spring day today.

Come on now and get it together. Let’s see a good example for our peers and children by protecting our environment by starting at home.

Aaron Watson
Iqaluit

May 5, 2006

Berger report lifted the veil on education

Your April 14, 2006 editorial on the Berger report on education needs in Nunavut made the argument that there was nothing new in the report.

As parents, we say the Berger report had a message that cannot be overstated or repeated enough and that is — you cannot expect to get different results in our schools if you don’t do things differently, and doing things differently will require new approaches and targeted investments in key areas… and, implementation is everything. New approaches without adequate support will result in more failure.

To gain a better understanding of what is happening to our children in our schools, the Iqaluit District Education Authority commissioned two research reports this year. The first report examined “the Education Gap” — the gap between how our children perform in school relative to the rest of Canada. We were saddened to learn the facts about what our eyes are telling us: that there are an unacceptably high number of students leaving our schools long before graduation.

Our second report looked at those students who were struggling in school. As parents, we assume that our schools are able to provide supports for those students who for whatever reason are struggling in school. But again we were saddened to learn just how few remedial programs are provided through the school funding formula. We learned in our research that the risk factors associated with children leaving school early are often present at the kindergarten to Grade 5 level, yet these grades have no more remedial resources available to them than the older grades.

We have also seen what we know as parents to be true: that children learn a second language better when their first language is strong. Thomas Berger made a strong and eloquent argument for the importance of developing a bilingual education system in Nunavut. It was as though he lifted the veil on a subject that has not had nearly enough political and financial support in our schools through successions of governments.

Yes, the transformation of our schools into places of success and achievement for our children will require funding over and above what is currently provided to operate the schools we inherited from the NWT. We don’t think it should involve “begging bowls” as the editorial suggests, but rather it should be presented as the single most important investment in Nunavut’s success.

We believe that our federal government will see the value in attaching their support to a positive schooling experience for Canada’s North.

We hope that our political leaders in Ottawa do not spend years putting forth jurisdictional or constitutional arguments and counter-arguments as to why investments cannot be made while our children walk the streets instead of the hallways of our schools.

Thank you Thomas Berger, for helping us with the way forward.

Christa Kunuk
Chair
Iqaluit District Education Authority

Note: In December 2005 the IDEA released a research report on Nunavut’s Education Gap. In April 2006 the IDEA released “A Status Report on Students at Risk”.

A copy of these reports can be obtained at the IDEA office or on the IDEA website at www.iqaluitdea.net.

May 5, 2006

StatsCan recuiting over 100 Nunavummiut

In response to a latter published in the Feb. 17 issue of Nunatsiaq News on Statistics Canada use of interpreters in Nunavut, I would like to clarify the procedures currently in place to ensure that all selected survey respondents in Nunavut are included in Statistics Canada surveys.

The agency is well aware of the large number of unilingual Inuktitut speakers in Nunavut, and recognizes that the use of an interpreter or a local interviewer might be necessary to conduct interviews where Inuktitut is the only language spoken in the household. When an interpreter is hired by Statistics Canada, this person is required to take the oath of secrecy under the Statistics Act before performing this role, as confidentiality is a cornerstone of Statistics Canada’s activities.

Statistics Canada has only recently extended some of its ongoing surveys to Nunavut and the other territories. As a result, its practices will be evolving to better reflect the situation of the North, as witnessed by the Aboriginal Children Survey to be conducted in the fall of 2006, where adaptations were made to specifically meet the needs of the aboriginal population.

Statistics Canada is working closely with the government of Nunavut on the upcoming 2006 Census and will be recruiting well over 100 residents of Nunavut to carry out the Census. In addition, to facilitate the enumeration process, the Census questions will be translated into Inuktitut and several other aboriginal languages.

Statistics Canada is committed to ensuring that all Nunavut respondents are included in its surveys.

Rosemary Bender
Director General
Demography and Social Statistics Branch
Statistics Canada

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