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Conflict over evolution “internal problem:” education ministry

Southerners disagree whether Darwin’s theory must be taught in Nunavik’s schools

JANE GEORGE

Elasuk Pauyungie, a long-time member of Salluit’s education committee, says she prefers that children not be taught about the theory of evolution in school. (PHOTO BY JANE GEORGE)

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This lack of agreement over evolution’s place in the educational program is a troubling “internal problem,” said the minister’s spokesperson, Marie-Claude Lavigne.

Elasuk Pauyungie, a long-time member of Salluit’s education committee, municipal counselor and host with Taqramiut Nipingat Inc. radio, said she would personally prefer children not be taught about evolution in school.

During an interview from Salluit, with TNI’s Joanassie Koperqualuk as interpreter, Pauyungie said the school committee felt justified in its reprimand to Alexandre April for teaching evolution to his Ikusik School classes because “evolution wasn’t part of the curriculum.”

But Minister of Education Jean-Marc Fournier says evolution is part of the curriculum in Quebec — and in Nunavik, as well.

Last week in a Quebec City scrum, Fournier told journalists “it’s important for the school board and the school to deliver the services they are supposed to deliver.”

“It’s important to have the child knowing what is happening — and different versions — so they cannot have just one. That’s the responsibility of our department.”

However, a key education department official in Quebec City told Nunatsiaq News that evolution isn’t part of the required school curriculum in Nunavik.

Jacqueline Dorman, who is responsible for northern Quebec within the education department’s aboriginal section, dismissed the uproar over the teaching of evolution as “a tempest in a teapot.”

Dorman said evolution is a detail in the larger curriculum and just one of many theories.

Dorman said local school boards determine the details of what is taught, while Quebec’s education minister makes sure the overall curriculum is respected in all Quebec schools.

“It’s up to the KSB to handle this,” she said.

In a news release last week, the KSB said the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement confirms the school board’s “right and the responsibility to develop programs and teaching materials in Inuktitut, English and French” as long as these meet the objectives prescribed by Quebec’s education department.

The release said teaching evolution is not an objective of the regular Quebec high school science program, and evolution is only one paragraph in a Secondary 3 (Grade 9) textbook.

“That’s it,” noted the news release. “If a teacher adds to the program, it is not with the sanction of our pedagogical counsellors, or that of the school board.”

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