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September 29, 2006

Local derelict was just a freedom-loving rebel

I was disappointed to read the article in your September 22 publication which announced - so unceremoniously - the death of Opeetee Atagooyuk. I for one (and many others I suspect) felt his passing a tragic occasion and a real loss to this town. You also note Opeetee’s “addiction to intoxicants such as hair spray and Lysol.” I am not an expert in these things, and I can’t claim to know what Opeetee was or was not addicted to.

Generally speaking, people who are drinking hair spray and Lysol aren’t doing so because of any particular affinity for either product, but because there is no better alcohol available. Yes, Opeetee drank, and drank hair spray and Lysol when bootleg booze was too expensive, with devastating consequences. Opeetee, however, should be remembered for much more than this.

One of the first times I had any real dealings with Opeetee occurred in the courtroom. Opeetee was up on some charge or another. At the time, Opeetee had a crude Mohawk (crude because his hair appeared to have been shaved down to the scalp by something blunt) and caked orange face paint. And I remember thinking, naively it turns out, that I will get this guy off on account that surely everyone can see he is nuts.

But when, a few minutes into our first interview, I asked him about the rather scary looking war paint and Mohawk, I ran into an answer that, like so many dealings throughout the rest of our relationship, made me ashamed to have prejudged and discounted Opeetee. In the least crazy way possible, he shrugged and then replied “it’s just my style.”

“Style?” I asked.

“Yeah you know, style... your style” he said, gesturing toward me, “my style.”

All this delivered in an almost exasperated way that suggested that he could read right through my question, that he knew that I expected some wild answer to confirm the craziness. And all I got was what I deserved, a simple and honest explanation that chastened me and my preconceptions.

Opeetee and I worked together to get him out jail on a few occasions. The trouble he got into was usually fairly minor (one of his biggest problems was that he often had no safe place to go.) Nobody likes jail, of course. But prison is more unbearable for some than others. Opeetee was such an individual: freedom was the only structure in which he seemed to manage. And so helping Opeetee get out was always especially thrilling.

Of course Opeetee was eccentric and his behavior sometimes erratic. Opeetee was known all over town for this. He was known in the Northern store parking lot for socializing and demonstrating and sometimes protesting. He also was known in the courts for troublemaking, he was known at the hospital. He was banned from half the businesses in town.

Opeetee was also known for his generosity, for his humour (of which he had plenty), and for many people in town (ask around, they’re not hard to find), for his friendship. Just two weeks ago, Opeetee brought me a gift, some whale bones from the beluga he caught earlier this summer. Yes, Opeetee caught a beluga in a whale net he tended at the causeway; I don’t know of anyone else who can make this claim.

His presence on city council, should he have been elected, would have given voice to a growing group of our neighbours who live without that which we take for granted.

I am sad for the loss of Opeetee, sad also for his life, and sad for our loss. I am happy to have known Opeetee Atagooyuk, grateful for the unspoken message he spoke: don’t judge me so fast, don’t write me off, I am here and I matter.

Christopher Debicki
Iqaluit

September 29, 2006

Distressed by dismissal of respected police chief

As the mother of a KRPF captain in Nunavik, I was distressed to read in your newspaper of the police chief’s dismissal by the KRG Council.

Are these “suits” completely moronic in firing a chief who has accomplished more in the stopping and stemming of drugs in the region than anyone else has achieved?

I hate to think that the KRG acts of blindness to what happens to people caught in the ‘trap of drug use’is actually endangering my son’s life and all of his co-workers at KRPF.

Shame on the KRG council for the way in which they repay those who do truly make a difference.

Dorothy Hubert
Victoria BC

September 29, 2006

Gratitude to First Air

Although it has been fashionable lately to decry the performance of First Air’s northern operations, I wish to take this opportunity to publicly thank that company for their assistance.

Twice in the last two months they have implemented their compassionate travel policy to assist members of my immediate family to attend funerals. This has resulted in a saving of several thousand dollars.

Without this saving it would have been impossible for these family members to travel to be with the people they loved at a very trying time. Once again, First Air, thank you.

I also wish to mention that the First Air staff at the Nanisivik Airport have been extremely helpful and considerate in spite of the conditions under which they must work. I also wish to extend my thanks and appreciation to them.

Frank May
Arctic Bay

September 29, 2006

Does First Air serve tourists? Or emergency patients?

I’m questioning what priorities First Air has in who they serve first. I just experienced something with the airline recently that makes me question them even more.

My daughter had a medical emergency where she had to have an emergency surgery for the next morning. This surgery can be done only in the South because these services are not available in the North.

Through the hospital in Kuujjuaq, the flight arrangements were made for her and for an escort, since the patient, under 18 years old, had to leave that same day.

But to our surprise, even though we were being sent as an emergency case, we were told we could not get in the plane headed for Montreal because there were no seats available, even with the doctor sending a note to the airlines for at least the patient to get on the plane.

But we were refused. Their priorities were the American hunters and the travellers from the cruise ship who were leaving on that same flight.

My question is, who is First Air serving? Is it just for their own profit from outsiders? Or the Inuit peole who Makivik says are the airline owners?

I would think that any emergency case would have priority in getting on the plane, even if you have to bump some people off, no matter who they are.

We were very lucky my daughter made it okay, even with all the trouble we had, to get her to some medical care.

Maybe next time, someone else won’t be as lucky.

Elena K. Labranche
Kuujjuaq

September 29, 2006

CanWest reporter distorted Qajartalik petroglyph story

Every single event in life should be the occasion to learn something new. I certainly learned an important lesson over the last few days after the publication of Randy Boswell’s article on Aug. 26, 2006 in several newspapers from the CanWest family.

The next time I am interviewed by journalists, I will make certain of their intentions before accepting.

This article concerned the recent damage at the Qajartalik petroglyphs, near Kangirsujuaq, Nunavik. The same news appeared a few days later in Nunatsiaq News in the Sept. 1 edition, and in an interview given last week by my colleague, Louis Gagnon, on CBC North.

Both described the current situation with the alleged damage at Qajartalik. I do not wish to expand on this issue until we are able to get to the site and assess directly the damage. Presently, I wish to rectify what has been presented in Randy Boswell’s article as an attack on a specific group of people accusing them for the alleged damage.

Part of this was also mentioned in Nunatsiaq News as rumours, but rumours prove nothing, and should remain unpublished until proof is brought forth. I feel it is my responsibility to rectify the present situation since it was my bringing the news of potential new damage at the site to public attention that caused all these accusations to come forth without justification.

My sole concern from the beginning was, is and will always be the fate of a unique archaeological site that remains until this day unrecognized and unprotected.

I was contacted by Randy Boswell concerning the petroglyphs site after he read an article by Jane George in Nunatsiaq News. One of my duties as chief archaeologist for Avataq Cultural Institute is to ensure that archaeological sites in Nunavik are respected and protected, and to take the necessary measures to identify persons who may have been misguided into damaging an archaeological site.

When Mr. Boswell asked me about the status of the petroglyphs, I responded that the official recognition was still pending, but that it became more and more urgent that this issue be solved once and for all, since I just had been informed that new damage appeared at the site.

However, we had no clue as to the extent of the damage and who were responsible for it, and we still don’t know. I then told him of the history surrounding the discoveries of the site in the 1960s, and the description the Catholic missionary of the time gave of the petroglyphs as reminiscent of “devil” faces.

Other events in the mid-1990s were also documented and published. One of these events, was a message in syllabics and defacing of some of the petroglyphs alerting to the “evilness!” of the place. I also mentioned that some individuals were reluctant to set foot on the island because they were told that the place was “evil.”

There was also more mundane damage, such as some graffiti left by teenagers who actually signed their initials on one of the soapstone panels. Soapstone quality testing (where one individual will take away small pieces to verify the quality of the rock) was until recently the most frequent and recurring damage to the site.

It is unfortunate that Mr. Boswell has taken upon himself to make the news instead of reporting it. The emphasis on the “religious” aspect of our conversation was but one single element of it, and it was mentioned only to put the site and its turbulent history into perspective. I would have much preferred that he emphasized the role of the federal government (or lack of it) in this case.

We have been working to have this site officially recognized for nearly 10 years now, and in all these years the federal government has not given any indication that they would follow up on their own original request dating back to 1994, when Avataq was mandated by Parks Canada to identify a Nunavik Inuit Commemoration Site.

The final recommendation, which included the Qajartalik site, was sent to Parks in the winter of 1997, where it was shelved until today. It was well known even then that the nature of the site and its fragility were impacting negatively on its long-term preservation.

The official reason for withholding the decision was that they did not know who the site would eventually belong to once the off-shore island negotiations were completed, as if these off-shore islands would not be Canadian territory after the negotiations were settled.

These negotiations are now completed and need only to be approved by the Nunavik Inuit in a referendum that will be held this coming November. Finally the “official” issue that was blocking the site’s official recognition was at an end.

Imagine our reactions, when we learned that the site might be damaged further. For me this is a much more relevant news to discuss than the angle Mr. Boswell decided to write about.

I do find regrettable that this has come out in this way. My intent has never been to blame innocent people, and I do apologize to the entire Nunavik population for this, and especially to the Kangirsujuammiut.

I hope that this note will correct some of the injustice that might have come out of the initial publication of the news, and that these recent discussions on the uncertain future of this site will help in having it officially recognized and protected.

Daniel Gendron
Archaeologist
Avataq Cultural Institute

September 29, 2006

Former Iqaluit resident dies in Nepal crash

Last weekend a helicopter accident in the eastern Himalayan mountains claimed the life of Jennifer Headley, a former resident of Iqaluit whose memory is treasured by her many friends here. She was 34.

Jenn moved to Iqaluit with Adam Barbolet in 1997, hoping to contribute to the creation of Nunavut. Adam came for a job with DIAND, and Jenn soon found employment as a policy analyst in the precursor to the GN’s Department of Sustainable Development. Jenn was full of energy, enthusiasm and commitment; a person who lived life to the fullest. She was passionate about Nunavut, her work, and her friends.

And what a wonderful friend she was – warm, funny, hospitable, flashing that happy grin of hers, and enthusiastic about engaging in the community.

In 2001, Jenn and Adam left Iqaluit to take on new challenges overseas. Jenn worked for the World Wildlife Fund for two years as a volunteer in Nepal, then joined the staff of the WWF’s United Kingdom-based office in 2003.

Just under a year ago she returned to Nepal as co-ordinator of the WWF’s community-based conservation projects in the eastern Himalayas. Not only was this a “dream job” for her, but her emails back to friends in Nunavut also made it clear how much she respected the Nepalese people and how much she loved living there.

The crash occurred as dignitaries were returning from a ceremony at which the Nepalese government turned over to the 5,000 local inhabitants management of the Kangchenjunga Conservation Area – a region of narrow valleys, deep gorges and towering peaks known for its rich biodiversity, spectacular scenery and rich cultural heritage. As Jenn’s family has said in a statement, “She was dedicated to working with local communities and community groups to enhance the sustainable management of natural resources.”

The Kangchenjunga devolution agreement was a huge accomplishment, something of a dream come true for her and everyone else who had worked to make it happen.

Jenn was such a vital spirit, so completely and irrepressibly alive, that it’s almost impossible to believe that she’s gone. Our thoughts and prayers are with her parents Norman and Kathy, her sisters Enid and Diedre and the entire family, with Adam, with Anil, and with all who had the joy of knowing her.

Rest in peace, Jenn. You brightened our lives, and helped make the world a better place. We’ll miss you terribly.

Friends of Jennifer Headley
Iqaluit

September 22, 2006

DEA coalition explains their demands

Thank you for writing about the important issue of “who should govern our schools” in your editorial of September 1, 2006. As elected representatives of parents, we don’t agree with all your opinions, but we do support an open discussion of this important issue.

We don’t recall that the Nunatsiaq News was in attendance at our recent meeting in Iqaluit, so we understand why you are asking the question “why are DEAs asking for more power and responsibility now?”

That question was answered clearly in our recent meeting:

1. The Record: Parents are deeply concerned that we graduate on average, 25 per cent of the students who enter school. Our communities are filled with young people who cannot join the economy or fully participate in Canadian society because their education levels are so low. Of greater concern is that the numbers are suggesting that the rate of graduation is actually declining. With this record, structural changes need to be made.

2. Governance: Many parent representatives voiced the observation that our schools were better governed 10 years ago than they are today. Ten years ago, the schools were governed by elected boards who were there because of one issue: education. Our MLAs in the Legislature have far too many important issues to be on top of - education concerns are lost in a sea of debates on bad gas, quotas, and devolution. If you need evidence of this, look at the scanty debate on the education budget when it was introduced earlier this year.

3. Local Control equals Local Responsibility: Parents are saying that with Department of Education regional offices located in distant communities, no one on the ground, in communities, are overseeing schools. Problems in the schools, or successes in our schools should be a community responsibly, not the job of a distant bureaucrat who tries to sort things out through e-mail or phone.

4. Local Control will Strengthen Bilingualism: We have looked at the experiences of two other language communities who were faced with a similar situation to our own - the loss of their mother tongue and culture under a dominant English environment. Thirty years ago the francophone minority communities in Canada faced similar challenges to us in their schools and through a model of local control of schools, resources and an investment in developing French teachers, their school system across Canada is strong as is their language and culture.

The second model is that Northern Ontario First Nations schools. There are nearly 40 and all are small (400 to 1,000 people), remote (fly-in only), and English is not the first language. Oji-cree is still a viable language. All the schools were operated by the federal government out of the Toronto Regional Office until the mid- 1980s, when, over a two year period, authority for education was devolved to the band councils. This authority included hiring and firing of teachers.

In the northern Ontario schools, issues like curriculum development and professional development for teachers are handled by the individual bands forming alliances. For example, five smaller communities formed themselves into one tribal council, which provides support to the communities in curriculum development, professional development and recruiting teachers.

The important point is that 18 years later these schools are thriving. Most offer bilingual education programs, have developed culturally relevant curriculum, and they have complete local control.

5. Nunavut precedent: In Nunavut, in accordance with the constitution of Canada, francophone parents are working with the GN to devolve full and effective local control. Nunavummiut parents are asking how the government can support francophone parents running their schools but oppose other Nunavummiut parents from doing so?

6. Cost-effectiveness: We have heard the concerns about creating “25 separate boards and bureaucracies” but this doesn’t have to be the model. Like the northern Ontario model, smaller communities in Nunavut, or communities close in distance, could band together under one administrative region. Moreover, rather than the education department sending bureaucrats in from distant regional centres, problems can be solved by the community, within the community.

As DEA representatives, we know that a truly bilingual (or trilingual) education system with effective local control will require tremendous commitment and leadership. In order to provide the required human and financial resources, some very difficult decisions must be made to redeploy limited GN resources and a concerted strategy to ensure that the federal government will fulfill its land claim implementation obligations. As Nunavummiut, can we afford to hide from this reality?

As parents of students in our education system, we think it’s okay to dare to dream and believe that things can be better than what we see today in our schools. That’s how Nunavut came about, and we believe that if nothing dramatic changes in the governance of our schools, nothing will change.

Jeeteeta Merkosak
Chair / Nunavut Coalition of DEAs
Christa Kunuk
IDEA

September 22, 2006

Take DEA demands seriously

Contrary to the editorial headlined “School Daze” in the Sept. 1 edition of Nunatsiaq News, the territorial district education authorities were quite clear in the type of local control they demand in order to reach the goals they want.

The DEAs produced a list of detailed demands for local control during a meeting they held last month. This list was provided to the Government of Nunavut.

It included such things as staff management issues, budget development with final approval, setting annual goals for schools, choosing approved curriculum, and setting school hours and school years. The DEAs also included in their list of demands the formation of a District Education Authority governing body that would support the development, training and advocacy role of the DEAs.

Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. supports the territorial DEAs’ demand for increased local authority in the Education Act that is currently being developed. NTI believes this local control is needed to improve the education system, and to replace the regional education boards that were dissolved in 1999.

Though the GN promised to replace those boards with a new system that would provide direct access to the minister of education’s office, this has not happened and the DEAs have been forced to fend for themselves for the last seven years.

The decision to abolish the regional boards followed a recommendation set out in Footprints in New Snow, a document prepared to help guide division of the Northwest Territories. Footprints recommended that the three regional boards be merged and re-defined as a single Nunavut board of education. This has not happened to date.

The NTI board of directors passed a resolution in 2004 recognizing the dire situation and calling for the re-instatement of the divisional boards. Again, this has not happened.

These problems are made worse by the lack of information flowing from the GN to the DEAs. The DEAs cannot be expected to operate efficiently without adequate information or support structures. The DEAs, with strong support from Nunavut’s Inuit organizations, have voiced their frustrations and made their demands clear. These should be taken seriously.

The new Education Act is not just another bill for the GN to pass as “shallow political symbolism.” For the GN to retain any credibility on the heels of Thomas Berger’s recent report, the new Education Act must do a number of things, including:

• Provide Inuit with the control to manage their education system efficiently.
• Allow Inuit children to learn Inuit language (Inuktitut and Inuinnaqtun) because as research shows, a solid foundation in a first language improves the ability to learn other languages. Most importantly, it is our right as Inuit to keep our language strong and the education system plays a huge role in this.
• Allow Inuit to be taught from an Inuit perspective, which affects curriculum, programs, material and teaching styles.

These changes will cost the government money, but it is money that would be well spent. Every day in our schools, we see poor retention and poor graduation rates. This is caused by a territorial government that is not obligated to provide adequate, culturally relevant education delivered in the language of the majority.

By giving the DEAs more local control, Inuit will have a way to push the GN to provide the money for relevant curriculum, more Inuit language speaking teachers, and an education that prepares its graduates with a transferable diploma.

Given that we work with a territorial bureaucracy that is so often concerned with fulfilling obligations over intent, it is odd that Nunatsiaq News believes the territory is best suited to solving its educational problems internally without formal legislative direction.

Paul Kaludjak
President
Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.

September 22, 2006

Lavalin, GN caused Aqsarniit fiasco

The Iqaluit District Education Authority would like to extend their thanks to the parents of students at Aqsarniit Middle School, and to Aqsarniit teaching staff and administration, for their patience and support during this difficult start to the new school year.

The team coordinating the expansion of the middle school included the GN’s Department of Education, the GN’s Department of Community Government and Services, contractor SNC-Lavalin, architect Keith Saunders, the IDEA and Aqsarniit School staff.

From the very beginning the IDEA and principal Darlene Nuqingaq sought assurances from the GN, the architect and the contractor that the project would be scheduled to ensure that students would not have to be moved from one school to another in the middle of the school year. Earlier this spring we met with the contractor and CGS officials and asked that they inform us by April 30 if the project would be delayed for a Sept. 1 opening so we could inform parents before the summer break.

SNC Lavalin, the architect, and CGS officials assured us that the school would be ready for occupancy in mid-August.

The IDEA toured the facility in late June and again we were given assurances by SNC-Lavalin that the facility would be completed by the beginning of the school year, and they repeated these assurances to principal Darlene Nuqingaq two weeks later.

We are deeply disappointed that SNC- Lavalin, a company that “ is one of the leading groups of engineering and construction companies in the world, and a global leader in the ownership and management of infrastructure,” according to their web site, has so poorly managed the labour and scheduling of this project.

We are also disappointed that the principal has been left to manage this scheduling fiasco without any additional support being provided by the GN’s regional school operations.

We expect that when the students are finally able to occupy the new school the inconveniences of these early weeks will be quickly forgotten. However, as we anticipate the beginning of a five-year project to renovate the high school, we trust that the lessons learned at Aqsarniit on scheduling, sufficient labour, and GN oversight will be used effectively on that project.

Christa Kunuk
Chair
Iqaluit District Education Authority

September 22, 2006

Compost group says thanks

Over the last few years we think the Bill Mackenzie Humanitarian Society has made significant progress in solving some of Iqaluit’s growing pains.

Our main focus has been developing responsible waste management initiatives and part of the solution is definitely composting. The waste material turned into a local resource is showing a huge potential to beautify the landscape throughout our city.

And increasingly, as an unanticipated benefit, it appears that an increase in the civic pride of our population at large is entirely possible due in no small measure to the availability of compost, a potent soil amendment.

The purpose of this letter is to publicly thank everyone that has helped us to get where we are today. It has truly been a community effort.

First, if it were not for the city allowing us to experiment at the landfill site since 2004 we would never have known composting is even possible in Iqaluit. Additionally, we offer a heart felt thank you to the outgoing city council for having faith in our organization and for providing the $1 a year lease for a perfect location where, with the help of the community, we plan to reduce the city waste stream by over 50 per cent, within the next few years.

We are also grateful to the federal Department of the Environment’s EcoAction program for their funding which allowed us to develop the efficient ethical and economic operation we have in place today.

The Qulliq Energy Corporation has also contributed significantly to our city’s welfare by providing us with a beautiful location to research how compost can complement the regeneration of our local plants throughout our community.

The Iqaluit elders once again demonstrated to the community their ability to adapt to the changing environment by embracing an outdoor gardening project funded by Social Development Canada’s New Horizons for Seniors program. Their work, and enthusiasm, as displayed at the BMHS community picnic last month made it abundantly clear the future for Iqaluit is like a flower getting ready to bloom.

The picnic was a great success in demonstrating the value of compost in beautifying our city. This was in no small part due to the generosity and support of the following in no particular order:

Jim Curry at Iqaluit Enterprises for his generous donation of country food; the Elks Club for the loan of their barbeque and ice; Jeff Barkley at the hospital for their barbeque; Northmart for the great meat and buns; the Baffin Gas Bar for the cold pop and ice; Canadian North for a free ticket to Ottawa as a prize that we didn’t use - yet; Nick Cooper at Public Works Canada for the loan of the big tent; Alden at the wildlife office for the use of their barbeque; Jason Carpenter at Arctic College for the loan of coolers; coleman stoves and pots; the city for their porta-potties; the Qulliq Energy Corporation for the great location.

Thanks also to:

• Heather Daley for organizing the tremendously talented local entertainers on such short notice: Rannva Simonson, Aaju Peter, Leith, Stuart Crose, Errol Fletcher, Matthew Nuqingaq, Heather Daley and others.
• All those that brought the outstanding floral displays.
• To the organizers, the many smiling servers and burger flippers and to all who simply brought their appetites
• To Mike Gardner for providing the blessing and to the Almighty for providing such a beautiful day.

Board of Directors
Bill Mackenzie Heritage Society

September 15, 2006

Peter Freuchen portrayed inaccurately in Isuma movie

My daughter Bronwyn and I went to see the new movie by Zacharias Kunuk and Norman Cohn, The Journals of Knud Rasmussen at its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, and I feel compelled to make a public comment on one aspect of the film.

Bronwyn and I were disappointed in the rather inaccurate portrayal of Peter Freuchen, my grandfather.

In the movie he is short, unable to speak Inuktitut, and is called a drunkard.

In actual fact, he was six-foot-five, spoke Greenlandic and Inuktitut fluently, and never drank in his life.

I leave commentary on the rest of the movie to others, and we wish Zacharias Kunuk and Norman Cohn all success.

Peter Freuchen Ittinuar
Toronto

September 15, 2006

The GN’s myopic stupidity

Parents, be aware!

The GN’s Department of Education may not be on your side in trying to keep your teens in high school.

Nunavut’s dropout rate must not register as a priority in the halls of administration.

I discovered this on the weekend when my just-turned 16-year-old babysitter announced that she had quit school to take a full-time job with – get this – the Department of Education!

Apparently the local private sector aren’t the only ones who lose people to the GN’s wage-benefit package.

Is it policy to recruit “talent” from the Grade 10 class at the local high school? If this does not qualify as hypocrisy, it certainly does as myopic stupidity.

Peter McDonald
Iqaluit

September 15, 2006

Thanks to the people of Tuktoyaktuk

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you, and the people of the Inuvialuit settlement region, particularly to all people of Tuktoyaktuk for the wonderful hospitality you showed us during our recent attendance at the Coastal Zone Management meeting, August 14-18.

We are the participants who helped put together a forum focused on healthy Arctic communities as part of this meeting. All of us, in our work, have been concerned about the well-being of Arctic coastal communities, and we were pleased to see this topic emphasized in the programme.

The meetings were fruitful. The ideas that came out of this conference will allow all of us to move forward, in putting on the table issues relating to all coastal waters in Canada and particularly in the Arctic.

We live in such a vulnerable Arctic that we must aim to protect it for our future generations of people, particularly our grandchildren and their children. We truly enjoyed your Inuvialuit drum dances, the display of games put on by young people and the fashion show, which seemed to involve everyone.

We appreciated the opportunity to do our Nunavut drum dances. Young people in your community obviously have many talents and strengths and have built these on the wisdom of their elders. We greatly appreciated their attendance at the community events.

Without your support and kindness, the meeting would not have been as successful as it was. You’ve shown your true Inuitness of being gracious hosts. For this, we are truly grateful and we look forward to more opportunities to work together!

Qujanaini-Qujannamiik-Nakurmiik and Thank you.

Martha Flaherty
Janet McGrath
Marius Tungilik
Peter Irniq
Frank Tester

September 8, 2006

GN never gives information to DEAs

I can see that the District Education Authorities have their work cut out for them (school daze). More than anything else, the Department of Education has its work cut out for it.

Your editorial asked a lot of specific questions that no one seems able to answer, but this extreme lack of awareness is illustrative of how alienated Inuit communities feel from a government that consistently spurns their efforts to engage in any meaningful way.

The main problem, as I see it – and I’m supposedly one of those people, “in the know” – is that the communities, or more specifically, the DEAs, lack political presence in the regional and territorial levels so no critical information is getting through to the DEAs.

In every “consultation”exercise that I’ve attended, we’ve had to start all over again in explaining what the current and critical issues are because they’ve no one body to brief them. This is extremely frustrating, as no consensus can be built around the central issues of language and cultural policies and programs to which Article 32 of the land claims agreement guarantees Inuit input and ownership.

Anywhere else but Nunavut this would be called “dumping.”

Perhaps you’re asking the wrong questions by focusing on managerial and administrative issues as opposed to whether the DEAs are given the proper and timely information that is utterly critical to making informed decisions as good government is supposed to do.

Jay Arnakak
Iqaluit

September 8, 2006

Sled dog raped and shot near graveyard

Last Friday while we were sleeping, a female sled dog was taken away from her puppies from the kennel next to our house near the cemetery.

The dog was found Tuesday on the nearby beach. The City of Iqaluit by-law department took her remains. She was dead: shot in the head at close range.

She had obviously been sexually abused. She was a beautiful, trusting and friendly, white working dog with a black head.

This was no spur-of-the-moment act but one that required premeditation.

Whoever did this perverted act is still at large. There are lots of children in this neighbourhood. It is hard to feel they are safe when such a violent act occurs.

If you have any information about the theft, rape and killing of this dog, please contact the police.

Paul Crowley
Iqaluit

September 1, 2006

DEAs want better results from schools

I’m not sure the headline “DEAs dump on GN” accurately captured the focus of the meeting between DEAs that was held earlier this month in Iqaluit.

When DEA chairpersons met in Iqaluit to discuss the new Education Act, the first question we asked ourselves in a day-long workshop was “what results do we want to see achieved in our schools different from what we see today?”

We broke into four groups to discuss this question and then reported back. DEAs represent the voice of parents in our education system so it was no surprise that all four groups reported back with relatively similar lists of results they want from our education system:

• More students graduating with qualifications on par with the rest of Canada;
• More students graduating with a clear sense of Inuit societal values, culture and heritage as well as local customs and dialect;
• More trilingual students at all grades;
• More qualified Inuktitut language teachers;
• More research on how our schools are doing;
• More informed parents and community leaders on hour our students and schools are doing;
• More teachers who are sensitized to Inuit values, knowledge, culture and heritage;
• Discipline approaches that are consistent with Inuit values;
• DEAs with authority to achieve the education goals of their schools;
• Curriculum that is flexible to local practices and dialect.

It was very interesting to hear the experiences of the minority francophone community in Canada who share similar goals to ours in the education system. They have achieved many of these goals in just 30 years, and one of the key elements of their success has been local control of their schools.

It is not nostalgia for school boards that is driving DEAs to talk about local control - it is because local control places responsibility in our communities for the success of our schools. We have lots of examples in Nunavut where communities control their own affairs - municipal services and wildlife, to name just two. Parents are now saying, once again, “why not schools?”

Christa Kunuk
Chair, IDEA
Iqaluit

September 1, 2006

DEAs want to help GN get more education funding

The Nunatsiaq News deserves credit for their continued interest in covering the important issues surrounding our education system in Nunavut, particularly as we discuss what laws our new Education Act should contain, what role DEAs should play, and how our education system should be funded (Nunatsiaq News, August 18, 2006.)

As parents of children in the school system, we think that the quality of our education system should be the most important political discussion in Nunavut. We are not satisfied that our education system graduates only 25 per cent of our children and that the rate of graduation has declined in recent years.

This is why DEA chairpersons from across Nunavut agreed at a meeting in Iqaluit earlier this month to form a Coalition of DEAs, and unify our concerned voice so that it is heard in our legislature and in the negotiating room for our federal-territorial formula financing agreement.

In particular, we hope that the report issued earlier this year by Thomas Berger on Nunavut’s failing education system is not put on a shelf and ignored. Mr. Berger’s report is a thoughtful and detailed analysis of what level of investment is needed in our schools to produce different results from what we see today.

It should form the basis of negotiations with Ottawa for incremental funding to Nunavut because it has become obvious - seven years into division of the Territories - that the current budget for education spending in Nunavut is not graduating more students.

If our new Education Act reflects what the department has been researching in other modern pieces of education legislation, and reflects what they have been hearing across Nunavut, it will involve more spending on education. This must be taken into account in any formula financing discussion.

How we manage our schools, must also be re-structured so that communities have a real and meaningful role in the results of their schools.

As parents, we are saying that if nothing substantial changes in our new Education Act and formula financing, nothing will change in closing our alarming education gap.

Jeeteeta Merkosak
Chair
Coalition of Nunavut DEAs

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