Nunavik’s graduation season brings joy, disappointment

Proud parents gather around the stage to get photos of Kiluutaq school’s graduating class of 2016-17 following a May 31 ceremony in Umiujaq. (PHOTO BY SARAH ROGERS)

UMIUJAQ—For two hours during the afternoon of June 1, much of Umiujaq came to a standstill while residents packed into the Nunavik community’s school gymnasium to celebrate.

Kiluutaq school was hosting a ceremony for its graduating class of 2016-17: Davey Lee Nuktie, Alex Patterson, Lucy Ann Qittosuk, Kimberly Tookalook, Samson Esperon Tookalook and Johnny Tooktoo.

Graduating from high school is a major achievement in Nunavik and a much-hyped event for the graduates’ families and friends.

The gym walls were decorated with northern lights, babies toddled around the gym while camera flashes and cat-calls filled the room.

The students gave tearful speeches, thanking teachers and parents for all they’d done to help them through the good weeks and the rougher ones.

At the end of the ceremony, the song “Chariots of Fire” blasted from the speakers while the crowd lined up to shake each graduate’s hand.

“It felt great,” said Samson Esperon Tookalook, 19, who plans to study mechanics in Inukjuak next year, but has also thought about becoming a police officer.

Graduate Alex Patterson, 17, said that Secondary 5 was tough, but she persevered by leaning on her teachers for help.

“I would encourage other students to ask for help if they need it,” she offered as advice. “And really listen to your teachers.”

Patterson said she is taking a year off before she applies to study at John Abbott College in Montreal.

Her fellow graduate Lucy Ann Qittosuk said she felt excited but that feeling was mixed with a sense of disappointment.

“I have to be honest, I’m not really happy,” she said. “Because I won’t get my diploma after all my hard work.”

Qittosuk and her fellow students only found out earlier this year that they’d be receiving an Attestation of Equivalency certificate rather than a standard diploma—because the Kativik School Board’s secondary 4 science and math curriculum aren’t accredited.

The certificate won’t interfere with Tookalook’s plans to go to a KSB vocational school or Patterson’s goal to study at John Abbott, which has a post-secondary agreement in place with the KSB.

But it came as a shock and a disappointment to many Nunavimmiut, who say the region’s youth are settling for a sub-standard education.

Once the gym was cleaned up May 31, the Kativik Regional Government set up tables and chairs to resume the regional council meetings it held in Umiujaq last week.

The issue of secondary school diplomas (which are equivalent to Grade 11 in Nunavut) was raised a number of times throughout the four-day meeting.

Hilda Snowball, a KRG councillor for Kangiqsualujjuaq, said it’s troubling when you consider how high a priority Inuit place on educational success.

“I have children and I want them to become something, to take on jobs,” she said at the council meetings June 1. “When I heard about it, it was hurtful.

“I wanted to leave Nunavik. I’m sure many people thought that way.”

Snowball said the KSB and its elected Council of Commissioners are not communicating enough with Nunavimmiut.

Snowball pointed to the KSB’s ongoing litigation against the governments of Quebec and Canada in an effort to secure better funding and autonomy; it’s something she knows little about and wants to hear more.

“It’s like they’ve been working under the table,” she said. “There’s no transparency.”

Makivik Corp. president Jobie Tukkiapik wrote to Quebec’s education minister last week to ask the province to launch an independent audit into Nunavik’s education system.

Tukkiapik said it was time to ask “the hard questions” about what’s not working in the region’s schools.

Inukjuak regional councillor Sarollie Weetaluktuk told KRG meetings that regional organizations need to step up to ensure education is serving those it’s intended to: Nunavik youth.

“This is really hurting the students,” he said. “We don’t even want to bother to wake up our kids to go to school if this won’t be fixed.”