Nunavut MLAs to solicit opinions on Education Act

Iqaluit-Tasiluk MLA George Hickes chairs the Nunavut legislature’s Special Committee to Review the Education Act. The committee will be visiting each region this spring to gather input on possible amendments. (FILE PHOTO)

A special legislative committee reviewing Nunavut’s Education Act plans to hold public consultations in each region of Nunavut in April and May of this year to gather input on possible amendments.

“I look forward to hearing the views and opinions of Nunavummiut on how effectively Nunavut’s Education Act guides the delivery of Nunavut’s education system,” said MLA George Hickes, in an April 7 news release from the Nunavut legislature. Hickes is chairing the special committee.

“The input that we receive from individuals and organizations will assist the Special Committee in developing its final report, including recommendations for potential amendments to the legislation.”

Consultations are tentatively scheduled for Baker Lake on April 20, Kugluktuk on April 21, Pond Inlet on May 11 and Iqaluit on May 12. Details on times and venues will be announced later.

The special committee of MLAs was officially established in June 2014. Members include Hickes, Simeon Mikkungwak (co-chair), Pat Angnakak, Joe Savikataaq and Education Minister Paul Quassa.

Under the act, the review, “shall include an examination of the administration and implementation of the Act, the effectiveness of its provisions and the achievement of its objectives and may include recommendations for changes,” the news release said.

The committee, operating for nearly a year now, has already received some submissions, the release said.

Following the spring consultation tour, the committee will invite witnesses to appear before them, on May 13 and May 14, in the Nunavut legislature chambers to discuss “key issues raised throughout the review process.” Those public hearings will be televised live.

Premier Peter Taptuna made education one of the cornerstones of his mandate, Sivumut Abluqta.

The challenges, and failings, of Nunavut’s education system have been widely reported and debated since shortly after the birth of the territory in 1999.

Canada’s Auditor General, Michael Ferguson, reviewed Nunavut’s Education Act and released a critical report in April 2013.

Ferguson described Nunavut’s Education Act as “perhaps overly ambitious” and said it will fall short of its objectives by its 2019-2020 deadline.

That’s due to a number of issues including a lack of Inuit language teachers, housing shortages and overcrowding, and food insecurity.

Quassa said last June, when the Special Commitee to Review the Education Act was established, that there’s a “clear indication of where we are currently in implementing the Education Act,” in the wake of Ferguson’s audit of his department.

Some of the auditor’s recommendations had already been implemented, Quassa said last June, including “new literacy and assessment frameworks” and a database to track which teachers, from kindergarten to Grade 12, who have “bilingual capabilities.”