Nunavut officials say Bill 37 will strengthen DEAs

Kathy Okpik, Nunavut’s deputy minister of education, at a technical briefing March 10 describes the proposed changes to Nunavut’s Education Act contained in Bill 37, which Nunavut MLAs have now referred to their standing committee on legislation. (PHOTO BY PETER VARGA)

Bill 37, which contains the Government of Nunavut’s proposed amendments to the territory’s education act, would give local education authorities a greater say and control in developing education policy through a new elected council, the Department of Education’s top officials said, March 10.

District education authorities, which administer schools in Nunavut’s 25 communities, “require a better mechanism to present their priorities to decision-makers in the legislative assembly,” and need “more operational support in their day-to-day work and the authority to use that support as they see fit,” said Kathy Okpik, Nunavut’s deputy minister of education, in a technical briefing with reporters.

“These two objectives are achieved through the establishment of a district education council,” she said, reiterating an idea the department first put forward earlier this year.

The DEA Council will eventually replace a similar body called the Coalition of Nunavut District Education Authorities.

The new body would be created by several amendments to the Education Act of 2008, which Okpik called the “first major piece of legislation that the government put through” since the territory’s establishment in 1999.

“The lessons learned from 2008 up to today were really the catalyst for the whole review,” she said.

Okpik and other Department of Education officials said the bill incorporates feedback the government has been collecting since 2015, after a special committee to review the Education Act made recommendations on it.

“We heard the concern of many Nunavummiut who told us that they feel government consultations do not have a real impact,” Okpik said. “To address this, we made a significant effort to incorporate what we heard into the amendments that you see in Bill 37.”

Premier Peter Taptuna’s government flagged reform of the Education Act as a priority with the start of its mandate in 2013.

That same year, a critical review by the Auditor General of Canada found the GN will fail to achieve its stated goal: a fully bilingual school system, with Inuktut used from kindergarten to Grade 12 as a language of instruction.

Bill 37 creates more modest targets for education in the Inuit language, setting 2029 as the target date for “full delivery of bilingual education” up to Grade 9, Okpik said.

The original act called for bilingual education from kindergarten through to Grade 12 by 2019, but “unfortunately, there are major implementation challenges that prevent us from reaching this goal,” she said.

To meet the goal, Okpik acknowledged the government must “greatly increase Inuktut-language capacity through a revamped Inuit Employment Plan,” as well as “standardize vocabulary for use in curriculum for programs of study.”

The government has hired roughly 115 to 130 of the 300 Inuit classroom teachers it needs to achieve its target of fully bilingual education, said John MacDonald, the assistant deputy minister of education.

Teachers earn their credentials from the Nunavut Teacher Education Program.

Much of Bill 37 clarifies the roles of the Department of Education and district education authorities in the delivery of education.

Essentially, the department’s role is to deliver a standard Nunavut-wide curriculum, and the DEA’s role to provide “local program enhancements.”

“These are programs that modify the standardized ministerial program, to reflect local cultural, linguistic and economic priorities,” said Mark Lucas, legislation analyst for the Department of Education.

The local adjustments allow DEAs to tailor education to the community’s needs through added programs, on top of the Nunavut-wide standard curriculum.

The new council of district education authorities, or “DEA Council,” an elected body independent from the government with representation from all the regions, will have a say in developing Nunavut-wide education programming.

Like the existing DEA coalition, the council will be free to criticize the government.

Also, the more prominent council will submit annual reports on the state of the education system in Nunavut, which the minister of education would table in the legislature, Lucas said.

“What that creates that we don’t have now, is an ability for the council to speak directly to the decision-makers in the legislative assembly about DEA priorities,” he said.

The bill states the Council will be involved in long-term planning of the education system through twice-annual meetings with the minister, where they will discuss DEA operations, delivery of education programs, including updates to curriculum, language of instruction, and inclusive education.

Bill 37 passed second reading in the legislative assembly March 9, and has been sent to the assembly’s standing committee on legislation.

Once the bill passes, “coming into force for amendments related to the DEA Council will be delayed, with a deadline of July 1, 2020,” Okpik said.

“There will be a transition period during which time the Coalition of Nunavut DEAs will continue to be funded at its current level.”

The Coalition of Nunavut DEAs has said it’s wary of the council but had no immediate comment to make about the bill, March 10, and noted the issue will “certainly” be discussed at a general meeting at the end of the month.

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