Iqaluit education authority slams GN for killing program for students with disabilities
Schools received funding to hire contractors who would develop support plans for students
Aqsarniit Middle School is one of the schools in Iqaluit that will not benefit from a federally-funded program that would help students with behavioural disabilities, says Iqaluit District Education Authority chairperson Nicole Giles. (File photo)
The Government of Nunavut has quashed a fully-paid-for program that would help students with behavioural disabilities, despite having supported the idea a few years ago, says the Iqaluit District Education Authority.
The authority received funding from the federal government in September to hire contractors to assess 28 students for psychological issues and develop a support plan for them. It’s called the Inuit Child-Specific Program.
Then in January — a month before the program was set to begin — the Education Department’s student achievement division sent a memo to Iqaluit schools telling them to not allow contractors into the schools, said IDEA chairperson Nicole Giles.
“I have no idea. It’s so crazy. No one knows where it came from. We had full permission,” Giles said, adding that the program has been cancelled and the money has to be given back.
Giles said she doesn’t know how much money the authority received.
The Department of Education declined Nunatsiaq News’ request to interview Education Minister Pamela Gross and did not provide a reason for not granting the interview. Instead, Nunatsiaq News received an unsigned email with a statement from the department.
Nunatsiaq News did not receive answers to any follow-up questions.
The statement said the department already has contractors who have been vetted and signed confidentiality agreements and provide similar services, such as speech language pathology, mental health support and others.
The department said every student in Iqaluit who needed support services received them.
“We commend the IDEA for its efforts to bring about initiatives to support our students, however, the processes we have in place for external contractors to enter schools are critical for ensuring consistent and safe supports for our students,” the statement reads.
But Giles said the services the department provides simply aren’t enough.
“Well, there’s no services to begin with, which is the problem,” she said.
The department sends a contractor to communities once a year to work with students with disabilities, Giles said, adding that often if a student has two issues, only one of those issues will get attention.
And in terms of the mental health services the department provides, Giles said she completely disagrees that they are adequate.
IDEA has requested a meeting with Gross and says it is going to find a way to move forward with the programming.
“We are going to continue to pursue this,” she said. “It’s too important; there’s too many people depending on this program.”
I imagine there are few surprised by the Minister’s incompetence here, but for me the boldfaced are truly astonishing.
The dishonesty is actually hard to believe. Nunavut offers no access whatsoever to educational psychologists to assess and diagnose learning disabilities. If a parent wants their child to see an educational psychologist it is up to them to seek one out, set up the appointment typically in the nearest southern gateway city and bring their child for the assessment. The assessment normally takes a number of days as the child has to be observed in a familiar learning environment that they are comfortable in. All costs of travel and accommodation are the responsibility of the parents, though a small amount may be covered by health insurance depending on the parents employer. To add insult to injury, speaking from personal experience, the educational psychologists report and recommendations are then totally ignored by the local school and RSO office.
Your child’s school principal, teacher and student support teacher can help you refer your child through education for an ed. psych assessment. The service is in fact available. If they do not follow though on this, reach out to the school supervisor.
This is kind of true, in my experience as a parent, the teacher will reach out to the SSA team and only to find out that the parents need to reach out to the SSA team without knowledge of the student’s struggles – believe me this was my experience with a student ALREADY on the IEP system. The principal never responded to the email I included him in and the only response I ever did receive was from the one teacher that my child was having so much troubles with. The SSA eventually stepped in. This shaded area of the school system needs so much work, I started advocating for my child in grade school and with so much uncertainty in High school especially with a high number of IEP students already.
Iqaluit must be different even though it’s the big Apple. Here in Kugluktuk our students have had access to lots of services the past few years like occupational therapy, speech, hearing, and ed. psych. All paid for by the department of education not health or others. Just follow the proper referral process and the students get the service. Most come twice a year but in between the students get seen virtually. It’s been great. I guess Iqaluit is different after all.
Maybe it’s because the Minister of Education is from there.
Speculation gets you nowhere. She’s from Cambridge. A quick Google search would reveal that.
What happens when the finding is that 80% of students have disabilities by the time they reach middle school?
.
About 10 years ago I spoke with someone working temporarily at the middle school in Iqaluit. I had previously met him when he was the principal at a school in another community. He told me that Aqsarniit was totally out of control, being “run” by a bunch of the students.
Mhm, and I’m sure your three minute conversation with a fill-in principal in Iqaluit a decade ago fully covered all of the possible factors involved.
This topic used to come up more often in the media, but has fallen into the category of quietly ignored now.
Rates of smoking, drinking and drug use among pregnant women in Nunavut is far above the national average. The impacts on cognitive and behavioral development need to be discussed much more openly, and these behaviors need to become taboo.
Thumbs down from 4 people who enjoy their smokes while pregnant. Sadly I know many more than 4 who do this, and you probably do too.
I recommend reading CBC’s balanced reporting on this matter:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/iqaluit-education-authority-lambastes-nunavut-gov-t-for-blocking-support-workers-from-schools-1.6794839
It sounds like the IDEA is having a major hissy fit for being stopped from going rogue in our children’s schools. If somebody works with my child in her school and something bad happens to her as a result, I will want answers. You better vet.
Worried for naught. The GN uses same contractor as the IDEA was going to. All medical professionals are bound to same conditions as anyone entering the schools as a worker or a visitor. All must have their VSC/CRC’s.
You mean the GN uses the same contractor because in actual fact, contrary to what the IDEA is saying, the GN actually does provide the service in schools. Why focus on the negative unless this is really not about the kids. Why not focus on the $5million the Department of Education has received for mental health services in all schools?
Well, the problem is that the Department is NOT providing the emotional/behavioral assessments and treatment plans for students in needs … that is the crux of this whole issue. And, the treatment plans would have been individualized and met through further funding. The GN does not, apparently, have the money to provide all the services that will be required to actively support their treatment plans. Why destroy a project that can provide the services that the Department clearly cannot?
The problem is, however, that even IF there has been students identified and POSSIBLY assessed, there is no adequate follow-up treatment plan in place. There may have been assessments but no real “treatment plan” put in place for each individual student.
Genuinely curious, why do parents, DEA’s and other organizations need to advocate or try to step in if the Department of Education truly does provide these services in schools? Is it a problem with the referral process? Individual staff?
Why were those 28 children not already assessed by the department? It is great if the Dept of Ed actually provides these services but if so, why are people running into this issue?
I’m wondering about the parents of the students. Did they ask teachers for support? Why aren’t they complaining?
The IDEA should take the parents of the 28 students that the IDEA diagnosed, labelled and described to the world as ‘having disabilities’ with them to the meeting with Minister Gross. Assuming the parents gave their consent to the IDEA to have their children described in the patronizing and colonial way in which the IDEA described them. If anyone describes my child as having a disability without my consent, I would ‘slam’ them and ‘kill’ that unsubstantiated label given to my child.
Having money is not enough.
What do they do with it?
There should have at least 2-3 educational psychologists to provide assessments and psychotherapy in the schools across Nunavut.
Ilinniarvimmi Inuusilirijiit can offer support to students in needs, but they are not trained to deal with severe diagnoses.
II’s in schools are just about useless. They are no help to students. All the issues in Nunavut need to be assessed, but that’s easier said than done. Over 11000 students and there are tons of issues. Mental, hearing, speaking, learning, and the list goes on. Why is this the case? Not everything can be blamed on Kabloonaks, sometimes a serious look into the mirror helps.
The department of Education is trying to what they can. Other commenters bashing Education should shake their head and get off the keyboard. It’s sad to see the keyboard warriors making statements that are fiction. Time to wake up, time for parents to do their job, time for students to go to school, time for employees to go to work, time to self reflect, time to forgive. Only together this can be done. Inuit by themselves cannot succeed, let’s all work on the issues together and let’s all grow up
Should defund NS instead
The mere fact that the department of Education is actively trying to kill this project says a lot about them.
Agreed… the fact that the minister doesn’t see the need, and deludedly believes “every student in Iqaluit who need[s] support services receive[s] them” is baffling.
I have a letter from QSO telling me to find a way to get my child/student/Gr 10 assessed myself at my expense. One of their helpful suggestions was that I could do it the “next time I was on vacation in the South”.
People who say Iqaluit students are getting the support they need are not living in reality.
Show us the numbers. How many Iqaluit Students has the Dept served in Iqaluit over the past 10 years? How have they made parents and teachers aware of their services?
The usual excuses of privacy? and CRC just don’t fly when the contracts are with the same firm of professional services.
GN needs to change its motto from “everyone needs to follow us” to “how can we help you achieve our common goals”.
If it is indeed true you gave a letter from QSO telling you to get your child assessed yourself, send it to the Dept of Education, please. If your child needs assessment, refer them to the school principal or student support teacher who should follow the referral process to access education support services. Services include speech language pathology, occupational therapy, physio therapy, Deaf and Hard of Hearing support, sign language, educational psychology and Autism support. These have been available to all schools since 2018. Accessing services required parental advocacy and school level staff to follow up and submit referrals to the Department. All school teachers may do so. Since 2019, school based mental health have been rolling out across Nunavut with the service extending to every school in 23-24. The negative narrative must end. Be proactive and fight to access the services your child needs. Don’t stop at hearing no from the school, DEA or QSO.