Iqaluit high school principal worried about teacher recruitment
“The number of applicants we are getting is downright scary”
The principal at Inuksuk High School says hiring new staff has been a challenge this year and he is worried about recruiting for next year. (File photo)
Iqaluit’s Inuksuk High School is facing challenges with recruiting new staff and the principal is concerned the next hiring season will be even more difficult.
At a Jan. 28 meeting of the Iqaluit District Education Authority, principal Jay Thomas described the obstacles the school faces when trying to recruit.
“I have to be honest with you. I am very concerned with the state of hiring. I see a really strong ‘canary in the mine’ with our lack of ability to hire teachers,” Thomas said.
One recently filled teaching position had to be advertised three times before it was filled. That was for a teacher, hired in January, assigned to work at the young offenders’ facility.
The school had a late resignation, Thomas says, so the position had been vacant since the beginning of the school year.
Additionally, a library and drama position had been advertised for about three months, and Thomas told the DEA that “the number of applicants we are getting is downright scary.”
“Iqaluit positions have always, historically, been competitive, and we are not seeing anywhere near the number of applicants that we saw just a few years ago,” Thomas said.
“I have a major concern with the state of hiring that is going to be coming up. This coming hiring season that we are approaching is going to be a real test of what’s to come—I’m worried.”
Doug Workman, chair of the Iqaluit DEA, says these challenges are not surprising.
“Let’s be honest. The department does not recruit,” said Workman.
“They go to a few colleges and universities in eastern Canada and that’s it. They don’t do what they used to do when I was hired.”
Years ago, Workman said, the Department of Education would go to all the big cities across the country.
Now, he says, there are just a few stops and the recruitment task is contracted out to “people who have no real connection to the North.”
“It’s people who have taught up here or worked up here in the past, but they are the ones who are collecting the dough,” said Workman.
“I have told the department I am not happy with that. There should be DEA involvement as there had been in the past. It’s important to hit those big cities, but they are not listening. I guess it will be another problem again this year.”
Nice picture! Make me wonder why people don’t want to teach there…
Hmm, I wonder if all the propaganda about southerners being unwelcome colonialists is starting to have an impact. The health department is pretty desperate too.
Nunavut is a strange place, where the folks who want Nunavut to be only an “inuit homeland” won’t do the jobs, but then they resent outsiders who come in to do what they can to help out. If you kick the helpers often enough, and treating them like oppressors just for trying, they do eventually stop helping. And if you keep insisting they are “visitors” and “guests”, you can’t expect them to settle in and feel like they are at home. That’s why Nunavut gets so many “transient” workers that they are so condemning towards, and these days it’s even having trouble recruiting those.
Totally agree with this statement. It’s been made very clear by some people that kabloonas are not wanted here; some students express this openly to teachers. So no matter a persons motivation for wanting to live and work in Nunavut, we are all painted with a negative brush. It’s very demoralizing.
It doesn’t help recruitment when you have someone in the community making an aggressive 22 point post about white people
I whole heartedly agree. Reverse racism IS real.
If there is such a thing called reverse racism then how to we combat that? I know, stop being racist to Inuit to begin with!
If you feel offended by that post then you are part of the problem. i have many, many “white friends” that completely agree with that 22 point post. you’re not racist but…
You say: “If you feel offended by that post then you are part of the problem” reminiscent of G.W. Bush saying “If you aren’t with us, you’re with the terrorists”.
Not drawing these two together because they are analogous, but because both represent a false dichotomy. Given this, I’d say you’re logical fallacy is more accurately “part of the problem.”
ps: someone should share this 22 point post.
I read Inutiq’s piece also. A classic case of a good defense is a good offense.
Susan and her privileged peers are the problem in Nunavut and elsewhere. She uses her elitist rhetoric and oppressive behavior to continue the domination of the marginalized poor in Nunavut and other oppressed jurisdictions while at the same time “intimidating” those who would disagree or usurp her power.
Most of the statements in her essay are true if you substitute “entrenched Inuk elite” for “white population”.
I’m in my 40s, of European descent and have lived my whole life North of 60.
The 22 points prompted some of the hardest self-reflection I’ve ever engaged in.
I’m still internally reconciling the points about being a visitor/settler given that I’ve never known another “home” but I understand and I dont dispute anything in Sandra’s document.
It sounds like you’ve internalized northern xenophobia towards the ‘other’. After a lifetime in this environment that’s not surprising.
I suggest reading the document with an open mind and a willingness to recognize yourself in the points Sandra raises. That’s not easy to do. If you don’t agree, that’s OK. A healthy progressive society values a diversity of opinion and thought.
Please don’t make assumptions about who I am or what my life experience has been. To do so only underscores that the core messages of Sandra’s document haven’t been fully appreciated.
I’ve read it. To me it’s loaded with generalizations, assumptions, fashionable progressive concepts that don’t always connect with the real world. Doubtless there are all sorts of cases where these descriptions fit, as there are countless where they don’t. Ultimately, it’s a very simplistic, reductionist worldview, in my opinion.
So, you can chose to take it to heart, to internalize it or subsuming it into your self-concept. I don’t need to. I am visitor here and always will be. That doesn’t bother me. I also don’t make claims on Inuit or northern identity, why would I even have this interest? Strange.
Having read her opinions in the past I suspect Sandra views herself as a culture warrior. I believe she feels compelled to write this kind of analysis as it earns her a moral currency among her clique, who deal largely in progressive tropes. This is not to say her views are disingenuous or insincere, only that they reverberate from deep within a certain echo chamber.
FNSA in B.C. having similar concerns filling vacancies in B.C. schools. Public schools in BC have been hiring more teachers the ladt couple of years
So easy for the qallunaaq to blame everything on Inuit with voices.
Take a few steps back and look at yourselves, your perspective, actions and reactions…..
Inuit and white people won’t ever work well together until the both of us admit our wrongs and improve our rights.
I’ve had white teachers since kindergarten-college and out of the many years of schooling, I’ve only had issues with 3, mainly because of how they looked at Inuit students, treated us unequally and favoritized only the white students.
The rest did well with teaching, understanding and respecting. The rest fell into place and they received tons of love, appreciation and, sometimes, gifts for their time, passion and effort.
Not all white people are bad, just as not all Inuit are drinks or drug addicts.
It’s not about having a voice, it’s about the abusive way some people use that voice. Of course, not everyone is like this, as you said.
Inuk, did you ever ask yourself why certain teachers treated you in a certain way? I heard your complaint many times, but when I look deeper into the facts, it turns out the complainant’s was not an angel, and provoked the wrath of teachers. Hence, you find other Inuit praising the same teachers that others blame for everything going wrong in their adult lives…
All of the regions are experiencing serious problems with hiring. There are numerous unfilled positions all over Nunavut still and most of those will likely remain unfilled for this school year if they haven’t been filled by this late date. Several southern jurisdictions are also experiencing hiring problems so it is not surprising the same is happening here. Teaching is not a very attractive career option anymore and fewer and fewer are going into teaching. More Nunavumiut need to stay in school and take that career path so that the GN is not so heavily dependent on southern hires, the same is true of health services, construction industry etc…… Also we need to consider the overall attractiveness of Nunavut as an option for prospective hires…..rents are through the roof, food costs are crazy, conditions in schools are deteriorating, incompetent DEA’s sticking their noses into places they shouldn’t be and manipulating things to their own advantage, family violence, public crime/ violence, resentment expressed towards outsiders even though they are absolutely needed to fill key positions, etc….. Other than those few who truly love the North, the people, the lifestyle etc will venture North and put up with all the negative aspects. But right now we will end up scraping the bottom of the barrel or doing without. The GN should start thinking about how to make teaching in the North more attractive and just as important how to retain the dedicated teachers who have been here for several years but are now starting to leave because they don’t feel appreciated.
To the two comments above. I think both of you are missing the point. The point of this story and the point of the article you are referring to.
To back up the 22 point article, it was not an attack on white people, which the writer clearly states in the beginning.
And maybe, just maybe, it is you that this type of article is written for. It is written for those that believe by making a mere presence in the north is somehow saving Inuit society from themselves.
For once, look outside the box you live in and try to see why people like Sandra get so frustrated with white people coming in thinking they are doing everyone a favor without ever truly learning the realities of Inuit and Inuit society, then passing judgement, then coming up with again a very colonial solution that you try to force on Inuit.
It would be like me, as an Inuk (half white), going to a place like Africa for example. Although some countries on that continent need some assistance, it does not give me the right to go there and try to impose my ways on their people or claim to be one of them or even speak on their behalf.
At the end of the day you are just “visitors” and “guests’.
Suck it up! Colonialism never did anyone any favors!
Your analogy doesn’t quite work. In it you head to a different country and try to impose your vision as a guest. Nunavut is part of Canada. Canadians who move to Nunavut are still in their home country. I agree with much of what Ms. Inutiq posted, but not with this vision of Canadians as eternal guests in a Canadian territory.
If the writer of the article states that it is not an attack, does not in anyway mean it is not. It is clearly an attack on white people.
The writer needs to also step back and acknowledge their own role in a system of dependence that was created by southern colonists, but which is readily propagated, encouraged, expected & demanded by Inuit every day.
It was a hit piece clear and simple written not to better anything, or elicit change, but to rant in a very bitter and hurtful manner. It is stated in the article that there is no reverse racism, that is does not exist however the article itself is the epitome of racism.
it’s true that the anti-southern rhetoric we hear is often ill-informed, ignorant and ridiculous; still I’m not convinced that this is the explanandum here.
The southern teacher shortage and need to train Inuit has been a long-standing issue. Anyone claiming it is the result of Sandra’s letter needs to do their research. The territory was short 66 teachers and one school delayed opening in August 2018. Stop victim blaming and start listening.
The article may have been written on Feb 2nd, but the same attitude has been around for a long time.
I don’t disagree with the points made by the 22 point post being referenced as a white person living and working in Nunavut. But what brought me to the North is not what most people seek. I was looking for an opportunity to live in a community that was the least effected by colonialism and that did not have all the comforts I was used to. But lets put the cards on the table, most new hires unfortunately are not coming for the Northern Experience. They are coming to be full time instead of casual or supply workers. They are coming to pay off student debt, save for a down payment, build a nest egg to start a family, gain work experience to apply for southern opportunities. I don’t judge anyone for doing that, but these are not people who are looking to stay and work long term. These are also people who probably don’t understand that history of colonialism in the north, and by trying to inform them in a way that can seem confrontational will push them away. Call this white fragility or whatever, but the fact is it will push them away. On top of the higher costs of living and work challenges. The take home pay at the end of the day is not enough to make you want to stay in Nunavut. As proof of how transient the workforce is. Nunavut needs to invest in Inuit/Long Term Nunavut residences in becoming teachers, as this will be the only way to slow down turn over, and reduce the amount of outside hires.
Nunavut has been investing in training homegrown teachers. The public should be doing asking where they are? I’d be interested to see some statistics on the success / failure rates of the NTEP program. I wonder if the GN keeps records on that? They should, but it wouldn’t be surprising if they shelved them if they look unfavourable
The teacher training program designed to train Inuit teachers does not provide enough qualifications to be high school teachers. This means students who go through this program for 4 years graduate with a B’Ed and a generalist teaching certificate. No teachable or specialized training to teach specific subjects like high school teachers.
Not everyone wants to be an elementary school generalist.
I am in my final year of NTEP and still want to teach in the higher grades like middle school or high school but the schools will not hire me because I wont have anything that qualifies me to teach a particular subject.
This doesnt help, when you have people wanting to apply to positions like this but dont qualify.
The NTEP is a full disaster. I happened to look at some of the teachers in training work and with no form of disrespect but the quality of their work is that of an average grade three work in the south.
How can the student teachers cover an entire semester of work in three weeks? Sometimes two
The education system in Nunavut is pure politics. It is all about the money, education is last on the list.
Also the same racist dirty behavior that some people have in the south, they maximize it in the north on both the natives and other people. The jobs that are advertised and not filled
happen only because a family member or friend did not want it.
Many teachers apply who are very qualified but friends and families are given priority. It is too corrupt. The positions are recycled. You do not have to be qualified to teacher in Nunavut. You only need a relative or friend in top position. You can even be a fisherman or have a criminal record you are good to go.
NTEP needs an overhaul or a refresher. A lot of people have gone through the program. Some taught for a while, some are still teaching and some went off to work for Inuit Org’s or other companies for more money and less work/stress. Some of those people who went through NTEP probably shouldn’t have as they were very low functioning and did not make good teachers. The challenge now-especially with the huge shortage of teachers- is for NAC to find a way for people to get degrees in Math, Science, History, Geography, Languages, Music, Physical Education etc so that they can have a specialized qualification which would allow them to teach effectively and confidently at the senior high level.They could do a 3 year degree in a specialized area and then a year of NTEP which focuses only on teaching methods and strategies and the practicum.
Well, NTEP student you seem like part of the solution. Take it a step further, go south, get the education required to get the position of your dreams.
Teachers are the worst treated GN employees.
To Bob, you should notify the Nunavut Teachers Union that they are the worst treated GN employees. They only have the best union out of the country.
Corrections officers are the worst treated GN employees!
You have got to be joking!
Clean hands at the end of the work day, about 185 working days per year, great salaries, the list goes on and on!
Maybe they are and maybe they aren’t. Teachers’ Union Agreement is well packed and feathered. The only other Union agreement that is well packed and packaged is the Nunavut Power Corp Union Agreement after the teachers union agreement.
I think teachers have learned to look after their own interests quite well to a point where parents and students rights have been forgotten or put really low on the totem pole.
Sad but true reflections of how things are today.
Sandra Inutiq posted the 22 point guide to non-Inuit on February 2, 2019. The recruitment problems has been an issue with the GN since the creation of Nunavut. One Inuk finally voices their feelings and now we(Inuit) are the problem for the GN to recruit teachers? and nurses within the Health Department?! Isn’t it amazing that only in Nunatsiaq News will people comment the way #2 & #3 did but not on the Iqaluit Rant and Rave page on Facebook, oh! could it be that one don’t need to provide their real names on Nunatsiaq News?
Perhaps people will not comment on FB or Iqaluit rant and rave after they read on Sandra’s page that she would be calling the employers of people who did not agree with her 22 point rant. Pretty sad when you cannot defend you own writings with respectful conversation without the treats. Many people are very upset with the published piece written by Sandra, many will not comment, but choose to stay silent as they have no desire to be further labeled racist, which seems to be the “go to” response of anyone unwilling to actually communicate. The expressed attitude in the article has been around for a very long time, I doubt that there are many southerners living in Nunavut who have not at some point been told, “go home”. This attitude, coupled with the Inuit having little desire to fill positions requiring higher levels of education is the real problem. You can call it racist, colonization, call southerners visitors, trespassers.. whatever name your heart desires, but that will not resolve any of the issues that plaque Nunavut. I hear a whole lot of blame being placed on outsiders, but very little conversation on how to fix the problems, and no, telling white people to stay silent, be excluded, not ask questions or insert themselves into the community is not constructive, and not the answer.
The fact of the matter is that if a southerner wrote those points about Inuit, then he or she would have been arrested and charged with hate crime.
Donna is correct.
I’m not sure if it would be a hate crime, though I can see the possibility. If it were written by a white person it would be vilified as racist, no question. It would be called a product of white supremacy, white privilege. So, let’s sub out those words and have a look;
This article was the product of Inuit supremacy, Inuit privilege.
Ugly, isn’t it?
Simply swapping out words doesn’t mean that Eurocentrics have had the same experience as indigenous people. Inuit have never had the privilege of being white.
Sandra is as much white as she is Inuk. How does having a job, home, education make her elite?
Our experiences are obviously not the same. The point is that diffusion of social power is not restricted to ‘whites’ only, this has becoming such a casually used trope that it has lost its explanatory power ( I chalk this up to laziness and hubris).
The point is, as an Inuk you are able to throw a discriminatory, vitriolic diatribe built on facile generalizations into public discourse and, it’s okay. You can get a pass by claiming a status of oppression.
No one else could do this, unless of course they could demonstrate their ‘bona fides’ as an identifiable member of a oppressed group. There are a lot of problems with this.
In any case, it’s a tactic for gaining hegemony over what can be said publically and for control of the new “metanarrative.” How ironique.
Unfortunately, the GN doesn’t offer competitive salaries anymore (…and I’m not talking northern allowance). New teachers and nurses starting at 80k salary + NA, isn’t worth it. Although the housing subsidy is nice, the actual housing units are severely outdated. High-skilled professionals like teachers, nurses, etc. are able to pick and choose where they work. This is the same reason there is a major teaching shortage in BC.
After reading Sandra’s FB page, I would be very reluctant as a new educator to apply for work here. While I could comment upon many of her points, I do strongly feel that dealing with trauma, suicide and helping family members are not race exclusive. I do agree with earlier posts, that as a non-Inuit, said many of the things that she said (in context of who I am) I would loose my job.I would be shamed on FB. I would be called racist and far worse things. There is an absolutism in a few of Sandra’s comments that begin to verge on xenophobic.
There are many long-term educators here who deeply care and are not from “the bottom of the barrel”.
But the high school principal is correct, if you cannot attract teachers to Iqaluit, you won’t be able to recruit them for the communities.
“Now is the Time for All Good Men to Come to the Aid of the Party”
Perhaps its time for the Inuit Organizations to go dormant for a few years, releasing their employees so they can do the teaching necessary for the next generation of Inuit to function in Inuktitut. Where else can competent Inuktitut teachers be found?
Who taught the Minister of Education to speak Inuktitut? Perhaps that person can be hired to help teach the next generation?
Since everyone is talking about sandra’s post. In my honest opinion this is how it all unravels in my mind.
-Inuit are taken away from homes and sent off to live in different outposts that they’ve never been to before by the Canadian Government.
-Inuit children and parents are told to worship someone they never knew.
-Inuit children are taken from parents and sent to residential school and told to forget about their language and culture because it’s not the right way to live.
-Nunavut is created and Iqaluit is picked as the Capitol of Nunavut.
-Eastern Nunavut undergoes rapid change with Iqaluit picked as Capitol and influx of southerners pumped into east to instill their ideas and ways.
-All the change results in Eastern Inuit resenting southerners.
-Meanwhile the people in the central and western Nunavut have undergone a slow transitional phase of development compared to Iqaluit and the eastern Nunavut Inuit. Thus resulting in a more welcoming Inuit collective.
Inuit are a welcoming people, we always have been. But we’ve undergone a drastic change in the last 70-80 years as a result of colonization. Some of her points may be true, but I honestly think the real issue that it is all coming out is because of Inuit being colonized and being told that this is the way you must live if you want to live in Canada.
Inuit have gone through rapid change, please understand and respect that we are trying to adapt to this new way of living that was forced upon us.
Thank you
If you do not like the modern way of life, no one is stopping
you living on the land ?
No one forced you !
I remember those old days of hardship very well, but don’t
believe me, try it and see.
The headline to this article doesn’t surprise me. It is a huge decision to leave your home and family to live in an unfamiliar culture. Especially if it is a small, isolated community that experiences some of the most extreme weather on the planet. Then there are the stories of violence and alcohol use in northern communities that scares a lot of people away from taking northern jobs. I am a white teacher from the south who chose to go north despite what I had heard (though not Nunavut). I had planned to stay for a long time but left after several years, becoming one of the transient people Sandra Inutiq referred to in her letter to Qallunaat.
I arrived in the north as prepared as any white teacher could be: well versed in issues of colonialism; knowledgeable and interested in Inuit rights; humble and aware of my privilege; and ready to stay for the duration of my career. However, I could never have prepared for the emotional and mental challenges of living day-to-day in a community struggling with generational trauma: the undercurrent of violence, hostilities between families, widespread alcohol use, unchecked mental health issues, children whose families loved them but couldn’t provide a safe and stable family environment, parents who desperately wanted help but had nowhere to turn. These issues (to varying degrees) affected the lives of literally every person in the community from the leaders all the way down. I wanted to be a trusted ally but was powerless to help in any concrete way other than to listen and give emotional support. I knew that change had to come from the community, not outsiders like me, but I also heard my Inuit colleagues and friends complain that those in positions of power were often struggling themselves, or were corrupt, or were unqualified to have that level of responsibility.
As an educator I could clearly see how the social problems in the community were negatively impacting the children but as a guest in the community I was powerless to help. I never knew what the community wanted from me in my role as teacher and had to be careful about offering suggestions because I didn’t want to be perceived as trying to wield colonial power over people. I started feeling more and more despair for the children in my school, many who suffered abuse and neglect at home. I’m ashamed to say that I began to grow bitter towards parents and others in the community who were quick to complain about whites but who, because of their own trauma, abused alcohol and were neglectful or abusive to their children. My anger, bitterness and feeling of despair grew until I decided I had to leave for the sake of my mental health. I still feel guilty that I had the option to leave, when children I know who were/are suffering in really dangerous situations did not have the same choice.
I respect Sandra’s 22-point letter and the anger Inuit feel about white-privilege. I also know that many ignorant and racist white people work in the north. I’d like to add, however, that there are many of us who are more than willing to use our privilege as allies for the benefit of Inuit, we just don’t know how. We see the struggles and feel the pain but are unable to offer solutions because we come from a white perspective and might offend those we want to assist. As a teacher I know that the southern education system doesn’t work for Inuit kids. But when Inuit parents in my community were asked what they wanted from the education system, how that would look in practice or how southern teachers could support that vision there were no answers. I often heard a lot about what people DIDN’T want, but no concrete ideas about how the system could be changed.
Unfortunately, until Inuit take over the jobs currently done by southerners there will continue to be a need for skilled southern workers. Those populations will continue to be transient and recruiting will continue to be tough since salary can’t compensate people enough to permanently leave their homes and families in the south. Furthermore, no positive change will occur in northern education until there is a concrete and practical plan put in place by Inuit that reflects their desires for the education of their children. Then people like me, who want to be a part of the solution will have a clear understanding of our role while we are there and can help hand over those roles to Inuit who step up.
Part of the problem is there is such a defensive mindset here that a lifetime of expertise or even the best of ideas are unwelcomed and have no power in the face of the ideology that suggests only homegrown ideas will work.
Look at the comment that suggests people start educating their kids at home. This is the kind of cluelessness that an educator, and this entire society is up against. It’s laughable and desperately sad.
I concur. Even something so simple as suggesting that teaching your children to brush their teeth will prevent tooth decay and a lot of unnecessary capping and extraction of teeth, if you actually say that, you are labeled racist. I just don’t get it.
But… tooth brushing is a socially constructed colonial tool meant to bring us into the capitalist system!!
Resist!
Will the comments written by Sandra change the decision of anyone about moving to or leaving Nunavut? Of course not. But all southerners are going to be more aware of what the Inuit around them are thinking now. Since most of these southerners hold positions of power, they will have these considerations at the back of their heads when making decisions. If anything, I think the average Inuk who is trying to get by is the one who will be hurt most as a result of that childish irresponsible rant of a woman, who clearly could do with several therapy sessions.
Sandra,
Your pain is clear. Your pain is real.
You are correct when you say the education that you and the rest of us received was inadequate. But with the Internet we can continue our education at any institution in the world, without leaving home.
But as for your 22 ways that white people can be better people, really?
First, most of your 22 ways do not state what you want white people to do differently than they are now doing. So they are not “ways” at all.
Most of the “ways” that do provide suggested action amount to “leave Nunavut”.
This comes across most clearly in number 8, where you say “In order for an Inuk to take a managerial position, someone has to move on.” This is true in many places down south, but it simply is not true in Nunavut.
The latest published statistics for the GN, as of December 31, 2018, state that the GN had 11 vacant Executive level positions, 42 vacant Senior Management positions, 124 vacant Middle Management positions, 515 vacant Professional positions, 405 vacant Para-Professional positions and 378 vacant Administrative positions. That’s 1475 vacant positions.
Not all of those positions are currently posted, but many are. A quick scan of the current posted jobs on the GN website reveals: 2 Executive positions posted, 5 Senior Manager positions posted, 18 Middle Manager positions posted, 25 Professional positions posted, plus openings for at least another 10 teachers, 23 Paraprofessional positions posted and 6 Admin positions posted.
So there are vacant positions at every level, just waiting for Inuit to show up and ask for work.
You say Sandra’s pain is clear and real. I’m not sure, I think this is as a case of performative outrage. Here’s a definition:
A marketing tactic where media actively looks for unintentional, out of context, or irrelevant things to be outraged over, usually through identity politics, to create a manufactured feeling of us vs them to keep the working class divided. Instead of fixing bigotry it exacerbates it. This tactic works on people who are bored, lack nuanced thinking, and are easily manipulated into tribalism.
Maybe the answer to the anticipated teacher shortage is to ignore it.
Maybe it’s time for us to reclaim our traditional role and responsibility as parents.
Maybe it’s time to say “enough” to the colonial institution called “school”.
Why should we continue to send our children to be raised by other people?
Maybe it’s time for us to teach our own children.
Can you think of a better way to strengthen the family?
Can you think of a better way to live?
What is more important than raising children?
Why can children not be with us as we do what needs doing?
This is the way it always has been.
Only colonialism needed to send children away, because the presence of children would have interfered with the “work” of the colonial soldier.
In every other culture parents raised and educated their own children.
Kids have been educated in the communities and stayed with their parents full-time since around 1970 or so. (A minority would leave to go to high school, and many of those say high school was the best years of their lives). Where have you been? Yes indeed, parents do have to step up and start parenting, but they are most definitely not stopped by whites from doing so. That’s just racist nonsense, that someone else always has to be to blame for something that is not working out for inuit. If it was white culture that led to problems in inuit kids, you’d see the same problems only worse in white kids, and that is most definitely not the case. Inuit raise their own kids, and for the most part they always did. Own your own problems, it’s the first step to the only way you can ever fix things.
Yes, I agree with your solution. I sincerely hope the minister of education takes this idea to heart. You will get exactly what you deserve from it, and I for one will relish watching the results.
It is a sad state of affairs
“Enough is Enough” …you already have the option to educate your children at home. It’s right in the education act. There are many people around Nunavut who do just exactly that, not to mention all over the country. There is quite a trend for home-schooling actually so go for it. Not everyone will chose that option however because if they need to work schools are convenient babysitters while parents work. But if you don’t need to work and are able to stay home and educate your children you should do it. Quite often homeschooled kids progress very rapidly because there aren’t all the distractions which we find in schools today. If I had had the option at the time I would have done it myself. There are so many possibilities available today for homeschooling.
As mentioned, southern school districts and divisions are having the same hiring struggle but that’s no excuse for the current Nunavut teachers who are willing to stay but definitely won’t be. I teach at a small K-12 school with mostly retirees from the south who are here “topping-up” their pension. I am , on the other hand, looking for a long term position but have high doubts that it will happen here. I’ve been disrespected numerous times since I accepted the teaching position in October, had to live with another roommate who presented numerous challenges from day one, and I had to pay out-of-pocket for a huge portion of my initial move. On top of that and other day-to-day challenges such as crazy rental cost, poor subsidies in most categories, I actually had to pay full cost for my partner to move here because the southern departure wasn’t from the same as mine. Really??? My relocation officer told me I would be reimbursed but, long story short, I wasn’t. I remember years back there were incentives such as a round flight each school year but now I have to pay $5000 just to fly home to see family for Christmas. Honestly, a new hire has nothing to look forward to up here. I work hard to deliver a fun-filled, meaningful educational experience for my students but it goes unappreciated. I have to go online or through a catalog just to find school supplies such as red construction paper. In fact, my school doesn’t have any Science or Math textbooks for my prescribed grade levels, leaving me with the huge task of finding online support/resources or making my own. These are little things that add to the list of “turn offs”. Retention is a huge issue. Our small school with only 15 teachers and SSAs will be losing 7 NTA members come next school year. Why? Paycheck is mediocre to what you see on the payscale; rent being the biggest culprit. The cost of living, high level of disrespect, and the rigorous task of excelling in the simplest of things is a daily challenge. Solution: offer incentives that work for your employees such as return flights, bonuses, rental breaks… I remember I had to drag my baggage from the airport to my shared apartment because there are no taxi cabs and no one there to help me. Ridiculous! I had numerous people drive pass as I made my journey toward town and none of them bothered to at least take a suitcase for me. I felt humiliated and wondering, “where the hell am I”? Like I said, it’s been a continuous struggle from pay, cost of living, lack of teacher resources, zero respect and so forth. I’ve been working hard to learn Inuktitut so that I could “fit in” better but only been mocked and laughed at in doing so. On the plus side, the scenery is nice and some of the elders node their heads when I wave in passing! All-in-all, I’m one of the 7 who will NOT be returning. Good luck with your retention plans, GN!!!