ITK gets $50M contribution toward Inuit Nunangat University

Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami president Natan Obed says the organization is closer to “fully realizing their vision” for an Inuit Nunangat University after receiving a $50-million contribution from the Mastercard Foundation.

The funding, announced Wednesday, is the “largest private donation made to Inuit” and will be used for academic planning, course development and community engagement, according to a news release from ITK, the national organization representing Inuit in Canada.

The university will be the first of its kind — Inuit-owned and Inuit-governed, with a goal to open by 2030.

In an interview, Obed said Inuit Nunangat University will help reduce barriers to post-secondary education for Inuit by being located closer to students’ home communities and centered on an Inuit world view.

“We are hoping that we can create a university that is an extension of Inuit society and that will be inclusive of Inuit from all regions or whoever else would like to attend the university,” Obed said.

“From the time that a person enters into the classroom, to the types of disciplines they can study, to the supports they receive and the community that they undertake their university studies in, it will all be part of a society that they already understand and know.”

No location has been chosen yet for the school, Obed said, but in 2025 ITK will begin an Inuit Nunangat-wide process across all four regions to determine the best site for the main campus.

There will be one knowledge centre opened in each of the three Inuit regions that are not selected for the main campus.

In the release, ITK estimates it will need another $160 million from the public and private sectors to open a main campus and develop initial university degree programs.

Obed said the organization has put in a $50-million request to the federal government in advance of the government’s next budget, and will seek financial support from Inuit treaty organizations, the economic and mining community, and Canadian philanthropic sector.

In June 2021, ITK had announced a partnership with the Mastercard Foundation that included a $1.5 million investment toward the planning of the university.

The foundation is a Canadian charity that promotes access to education for Indigenous Canadian youth and young people in Africa.

Kyle Allen, a spokesperson for Northern Affairs Minister Dan Vandal, said in an email statement Wednesday the minister “applauds ITK for their work towards the creation of the university and looks forward to seeing the next steps.”

“A university, created and operated by Inuit, for Inuit and others, could decisively fulfil a gap in northern post-secondary education,” Allen said.

For the undergraduate academic program, Obed noted there will be two years of multidisciplinary focus on a variety of course topics like Inuktut language studies, self-determination or sovereignty, understanding relationships regarding health and well-being, Inuit history, modern land claims and treaties, and the concept of being a wise person.

After the prerequisites are completed, students can then declare a major or minor degree within a faculty, such as economics or climate studies.

“We’re going to have a real focus on the multidisciplinary and holistic approach to learning, which has been the hallmark for Inuit learning and Inuit knowledge for thousands of years,” Obed said.

“We are hoping to find our place and enrich the opportunities for Inuit students or whomever wishes to come to this institution, and hopefully we can maximize the options students have after they graduate from high school and are looking to further their education for themselves and ultimately for the benefit of their communities.”