Nunangat university plans have been in works for years but when will it open?

‘Foundational pieces’ of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami’s plan to be in place this year, says Mastercard Foundation executive

Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami president Natan Obed, seen at a December 2023 news conference in Iqaluit, called the creation of an Inuit Nunangat University a “priority” for ITK in 2021. The university idea, spearheaded by ITK, has been under discussion for more than a decade but in that time little concrete progress has been made. (File photo)

By Jorge Antunes

Three years after declaring a university for Inuit Nunangat a priority, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami is apparently still at the drawing board and with very few details to share.

In June 2021, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, Canada’s national Inuit organization, announced a partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, which awarded the organization $1.5 million towards helping ITK plan an Inuit Nunangat university, named after the Inuktitut word for  homeland.

The university would be a “world class” institution, created for Inuit, by Inuit, ITK president Natan Obed said at the time, and the money would help ITK do initial exploratory work into the idea, including consulting with Inuit about how such an institution would function.

Over the past six months, Nunatsiaq News has asked ITK at least seven times for an update on the status of the university.

On each occasion, an ITK spokesperson said an announcement would be forthcoming and declined requests for an interview.

But there is indeed work happening behind the scenes, said Jennifer Brennan, senior director of Canada Programs for the Mastercard Foundation, in an interview June 21.

Brennan said representatives of the Mastercard Foundation, an independent charity created by the credit card company, meet monthly with ITK and the relationship between the two organizations so far has been focused on engagement with people across all of Inuit Nunangat.

“Which obviously takes a great deal of time and focus to do well,” she said.

Brennan said “really great progress” has been made, citing the foundation’s most recent update from ITK. “Foundational pieces” of the project will be completed this year, she said.

The Mastercard Foundation’s partnership with ITK is about more than providing funding, Brennan said. It’s also about determining what ITK will need in order to make an Inuit Nunangat university a reality.

“And certainly our expectation that our support can really motivate and encourage others to come to the table as well,” Brennan added.

“And here, I’m obviously thinking about the governments that have clear responsibility to move this forward.”

The idea for a university for Inuit Nunangat dates back to 2011, championed by then-ITK president Mary Simon (now Canada’s governor general), as part of a national strategy on Inuit education.

The strategy outlined a broad plan for rebuilding and reclaiming Inuit education across Canada. One of its 10 recommendations called for the development of an Inuit Nunangat university.

The Mastercard Foundation was established in 2006. It has offices in Rwanda, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, Senegal, Ethiopia where it works with local organizations on educational advancement. In Canada, the organization focuses on Indigenous initiatives.

The following is a timeline of events since the university was first publicly proposed:

  • 2011 — Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami announces the establishment of an Inuit Nunangat university as one of 10 recommendations in “First Canadians, Canadians First: The National Strategy on Inuit Education.”
  • 2017 — ITK’s board passes a resolution in support of establishing the university.
  • 2018 — ITK announces five-year timeline for the development of an Inuit Nunangat university which would open its doors within one of Canada’s four Inuit regions by 2023.
  • June 2021 — ITK announces a partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, which included a $1.5-million grant.
  • September 2021 — ITK holds a virtual forum to discuss an Inuit Nunangat university.
  • 2022 — ITK forms Inuit Nunangat University Task Force which “is the initial advisory and support group for the visioning of the Inuit Nunangat University.”
  • December 2023 — ITK’s board discusses recommendations including possible locations for the university, academic programming and a governance body. ITK ignores requests from Nunatsiaq News for more details about these developments.
  • March 2024 — ITK issues a request for proposals to create a “communications and fundraising plan for ITK’s Inuit Nunangat university.” This request for proposals is no longer listed on ITK’s website and there has been no update about whether it was awarded.
  • May 2024 — federal and Inuit leaders discuss the university during the annual Inuit-Crown Partnership meeting. No specific details of the discussion were provided.
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(30) Comments:

  1. Posted by Lol on

    I’ll take “Things that look good on paper but will never actually happen” for $1000, Alex.

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  2. Posted by Old timer on

    This will never happen its is just to look good in his seat

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    • Posted by Inukfromnunavut on

      How long is this going to take ? Should rake in $$

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  3. Posted by Win/Win on

    Neither ITK or MC Foundation expect this to happen, but ITK gets to portray the illusion of progress, and MCF buys some goodwill with its investment.

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  4. Posted by Forever Amazed on

    There is a difficult enough time keeping the students in elementary and high school. Very few finish / complete NAC. Who do you think will attend this university?

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  5. Posted by Disconnected on

    Who will teach there? Study there? Run the place? And in which language?

    This is setting up the stage for further colonialization by importing and settling hundreds of people to operate an English university with some inutktut sprinkled on top for a few graduates a year, few of them Inuit. Increasing the partnerships with established universities in the South for on the job training ans certification would go further than this symbol Obed and his team are chasing just to leave a legacy.

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    • Posted by No Moniker on

      I’d be interested to know what you mean by ‘further colonization’.

      Do you mean, Inuit students might learn skills valued in the modern world?For example, English language skills? Or maybe math or physics? Maybe they will study biology and learn about animal life from a perspective your elders could never have imagined? Are these things threats to you? If so, why? Would you prefer your fellow Inuit resigned themselves to more static, exclusive forms of knowledge? Transferring only things discovered by other Inuit? If that is your vision, I agree, a University is the last thing you should want to see anywhere near Nunavut.

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      • Posted by Booble head on

        Actually, it’s a concern that more “undesirables” might come north. Solution being, send Inuit south to learn, an unintentional admission that southerners are more accepting and tolerant of ‘others’ and are expected to be.

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      • Posted by Dave on

        It’s called Social Engineering and universities across Canada and the US have been heavily criticized for the practice.

        Universities don’t just teach Math, Chemistry and History…. they also shape young impressionable minds. Universities employ PHD’s as teachers and academics will run the facility, there will be no Inuit qualified to teach or in a position of authority. So this tiny university of outsiders will shape the minds of Nunavut’s next generation of leaders.

        Just stop and think about that.

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        • Posted by Similariities? on

          So, kinda like NS then?

          • Posted by Dave on

            Pretty much.

            It does seem if your home has a big enough walk in closet, you meet the bar for your own university in NS.

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        • Posted by So on

          So it would be preferable that the student, note singular student, u of nu be taught only inuk ways language and customs setting aside all other matters that make up the universe. How valuable is that knowledge in today’s world. Yes, protect yourselves from progress, evolving knowledge and philosophies. You will have a great future living on the past. Especially if you keep outsiders from influencing you perfect society and culture.

  6. Posted by art thompson on

    I guess….5 or 6 sea cans with window cutouts. Teach grade 10 math wait for all the chinese international students to arrive. But look they have had a virtual forum, a 5 year time line and a task force let alone. Lordy….somebody been smokin some high grade. They can put the faculty and their families up in the brown building.

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  7. Posted by The Founder on

    Nunangit is the correct term

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    • Posted by Stephanie king on

      When Adam &Eve got the boot
      The Devil stayed in the garden.
      Details….

  8. Posted by Colin on

    This is a really bad idea that should be discarded and stay discarded. You have only to see how difficult it is to retain teachers. There’s already the useless research boondoggle establishment at Cambridge Bay.

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  9. Posted by Maui on

    A cool mil and a half and we are hungry and bumming smokes.

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  10. Posted by Maui on

    Your salary is?

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  11. Posted by cynics be damned on

    It can be done, and it has been done. Ilisimatusarfik, The University of Greenland, is a highly regarded institution. It took several decades to build it up to level that it’s at today, but that is to be expected.

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    • Posted by Arnaq on

      It must be done. It must be done if Inuit are to take their rightful place in this world. Do it.

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  12. Posted by Eskimos Fan on

    Who’s dime? Tax payers or are Inuit Students actually pay for their education like they should.
    Or else Nunavut keeps producing Entitled people thinking, “Since white did this and that, they owe. No matter how incompetent we are. Forever.”

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  13. Posted by Mephistopheles on

    More accepting? Condescension and ….”Awww. That’s so cute” would likely be more appropriate. “They think they’re actual politicians. That’s so cute. Awww.🥰”

  14. Posted by More On on

    IKR?
    None of it students can’t pass a basic entrance exam. D-OH!!!

  15. Posted by So on

    So how many grads to you have each year and of that how many could actually learn at university level. Learn to walk before trying to run at an Olympic pace.

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  16. Posted by Canadians Before the Foreigners on

    I have little interest in ‘Inuit’ taking their place in the world. The foreigners in Greenland do not interest me in the least.

    I am more interested in Inuit taking their rightful place in Canada.

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  17. Posted by Flabbergasted on

    This guy’s needs to be replaced asap, done nothing for anyone but himself. Us inuit have spoken…nothing has ever changed since he has been in his seat and all he has done is line his pockets with taxpayers who worked hard to gain a dollar in the most expensive territory in the world. Shame on you obed.

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  18. Posted by Kia Nunaga? on

    Nunangat University? No offense but that is a horrible name, Nunangat means “their land”. so, whose land are we referring to when we state “Hey I’m going to Nunangat University”, as in “Hey I’m going to Their University”, sounds bad in any language. Maybe come up with a more apt name for a University?

  19. Posted by True on

    A lot of the comments are coming from people that would fit so well in Israel they know now where they are coming from and where they are, this is a different part of the world and they continually push garbage into peoples minds
    There are also people in here that are Jealous of Obed he has done so much for INUIT, he includes and does not Exclude

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  20. Posted by DumpMan on

    First course..How to set an alarm clock
    2nd-How to get a sin#
    3rd-How to get a bank account
    4th-How to file taxes and claim child tax or cerb
    5th-How to retire as a millionaire on child tax or cerb.

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    • Posted by True on

      Its not so cut and dry like in your every day life man, its a different culture
      Its not 9 to 5 and drink your worries away after work and think badly about others
      its not like your family MAN, your family is as far as you think, this is a entirely different CULTURE, one you can never fit in you don’t fit into anything but your family who you run from

Comments are closed.