Nunavut Sivuniksavut begins search for new executive director
Dan Guay, Robyn Mo-Lian filling role for now; won’t say why school’s previous executive director left
Nunavut Sivuniksavut, a college for Inuit students in Ottawa, is hiring a new executive director, but won’t say why the previous director is no longer in the role. (Photo by Jeff Pelletier)
Nunavut Sivuniksavut is looking to hire a new executive director.
But the college, which provides post-secondary education to Inuit students in downtown Ottawa, won’t say why the previous executive director is no longer in that role.
Last week, Nunavut Sivuniksavut shared a job posting for a new executive director on its Facebook page.
Lynn Kilabuk had been executive director since March 2021. She was appointed following the retirement of Morley Hanson, who had been with the school since its early years.
Currently, two employees of the school are serving as acting co-executive directors. Dan Guay is a senior instructor and Robyn Mo-Lian is a social worker.
In a joint email sent in response to questions from Nunatsiaq News, the pair encouraged interested applicants to apply for the position.
However, Guay and Mo-Lian included no explanation for why the school was looking for a new executive director, despite being asked about Kilabuk’s departure from that role.
“As you mentioned, NS is currently seeking a new executive director,” Guay and Mo-Lian said.
“For 38 years, NS has been — and will continue to be — a place where Inuit youth can expect a high caliber academic and personal learning experience in a safe and welcoming environment.”
The only other comments in the email were two sentences encouraging new students to apply to enrol for studies in the upcoming school year.
“We can’t wait to welcome the class of 2023-24 to our amazing program,” Guay and Mo-Lian said.
Kilabuk could not be reached for comment. Her LinkedIn profile indicates she was recently the school’s executive director.
The job of executive director of Nunavut Sivuniksavut comes with a long list of roles and responsibilities, including financial management, human resources, programming, student affairs, external relations and communications and facilities management.
The deadline for applications is March 24, and states Nunavut beneficiaries will be prioritized.
There’s a reason kilabuk quit and these co-directors are clearly reading scripted responses, likely because they are being muzzled. Since the GN funds this program, taxpayers deserve to kno the reasons for her to quit after just 2 years .
People who complain about their tax dollars going places are like the Karens of the world.
I often think people who tout the “right to know” are really just vexed by an insatiable need for gossip.
You don’t deserve anything, there is labour standards and laws to follow here, it’s confidential and you being nosy don’t need to know.
GN only supports a small portion of the costs of the NS program. Inuit organizations and Canada are the most significant contributors.
Enough about tax payers,
With the lack of academic guidance counsellors in our high schools it seems the default advice to many of our top academic HS graduates is to apply to NS.
People, especially youth, do not know what they do not know, so of course, they tend to go with what is suggested of them.
The end result is that consciously or not, the cream of our youth is being streamed into the humanities and fast tracked into the Nunavut bureaucracy, and this has been happening for over 20 years. This is hugely ironic given how “streaming” used to be such a swear word in education.
Who knows how many have dropped out simply because the program content does not resonate with them, how many years of study and financial assistance has been essentially wasted, or how many NS grads are currently languishing in government jobs wishing they had chosen a different path?
This is an autopilot approach, as the wisdom of focusing on churning out future government managers to the exclusion of other choices seems to have retained support without any critical analysis.
We have had almost a quarter of a century of experience trying to build Nunavut. All of that time, the focus has been on building up government programs and the civil service.
The results of this are put most charitably, mixed.
It could be a good time to see how the NS program could be reformed in order to broaden the post secondary alternatives for graduates, or think of supporting more other ways to get Inuit grads into other areas (such as accounting, commerce, Science and Tech).
NS is basically just a 2 year summer camp time to shut the place down. Poorly managed and Look how many kids drop out or get kick out to.
NS is an extremely regressive institution. Not only is the drop out rate outrageously high, the liberal-liberal arts program has no merit. Nor does the method of instruction prepare students for learning.
Resources and materials are not challenging and do not encourage curiosity or debate. Instruction is akin to spoon feeding thin pablum. Funds would be much better spent teaching high school graduates how to read; then encouraging them to read.
Further, students are sent to Ottawa to participate in a post-secondary experience. Once there, they are isolated with their peers from Nunavut. Beyond an advanced academic course load the other benefit of a post-secondary education is the challenge and growth that arises from intense interaction with students from other cultures. So that is missed also.
How do you know all this, S?
I am a graduate of NS, and as I result, I was accepted into a university after that program, and now I have my degree. The program teaches critical thinking and gives you a better understanding of history from the Inuk perspective, not European colonial lies that were spoonfed to us, as you would say in high school. Your criticism does it come from experience or your perception of Inuit history. In university, a lot of Canadians took indigenous studies thinking it was a bird course were they ever wrong, a lot of them had poor marks or left the course altogether.
Well, I hope you will have a better understanding of the program and change your perspective.
What University did you get your degree from?
Based on your comments on this site, I would say NS did a good job making you “think critically”
Forgive us, Johnny… I believe what your doubters here are trying to say is that your comments on this page are so routinely superficial and poorly thought out that they can’t help but be skeptical that you spent 4 years in a university setting and obtained a degree.
S has no clue, beyond regurgitating culture war non-sense from Twitter.
Funny to watch him/her manipulate their own ‘likes’ though.. must be very fragile.
Thanks for your comment, “Complete Fragility”
Which of my comments disagrees with your doctrine of Nunavut Si-vu-nik-sa-vut?
In what way does your creed disagree?
What informs your disagreement?
My extreme skepticism that you know anything about NS informs my comments.
Thanks, “Complete Fragility”.
What knowledge of Nunavut Si-vu-nik-sa-vut, post secondary education, and me informs your extreme skepticism?
Instead of playing word games for the rest of the afternoon, please tell us what reasoning or evidence lead you to claim:
“Resources and materials are not challenging and do not encourage curiosity or debate. Instruction is akin to spoon feeding thin pablum. Funds would be much better spent teaching high school graduates how to read; then encouraging them to read.”
Simply put… how do you know this?
I suggest you don’t know anything. Am I mistaken?
When people want to become teachers, they take NTEP, if they want to become Wildlife officers, they rake ETP. Not quite sure what profession Nunavut Sivunitsavut ever offered. To work at Museum?
Sad to see people so proudly trumpeting their ignorance around anything beyond a strictly technical education.
The graduates become experts in the dialogue known as “ns-speak”. Former MP Trina “Mummillaq” Qaqqaq knows this all too well.
Is Ms. Qaqqaq’s statue at Four Corners yet??
Close N.S.
No need for it. Want to go to University or college? Go the regular route.
Through working for it and not a hand out.
your statement is micro-aggression at it best, look that up my friend
No one cares about ‘microaggressions’ Johnny. The entire idea screams ‘I am so fragile.’ People roll their eyes and snicker when they hear this.
I’ve never understood why NS has had to be offered in Ottawa, as opposed to Iqaluit or another community in Iqaluit. The only argument I’ve heard is that Ottawa is a better place to allow the students to grow and mature. And they need to learn how to feel more comfortable in a southern environment. So I guess that means the Iqaluit and Nunavut is a regressive and immature environment and it’s more important for these students to feel comfortable in the south. It’s certainly an interesting message that this school is trying to convey…..
The only thing regressive and immature is this ridiculous comment,
Its a little strange. University teaches course in Western Civilization in 6 credits and 4 months. This place uses 2 years for a Territory thats been in place since 1999.
“Slow readers”(?) (Can’t read without moving their lips??
It teaches Inuit history and how Inuit struggles and resistance create a new territory you benefit from. I assume you’re working for the GN or a company that services that GN. Inuit history is complicated with many layers.
Radical indoctrination facility
The NS program gives the students a sense of identity and opens the students’ heart and mind to the vast world out there! It prepares the Inuit for further education.
Originally, the NS was set up to teach the Inuit how to communicate how the land claims negotiations are heading into. Once the NLCA was signed, this training was not needed anymore, so the Program was modified to what it is today.
NS was created by the Tungavik Federation of Nunavut in Ottawa, Ontario to be close to the parent organization, Inuit Tapirisat of Canada (ITC, now known as Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami).
I highly encourage Inuit students to take the program and learn about your Inuit history and the land claims, and go out and see the world so that you could feel more open-minded and independent. It’ll also give you a sense of direction as to where you really want to go with your life (in terms of education).
So what if people put it down and see it as something unnecessary, people just don’t know exactly how much impact NS has on its students. All the best!