Nunavut teacher honoured by prime minister

CHARLOTTE PETRIE

Pascale Baillargeon is an educator, a muse and maybe even a miracle-worker. She’s also the recipient of the Prime Minister’s Award for Teaching.

A native of Quebec City, Baillargeon has been teaching in Kimmirut for 10 years. She spearheaded the creation of a Grade 10 program in 1993 to be implemented in all Nunavut communities back when many students from outlying areas came to Iqaluit for high school.

It was an initiative in the early 1990s to move away from the residential model. But as if that weren’t challenging enough, she took the task one step further. She expanded her work on a Grade 10 program to include an overall program for high schools in every community across Nunavut.

“I took a very strong interest in developing a high school program involving the community in the high school and the high school in the community,” Baillargeon explained.

Building bridges between the community and the school is an objective she has kept for 10 years while wearing a variety of teaching hats at Qaqqalik School.

“With all the transition Nunavut has experienced, I’ve had great opportunities to work on a variety of committees and with a variety of really good educators,” she said.

Integrating a high school program into the smaller communities involved more than developing courses. The teenagers themselves had to be integrated into the community because they were sent to Iqaluit after Grade 9 to return only during holidays.

“In 1993 the community did not have teenagers. So what do they do after school if there is nothing for them?” Baillargeon asked.

“With the issues we had to face, we realized very quickly that it wasn’t just a classroom issue. A lot of the things we were dealing with in the class came from community situations or a lack of understanding of what is a high school.”

Parents also struggled, Baillargeon explained, because they weren’t used to having teenagers in their homes. An understanding of what it means to have a high school in the community and a need for recreational and cultural programs had to be addressed.

Another obstacle Baillargeon overcame was supporting Inuit educators whose previous experience was teaching primary school.

But the biggest adaptation was how to involve teenagers in their community year-round, Baillargeon admitted. Many communities today continue to face some of these challenges, such as a lack of jobs, recreational activities and youth committees.

The recent awards ceremony held in Ottawa praised Baillargeon for her leadership qualities, and recognized the energetic teacher for her innovative teaching techniques.

With a background in outdoor education, Baillargeon advocates a hands-on, flexible approach to teaching. She has been involved in many trips out on the land with her students, who she says have taught her so much.

And a few years back she led a classroom of fine arts students in the business of making and selling t-shirts through her printmaking classes. Their work attracted the attention of a vendor at Pearson International Airport in Toronto, who signed on to sell the shirts in his gift shop.

The expectant mother is winding down for her second child, but that didn’t stop her from taking in the lavish festivities which were bestowed on her and 15 other recipients at the gala awards ceremony on Parliament Hill May 15.