Nunavut’s education minister hails opening of new school in Kugaaruk

When Nunavut’s education minister celebrated in the legislature last week the opening of the territory’s newest school in Kugaaruk, the building’s $40-million cost wasn’t mentioned.

Instead, David Joanasie spoke during a minister’s statement on Thursday, Oct. 17, about how the school was named after the bowhead whale.

“This hunt has always been an important part of the community’s history, providing an opportunity to bring the community together to learn, work, share, and grow,” he said. “Just as a bowhead whale is delicious and nutritious, Arviligruaq Ilinniarvik will be as enrichening for students, staff and the community.”

The official opening of the new school took place on Oct. 8.

Community and Government Services Minister Lorne Kusugak, Kudlik Construction. and Kudlik Aviation senior manager René Déziel, elder Sidone Nirlungayuk, Education Minister David Joanasie and Kugaaruq District Education Authority member Alice Inuksaq during the ribbon-cutting and flag-raising ceremony at Arviligruaq Ilinniarvik on Oct. 8. (Photo courtesy of the Government of Nunavut Department of Education)

In his statement, Joanasie called the loss of the former Kugaardjuk School “a tragedy.”

The school was completely destroyed in a March 2017 fire later found to have been purposely set by a 13-year-old who was charged with arson.

During the two-year design and construction period for the new school, Joanasie said it took “the effort of the entire community to ensure that the students were still able to get the education they deserve.”

As Kugaardjuk School was the Kitikmeot community’s only school, its roughly 300 students and 45 staff had to relocate to temporary portables and various locations around town.

The loss of the school also left a lasting impact on the GN finances.

That’s because the frequency of school fires in Nunavut, and the risk this has created, has made it more difficult for the GN to get fire insurance.

After a fire destroyed the high school in Cambridge Bay in 1997 and a school in Pangnirtung in 1998, along with another fire in 2003 that destroyed the first Joamie School building in Iqaluit, Nunavut’s deductible for insurance claims rose to $10 million.

Then, following the September 2015 fire at Peter Pitseolak School in Cape Dorset and the March 2017 fire that destroyed Kugaardjuq School, Nunavut’s deductible rose to $20 million.

That means that if the new $40-million school burns down, the GN will be obliged to pay the first $20 million with its own money.

The $100,000 in repair work on Kugluktuk’s high school, which also was set on fire earlier this year, will come out of the GN’s pocket.

Kugaaruk’s new school includes a security system and security personnel who make regular rounds of the building, the Education Department said in a release earlier this month.

The only surviving parts of the former school are the stones from an entranceway that were salvaged and incorporated into the frame of a glass case used to display trophies and art.

The new school includes classrooms equipped with interactive projectors or smart boards, a second-floor open-concept loft space that serves as a break room for students, a weight room and a daycare centre.