Offensive workbook banned in Nunavut

PATRICIA D’SOUZA

The publisher of an elementary school workbook that says Inuit lack the skills to hold permanent jobs has pulled the book from its line.

S&S Learning Materials of Napanee, Ont., said in a letter to Nunatsiaq News last Wednesday that the book will not be re-issued in its current form.

But the company made no commitment to issue a notice to teachers across Canada who have purchased the book, informing them of the situation.

The book, called “Let’s Visit Nunavut,” was published in 1996. Passages describe Inuit as dependent on welfare and unable to work.

“Most Inuit do not make a living from full-time jobs that pay money. Usually there are no jobs available because the people lack the job skills,” it says.

One frightening passage in a section called “The Inuits’ Daily Life” describes Inuit as baby-killers. “Baby girls were more at risk than boys as a higher value was placed on children who would one day grow up to be hunters. Families with more girls than boys often gave the girls away or killed them when they were born in order to maintain the balance,” it says.

The book is aimed at children in Grades 2 to 4. One page was photocopied and distributed to a Grade 3 class at Joamie School in March.

The principals at Joamie and Nakasuk schools, Iqaluit’s two elementary schools, tore out the offensive pages when they became aware of the situation.

The Nunavut department of education has since banned the book’s use in Nunavut schools.

The book was written by Ruth Solski, founder of S&S Learning Materials. In an interview in mid-April, Lisa Solski, the company’s director of marketing and Ruth’s daughter, said the book is a compilation of material from other sources.

“The majority of what I have in that book is what other people had already written,” Lisa said her mother told her.

“The only question I asked is, ‘Why weren’t we more conscientious about what sort of material was written?'” said a former employee of S&S Learning Materials in an interview this week. “They said, ‘We rely upon our authors to give us the right sort of information.’ But one of the authors was the cofounder of the company.”

The book’s list of resources contains material published in 1979, 1962 and even 1922.

One resource, “Arctic Dreams and Nightmares” by Alootook Ipellie, contains erotic and violent imagery.

The letter from S&S Learning Materials says the book will not be re-issued until a revised edition has been approved by the IDEA.

But Kathy Smith, chair of the IDEA, said this week that the organization hasn’t been asked for its approval, and that teachers, not IDEA members, should vet the book.

“I don’t know why they’d say that they’d have our approval,” she said at the IDEA’s April 28 meeting.