Quebec’s education minister visits Nunavik

Last week, Pierre Reid, the education minister recently named by the provincial Liberal government, visited Nunavik for the first time.

During Reid’s brief visit to the region, he and his delegation, which included longtime member of the National Assembly, Geoff Kelley, were able to stop at schools in four communities.

In each community, the visitors took a tour of the facilities. In Kangiqsualujjuaq, they saw how telecommunications assists with long-distance music classes. In Kangiqsujuaq, students performed a play and served lunch. In Inukjuak, the focus of their visit was on the need for expanded facilities at the school and vocational training centre.

In Kuujjuaq, Reid also met with the Kativik School Board staff involved in teacher training and curriculum development staff.

But relocation of the school board’s head office from its new Ville St-Laurent offices in Montreal wasn’t on the tour’s formal agenda. Relocation, say KSB officials, is now on the back-burner due to the ongoing legal disputes between the KSB and Makivik Corporation over new-government negotiations.