EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
According to the 2002-2003 planning, it includes Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit.
We are working on and want to continue to be working on creating Inuktitut teaching materials from Inuit skills.
We want to be able to plan starting from the meetings your ideas and get information from, there should always be elders taking part when we are creating teaching materials.
Also our Regional Employees’ Headquarters, they are responsible and we will continue to work on what has been planned for education.
We want to be able to create teaching materials from Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit planning.
Along with the help from the elders and also from the Inuit instructors, we want to be able to communicate with them in the communities.
Once we discuss this in the communities we want to be able to plan together and talk about the teaching materials and plans.
What will be planned in the system in different regional education offices and also with Nunavut Arctic College?
We are also drafting educational materials for Grades 10-12, Inuktitut, Inuinnaqtun languages, from Grades 7 to 12.
We are also working on the Language Services for English as a Second Language, from Grade 7 to 9.
And also the Department of Oceans, Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit is helping a lot when we are working on developing these educational materials we are developing.
Also we have geared for Grade 10, which will be math, Inuktitut and Innuinaqtut from kindergarten to grade 6.
Mr. Chairman, looking at these plans, they all touch on what Mr. Arvaluk was saying.
I just want to inform you that we will continue to work closely with the elders.
So, we are planning what will be the best way to plan the teaching education along with the help of the elders.
Under all that, there are a lot of issues.
Page 9-14 and 9-15, is that part of it?
Ms. Williams (interpretation): Mr. Chairman, my question, 9-14, 9-15, are they together?
Chairperson (interpretation): Thank you, 14 and 15 are together.
The reason why I asked this question is because first of all, the school services, it probably wasn’t there but I wanted to mention this, that in the communities there are a lot of storms and when there are storms the children don’t go to school.
Whenever there are staff meetings, there is no school all day.
There is supposed to be approximately 195 school days.
It’s probably the reason why their education is behind because there are so many times when they are not in school when they should be there.
Also we’ve often heard that if a teacher has something to do or meetings to go to there will be no school that day.
The education planning, planning the schedule and calendars, are they renewed every year?
I want to be able to know how many days the children are supposed to be in school during the year.
Are we keeping track of this?
My question is under 9-16, early childhood programs, under 9-16.
What is the difference between early childhood programs and the school programs?
I will have one more question after this.
We’ve finished with 9-16 already.
This is talking about early childhood.
Let me just point out that early childhood, the little children, those are geared for early childhood, children that are not in school yet.
But these are under the plan also according to the District Education Authorities in different communities, for the calendars, the teachers are following the calendars of the school which are set up by the staff and the community.
And also we talked about the storm days and staff meeting days also in this calendar; those are the types of things that they plan for.
Those early childhood education students are just getting ready for the school year.
Do they have room in the schools?
We are talking about two different operations in different communities.
Some of the communities are working voluntarily or the District Education Authority is working on these things because there are differences in the communities, but we are able to fund, excuse me, for early childhood programs.
School services, reading this information, it says here the kindergarten to grade 12 curricula and development and production of resources and materials to support curricula.
Mr. Chairman, one of the members mentioned that we want to see the plans for the school calendar year.
To my understanding with the questions on the curriculum, the question was, are the school operations geared according to the school calendar year?
Because of the wording here under school services, if I’m correct, the minister went to Greenland to see what the school services are like in Greenland and reported on the school services in Greenland, my question is do we have any plans similar to the Greenland school services plans?
Yes, I talked about the teachers’ education and development plans.
Now I understand what you are saying.
Okay, are we saying that the teaching materials and two year calendar is planned.
Are we going to plan similar to the Greenland school service plan?
Yes, on the plan for the Inuktitut teaching materials we were able to go there and look at the school system in Inuktitut but after that we haven’t been planning anything after that visit to Greenland but we are more geared towards creating teaching materials in Inuktitut.
There is a difference between Inuit in Greenland and here in our communities.
I am sorry; I was being disturbed when you gave your response.
If I could ask you again, you visited Greenland to find out how the school system is run and you reported to the House that it was a very good system that they had and one that we can emulate.
What did you learn from the Greenland visit and while we are still Members of the Legislative Assembly, before our term is over will that report ever be prepared?
I’m sorry, I guess he didn’t really hear what my response was.
I’ll try to answer him again.
Like I said before in the beginning what we wanted to find out was only what kinds of Inuktitut materials they had, the kind of curriculum that they utilize for teaching Inuktitut.
NTI also came with us and we wanted to be able to work with them after we saw the Greenland system.
I’m sorry Mr. Chairman, but I was trying to say that nothing has happened since our visit to Greenland.
We wanted to be able to work together and after that we discussed it briefly with our staff about the visit to Greenland to see what they could do about it but there’s no plan in place at this time.
I would like to make it clear to the member that this did not have anything to do with students that are taking primary and secondary education but it had to do mainly with adult education.
Yes, when we visited the facility, it was something that we were envious of and we want to see something like this here in Nunavut.
We went with some NTI staff, and just recently I’ve spoken to NTI and what we’re trying to do, we want to put our ideas on paper, including the system that we saw during our visit.
Unfortunately, there is nothing solid in place after the visit to Greenland.
Like the minister said, they were just using the curriculum as an example.
Perhaps he was talking about the system of numbers, teaching them in Inuktitut or Inuinnaqtun.
Maybe he just used that as an example when he gave us his response but I would like to ask the minister if there’s anyone who knows counting in Inuktitut and the terminology.
Is there anyone who knows about making advanced Inuktitut curriculum, such as numbers in Inuktitut?
We have individual numbers reaching twenty, and then according to Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, we start to use numbers of humans to signify twenties.
Like if it gets up to 700, I don’t think you can get up to 700 when counting in Inuktitut.
If I was to say 700, how would I say it in Inuktitut?
I don’t think there is such a word in Inuktitut that goes up to 700.
I guess that is an example of developing Inuktitut curriculum.
It’s good that we hear these comments.
I know that we can’t go up to 700 in traditional numbering but what I was saying is that we were talking about the kindergarten students up to grade 6 that we were thinking about developing a curriculum teaching them Inuktitut numbers.
So we will be working with the Department of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth on developing this curriculum in Inuktitut.
Just to find out the kinds of curriculum we could develop and numbers in Inuktitut was part of an example.
I also now know how to say 700 in Inuktitut too.
I was just using that as an example, because I know that we did not go that far when we were counting in Inuktitut.
I also know that when they go out caribou hunting that numbers were used and if they went seal hunting, if they got some seals and if they went beyond twenty, they would say that they got twenty plus.
I know that you can’t go up to seven hundred in the Inuktitut way of counting.
I was just using that as an example.
My question was that, that this is not a game, Mr. Chairman, I am talking about something serious and I was allowed ten minutes for comments, so if you need to reprimand me, please do so.
Let me digress a little, the minister responded by saying that they went to Greenland to find out what is happening over there in regards to Inuktitut curriculum ideas and to use them as a model, but he was also said that nothing has happened since then.
It is unfortunate but I think I know why there is nothing planned in place for this time, because there are twenty-six communities and every one of them will have to have a teacher, if they proceed.
The teachers will have to be paid and I know that funding can be a limitation.
Mr. Chairman, if I could have some more clarification from the minister to find out from him whether they will be planning to use the system they have in Greenland, or whether it is being thought about by the department to see what kinds of things that they could do.
First of all, I can say that when we first talked about this idea to visit Greenland to see what kinds of things they were doing, we heard that there was a facility where they teach people in Inuktitut, and we wanted to find out all the details.
Such as, who manages the program, what kinds of materials they have, what kinds of educators they possess and what subjects they offer in Inuktitut.
After that visit to Greenland, we corresponded between NTI at the staff level, where it was mentioned that the idea could probably proceed but we have no plan in place to start any new programs after the visit to Greenland.
As I said before, I tried to make it clear to the members, that kindergarten to Grade 12; it would be have to be outside the kindergarten to Grade 12 program.
The plan that they have or the system that they have in Greenland, it is successful because it is outside of the regular school system.
I am reiterating this point and as I stated, what we have done is we have spoken with NTI just recently, but there is no plan in place to follow the Greenland system at this time.
It just seems to me that this is urgent, that something should be done to develop a curriculum similar to the one in Greenland.
Because we all know from our eldest member who is almost 70 years old, and we all know as members of this legislature even when we start developing grey hair, we realize that the traditional Inuktitut methods should be developed as a curriculum for the schools.
I have never used the number 20.
It goes beyond 20 and up but you have to do it one at a time.
Those are the kinds of things that should be taught in schools for the students in the schools here in Nunavut while the knowledge is still not lost.
The youth have to learn to make sealskin ropes and other traditional stuff, which should not be lost and should be taught to the students in the schools in Nunavut.
If they developed curriculum based on this methodology, then they would have to do the curriculum development for a long, long time and I think it’s about time that we start doing it.
I believe that it is an urgent matter now.
Just for the consideration of the department.
The resource centre in Arviat develops curriculum using the elder’s knowledge and what they do is to develop curriculum in the traditional way.
In the regions there have been some people appointed to teach part of the day and part of the day they do curriculum development.
The resource centre in Arviat that develops curriculum, it is an ongoing thing collaborating with our elders and they have also provided us with things that we could use in the schools.
Curriculum that has been developed over there has included courses teaching Inuit traditional methods of doing things and Inuit terminology and mentality.
What plans we have in place are, if I understand the member, he’s saying that we should be doing it now because it’ll take a long time to develop that curriculum.
But if we want the best, then we will require some time.
For example, we used to make sealskin floats and I would not be able to make one in a day but if I required a float, I could probably use a five gallon plastic gas container, even though it is not a traditional float.
But if we’re going to use those traditional methods of doing things that were developed a long time ago then we have use them properly.
Those are the things I’m talking about.
You were just talking about some modern floats now, but they break when they go to the deep water.
They’ll break instantly, so that’s one of the drawbacks of those modern floats.
Mr. Arvaluk, the floor is yours now.
Those traditional sealskin floats stink.
Under Teachers’ Professional Development, there is 1 million 517 thousand dollars.
We find our teachers in the communities out travelling, the majority of them go down south for teacher’s professional development to develop their skills.
For the Inuktitut curriculum, we rarely develop it because we don’t have enough staff to do that kind of resource work and since we lack funding.
So my question is what percentage of Inuit beneficiaries, when they undertake teacher’s professional development days, how many beneficiaries actually attend those development workshops?
In response to his question, they go to teacher’s professional development in a variety of places; the majority of the teachers stay in the community to do their professional development.
Just to clarify the matter again, during the negotiations between the Nunavut Teacher’s Federation and the Nunavut government, this professional development provision was agreed to.
It is protected in the agreement so that’s why it’s included.
We really can’t say how many Inuit beneficiaries take part in the teachers’ professional development or even where they take their professional development days.
Although I know it’s in the agreement, as a government you have given the funding and accepted the agreement so I was wondering if you could monitor it closely to make sure that this funding is benefiting Nunavut beneficiaries with this 1.5 million dollars to make sure that it benefits Nunavut beneficiaries.
Is this funding to send the teachers anywhere they wish for teachers’ professional development?
Can you try and find out who uses this program the most, our southern hires or our Inuit teachers?
If I remember correctly, you can correct me if I’m wrong; I remember before we got too many Inuit teachers, that’s why this program was developed by the GNWT.
Can you make sure that your goals are benefiting the beneficiaries since we use 1.5 million dollars for teachers’ professional development, can you make sure that Inuit beneficiaries are included and taking part in this program?
I would like to clarify to my colleague that Inuit take part in that teachers’ professional development providing that they’re teachers and they are not slighted in anyway.
Also there’s another aspect to professional development, this is very useful, and I believe that it is very useful and I’ve been in support of this program so that our teachers can enhance themselves so that outsiders won’t be teaching them professional development skills.
We provide this program to the teachers because they need to enhance their skills.
So it would be easier for all that way as we won’t have to bring in outsiders to do this program.
The last comment on page 9-14, I think my colleague had touched upon Inuktitut curriculum.
Courses that are elements of technical training, for example being taught how to build a float or an igloo by an elder, those are the types of things I am talking about.
First of all, yes, this is urgent because our elders are the most knowledgeable about that and they’re passing away.
They either should be recorded and video taped and secondly the Inuit teachers with certification through Arctic College can you try and find out if they can be technical instructors in the different communities?
For example, in south Baffin they can teach how to make sealskin floats and in the Foxe Basin area they could teach another technical skill like how to survive when the ice shears away, because you could possibly get a free trip to Greenland as long as the ice floe holds up.
You can also get technical skills training such as how to survive out on the ice when the ice, out on the floe edge so although it would be the resource centre in Arviat that would be leading the initiative, you still have elders from other regions included.
So I was wondering if you can start planning those kinds of programs.
Yes, those kinds of curricula are being developed today.
Yes, this kind of technical curriculum is being developed and as we have stated before we want to involve the elders and we want to involve them in the production of curriculum.
As I have stated before, the initiatives that we wanted to work on we can look at how we can involve the elders in the curriculum development.
For the community training programs, whether it’s made in the resource centre in Arviat, all the schools can utilize those curricula or if there was curriculum developed up here it could be utilized in other regions of Nunavut.
So in response to his question, we have reviewed this and yes, we’re making progress in developing technical curriculum and we have been given the mandate to develop curricula.
We have no quorum although we’re still dealing with the line items.
So let’s take a five minute break.
>>Committee recessed at 5.25 p.m. and resumed at 5.40 p.m.
Mr. Arvaluk has completed his question so we will move on to Mr. Puqiqnak.
My question is; in Nunavut there are twenty-six communities and there are teachers in the communities that are here from the south and we are also getting more Inuit teachers and assistants as the minister had stated.
I just want to get some information.
During the summer the teachers leave the communities to spend the summer at home in the south.
A lot of them travel a great distance.
Some Inuit teachers of course stay at home and are still receiving an income I’m sure that’s the case.
I’m just wondering if they’re able to receive vacation travel assistance for their airfares when our Inuit instructors stay at home are they able to travel south on a vacation?
There used to be vacation travel assistance but that was cut in the past.
They are now receiving northern allowances which can also be used for travel whether they are Qallunaat or if they are Inuit.
Mr. Puqiqnak (interpretation): Thank you. That was a very clear response because the money that they used to receive for vacation travel assistance, since that’s been taken out, that was a very clear response as to what they receive now.
I’ve also noticed that in the spring, our teachers often leave the community for fishing trips and when the weather is not cooperating and they’re not able to return to the community, they have to take leave without pay.
Some non-beneficiaries, when they travel outside of the community and can’t get back to the community because of the weather, they continue to get paid.
I think we need to look at things like when our people go out on the land and aren’t able to come back to the community because of the weather, they don’t get paid for the days they aren’t there.
I’m talking about teachers in the communities and I’d like to get some clarification as to what would be done in cases like this.
With teachers it doesn’t matter if they’re beneficiaries or non-beneficiaries, under the Collective Agreement they have days that are allowed for things like this with the ability for the workers to still be able to get paid.
Just briefly, to make myself clear, I understand his response was very clear.
As long as they’re working at the school and they’re not able to come back to the community because of weather or their snowmobile has broken down, I think that it’s clear as to how they would deal with those days that teachers aren’t available.
I’ve heard the Inuit teachers weren’t paid because of not coming back the day they’re supposed to due to bad weather.
When was this changed?
The Collective Agreement was dealt with by the Nunavut Teachers’ Association.
They review it every two or three years and the government staff and the teachers’ union negotiate their agreement.
Chairperson (interpretation): I don’t have anybody else on my list.
My question is for Teachers’ Education Program students.
How many Teacher Education Program students have completed the program to date?
Where would we start from?
It’s been about 25 years since the program was created.
It’s been about 25 years since the people started getting certificates or diplomas.
Perhaps he could clarify his question?
My question is in the 25 years, how many Inuit teachers have we graduated?
I apologize but I don’t have the details with me as to how many have graduated in the 25 years but just recently there were 16 graduates this year.
We’ll have to get back to the member as to how many graduates there have been in the Teachers’ Education Program over the past 25 years.
They’re all not teachers any more, some have moved onto other jobs.
My next question is the Inuit teachers, how many Inuit school principals are there in Nunavut?
We have the details with us but we have to find them.
While they are looking I will try to look for a response, but I can’t find one so I will wait for my officials to find the details.
Mr. Chairman, we are not able to find the information at this time however once we do find it we will certainly let the member know.
This is not really a question, but a comment while they are looking for the answers.
In Nunavut we often talk about Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit and that the elders are the knowledgeable ones.
When you are growing up you learn something new every day.
Life is a learning experience, so as an elder, my comment is even as an elder you learn something new every day.
In Arviat there was Inuktitut curriculum being put together.
In communities there are people that speak different dialects, different languages.
My comment is that Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit needs to be taught in the communities.
It is not a question but more of a comment.
I would just like to say that when our teachers are taking different programs, there are different levels, and a lot of teachers work with the elders.
We are seeing a lot more elders working with the teachers in learning traditional skills.
A lot of our elders are more involved in the programs that are being taught in the schools.
To get back to Mr. Alakannuark’s question, he was asking how many Inuit principals there are in the schools.
I thought I would be able to find that information here but there were summer courses for principals and I don’t see any money put aside for that.
Why isn’t there any money put aside for principal training?
Hon. Peter Kilabuk (interpretation): The money for principals’ training is on 9-15.
Did you find that Mr. Arvaluk?
I don’t have anybody on my list.
School Operations.
Total operations and maintenance, 7 million 30 thousand dollars.
Chairperson (interpretation): That’s part of 9-15, 9 – 16 is completed.
So turn the page to 9-18.
I think this has to do with Coral Harbour but I think it also pertains to all the communities for the student-teacher ratio.
For instance, if there are too many students in one classroom it gets overwhelming for a teacher.
These problems are corrected only when they are brought up because for example in Coral Harbour, I know that there are no plans for a new school.
Presently, our student-teacher ratio is very high and there are so many students.