Nunami Ilinniarniq: Inuit Community Control of Education through Land-based Education

The ability to function on the land both for personal use and professional employment are necessary in Nunavut, and requires Arctic policy to elevate land-based education. Photo: The Gordon Foundation

Through a partnership with the Gordon Foundation, The Arctic Institute is publishing a series of papers on Canadian Arctic policy critiques and solutions written by Jane Glassco Northern Fellows. The Jane Glassco Northern Fellowship Program recognizes the leadership potential of northern Canadians aged 25-35 who are passionate about addressing emerging policy challenges and building a strong North. During the 18-month program, Fellows deepen their understanding of important northern issues, and develop the skills to articulate and advance their ideas and policy research. Fellows publish individual and group policy research papers. For more information, please visit The Gordon Foundation website and follow the Fellowship on Twitter.

As my children get ready for bed I hear the usual request, “Mom, can you tell us a story, can you tell us a story from when you were little?” I often opt in to tell a story from my mother’s life on the land. I find the details from my mother’s life stories more evocative than my own. I find the story about my mother catching a tuktu while she was preg-nant more intriguing (Nasby, 2002). Eventually, I realized how much life on the land and the memories created turn into vivid stories with important lessons. The lessons are taught to us by the land, we observe nature then give meaning to the patterns it presents to us; our elders, our families, our community members impart knowledge learned from nature through their stories, their songs, their art. Coincidently, I realized how much cultural attrition2Inuit have experienced with land-based learning. In only four generations of Inuit, within one century, we have effectively become disconnected from the places in which we live, increasing our dependency on external support such as imported food sources, building materials and fuel. Rhoda Karetak (2017) discusses how under the disguise of a helping hand, colonizers have created dependence among Inuit causing us to “become dependent and because of these helping hands, do not pursue independence” (p. 186). Education has been used to colonize Inuit into disconnected ways of living that displace cultural knowledge and practices that allowed Inuit to survive in the Arctic (Karetak, Tester & Tagalik, 2017; Walton & O’Leary, 2015). Systemic colonization has debilitated Inuit from achieving self-determination. However, decolonizing and Indigenizing education can change the current, Inuit can regain control of their education by reintroducing land-based learning in a more holistic and equitable way.

Josie Kusugak (2012) shares his story about the time he lived on the land with his family as a child then suddenly being forcefully taken away to attend residential school in Iglulugaarjuk at Turquitel Hall. Zeebedee, Eric and Peter often known as the Experimental Eskimos also share their stories about how they were sent away to be educated and assimilated (Greenwald, 2010).

Their stories resonate with so many people who for three generations were removed from their families to be educated and assimilated (Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada [TRCC], 2015). Although my generation did not attend residential school, my mother would listen to policy developments from Inuktitut media and say, “the government is raising our children.” I first heard this statement when the government was in discussions about how it would use Inuktitut in schools. Initially, I was puzzled by her statement, wondering: “how is the government raising us if we live with our family?”. Eventually, the analogy made sense to me as such: the government decides our routine, with expectations set for us to attend school with specified mandated timelines and schedules; the government decides what language we speak; the government decides what knowledge is accredited; the government decides what determinants to use to measure our success; the government figuratively fulfills the role of what parents did prior to government intervention by creating policies that delegate many decision making powers to government staff in regards to an Inuit child’s life. For example: when the Special Committee on Education recommended that the Nunavut Department of Education [NDE] make legislative amendments that would allow District Education Authorities to seek resources and supports to provide additional language education in their local dialects to promote multi-lingual education; the NDE rejected the recommendation in favour of standardized Inuktitut similar to practices used with the English language, of the opinion that families are solely responsible for passing on their mother tongue (NDE, 2016). A bureaucratic decision to not use public funds to promote home languages in education is an example of how Inuit parents still have little influence over how their children are educated. 

Inuit as Indigenous people have a rich history with land that is sophisticated, innovative, ingenious, and sustainable. Although we do not live as our ancestors did a century ago, the foundations of life on the land still hold true to living a hopeful, enriching, independent and sustainable life. In this paper, I examine policy barriers that prevent Inuit in Nunavut from receiving equitable land-based education that is based on Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit4, and I aim to bring to light the potential for change in policy recommendations informed by conversations with Inuit. The policy issues I explore through this research are the challenges to provide equitable land-based education for Inuit students as a perpetual force that prevents transformation in Inuit education rooted in Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit. The policy options presented aim to challenge existing policy directions so that the relationship between the education system and communities can work in a more collaborative and strategic way to deliver comprehensive educational programs through land-based education. The first option is to consolidate funding for educational programs into a one window approach, as well as to change the criteria from problem specific and targeted intake criteria to goal oriented criteria. Second, to place more emphasis of teacher professional development dollars on learning Inuit culture and Inuktut as a means to obligate everyone within the education system to use Inuit culture and language within the education program. Third, to improve work between the education system and communities by developing agreements to work together to deliver land-based learning programs. 

Last, to create a flexible education policy for the school system to allow for a better mediated learning program for students so that the system has effective measures in place to accommodate the lifestyles of Inuit. The data for his research comes from two sources, a workshop report from the National Centre for Collaboration in Indigenous Education held in Nunavut in March 2019 on Inuit Ilinniarniliriningat, and a land-based stories workshop done with children in Baker Lake in June 2019.

The concept of education needs to be broadened to include out of school learning, on the land, in the community. 

The recommendations from this research emerged out of the conversation with people in the field of education, community members, elders, and children. During the Inuit Ilinniarniliriningat workshop, participants discussed what programs they offer, what their goals are, what challenges they face, and opportunities to overcome those challenges. Participants in the workshop were from various community-based programs, youth researchers, and stakeholders from the Nunavut Department of Education, Nunavut Arctic College, and Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated. The workshop with children focused on conversations about why the land is important to them and sharing those ideas by illustrating stories then storytelling.

Critical reflection about the systems we engage in are necessary because we are the creators and actors of policy. We need to challenge our mindsets and reframe our thinking in order to make these changes possible. If extrinsic factors shape our intrinsic attitudes that direct our behaviour, we need to create opportunities to interact extrinsically to critically think about our attitudes so that we can transform our behaviour. Therefore, these policy recommendations are intended to promote collective engagement and space to think critically so that the changes we make in education work towards equitable social changes for Inuit.

Kaviq Kaluraq lives in Baker Lake, Nunavut. She is an instructor in the Nunavut Arctic College’s Nunavut Teacher Education Program. She is also the Acting Chairperson of the Nunavut Impact Review Board, currently serving her third term. Kaviq completed her Bachelor of Science Degree in Environmental Science at Trent University and is currently a graduate student in the Master of Educational Studies Program at Trent University. Kaviq travels to communities across Nunavut to teach, and to meet with community members to learn about how they live and what they strive for in terms of resource development in their communities. Through this fellowship Kaviq hopes to learn more about policies and practices surrounding Inuit environmental literacy and language. She has seen changes around the ways in which Inuit of different generations have relationships with land, and a growing gap of Inuit knowledge about the land among youth. She is interested in policies that allow for knowledge and skills mobilization for traditional Inuit knowledge about the environment using Inuktitut, as well as barriers to mobilization created by policies. Kaviq is interested in learning about the ways people across the North face and address the gaps of traditional knowledge and language about the natural environment; and ways that people are mobilizing traditional knowledge programs through the development of asset oriented and collaborative policies.