The role of formal education in the Canadian Arctic
At the top of the world surrounded by glacial valleys the red sun rises over the community of Ulukhaktok, Northwest Territories. The mechanized buzzing of a bell shatters the serenity of the environment, almost as if to indicate an emergency. Children scatter out of their homes; some head towards the Helen Kalvak Elihakvik (school), and others ignore the buzzing sound and set out on their snowmobiles, far onto the frozen Arctic Ocean.
Many younger generation Inuit are torn between southern educational values and their traditional Inuit values. Since moving from the rural landscape into the community in the late 1960s, Inuit have been encouraged to attend school. A large number of Inuit students, however, leave well before high school graduation, often to pursue subsistence activities rooted in traditional Inuit culture.
As Inuit Elder Robert Kuptana shares, “[I]t is important for us to teach the younger generation how to walk in both worlds, one with the southern values, the other as a true Inuk.” Inuit who attend school learn the required math, sciences, and english language skills while those on the land learn the traditional knowledge and skills necessary for successful hunting.
Along with University of Guelph Adjunct Faculty member Dr. Tristan Pearce, I have been working on a new research project with Inuit in Ulukhaktok that addresses community concerns regarding the relevance of formal education for young Inuit. This project builds on a decade of research conducted by Dr. Pearce with the community, and examines perceptions of learning success among Inuit and southern educators. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with over 35 Inuit students and southern educators to document perceptions of learning success and the tools required to achieve success. Many of the respondents described a successful person as someone who completes tasks and achieves their personal goals, no matter what path they take.
While observing an Inuit elder nimbly push her needle in and out of a sealskin to make a pair of mittens, Koral Kudlak shared, “I don’t know how it was to live traditionally [on the land], but today I am taught that school is important in order to make money to head out onto the land. For me, to be successful just means that you are busy and happy.” Kudlak eludes to the reality of life in a modern Inuit settlement, where money is needed in order to purchase equipment, fuel, and supplies for traveling and hunting on the land.
Grade 1 teacher Jennifer Dickson commented that “[t]he current education system in Ulukhaktok works for some students, but not for the majority. For many at this time, there is a choice to be made: either the students become successful by embracing their traditional values of hunting or sewing, or they learn to read and write.”
At the end of the day in Ulukhaktok, the sun sets and students head home from school. Young Inuit in Ulukhaktok face the pressures of achievement in both a southern-structured education system and a traditional subsistence-based culture. Success is relative to the evaluator, and the students who receive their high school diplomas will be celebrated at the end of the year, while those who return from hunting trips will be encouraged daily for their efforts.
A balance needs to be reached between formal education and traditional learning in Inuit communities. This research responds to this knowledge gap and is positioned to contribute to the renegotiation of education in Ulukhaktok and elsewhere in the Canadian Arctic.