CONTEXT
In Nunavut, official-language education funded through the Canada–Nunavut Agreement on Minority-Language Education and Second Official Language Instruction, 2005–06 to 2008–09 (the agreement), is delivered within a unique context. First of all, although the official languages of Nunavut are Inuktitut/Inuinnaqtun, English, and French, the most commonly spoken language, according to the 2006 Census, is Inuktitut, and the majority of the population is neither anglophone nor francophone. In fact, of the 33,000 inhabitants of Nunavut (as estimated by Statistics Canada in October 2010), only 1.27 per cent speak French. Second, several policy measures with an impact on official-language education* have been recently implemented by the Territory. The Education Act, passed in September 2008, establishes Inuktitut as the majority language and grants Inuit societal values a role as the foundation of the education system. The act is reinforced by the Inuit Language Protection Act and the Languages of Education Act, which aim to increase the population of Inuit people who can speak and read their first language fluently, and which stipulate that, by 2019, parents will have the right to have their children educated in the Inuit language, Inuktitut/Inuinnaqtun, at all grade levels.
Yet, although this contextual reality has the potential to negatively affect participation numbers in French second-language (FSL) instruction programs, Nunavut’s construction of an education system that is adapted to the local culture and to Inuit values, and that thus respects diversity, ensures the continuity of French-language education. Special status has been accorded to the francophone minority in section 13 of the Education Act, exempting the Commission scolaire francophone de Nunavut [francophone school board of Nunavut] (CSFN) from the application of section 4 of the law, which pertains to language of instruction.
In the past, most curriculum documents used in Nunavut were borrowed from other jurisdictions; in recent years, however, the Department of Education of Nunavut (DEN) has developed curriculum and resources, in English and Inuktitut, that reflect Inuit society. The Bureau of Education and French Services (BEFS) was
Nunavut
*Officical-language education refers to the two official languages of Canada: English and French.
Pan-Canadian Report on Official Languages in Education 2005–06 to 2008–09
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established within the DEN in 2001 to support the efforts of rights-holder parents in forming a French minority-language school board. The BESF is actively involved in the process of providing a francophone perspective in the development of new programs of study so that those programs are reflective of the northern reality of francophones and their culture. Franco-Nunavummiuq students are thus given the opportunity to develop a sense of cultural identity and are enabled to fully contribute to and enrich Nunavut society, and non-francophone students are given the opportunity to develop a sense of appreciation for a language and culture other than their own.
Although Nunavut faces many of the same challenges in the delivery of French minority-language education and French second-language (FSL) instruction as other jurisdictions, it is clear that certain challenges are specific to Nunavut:
school enrolment, identity-building within a setting that is already a minority population in Canada, educational development, migration, and geographical remoteness and isolation. The following paragraphs describe how Nunavut, with the support received through the agreement, actively addressed these specific challenges and was able, between 2005–06 and 2008–09, to maintain enrolment in its French minority-language school, to forge pan-Canadian links and partnerships to develop French first-language and FSL curriculum, and to recruit and retain qualified teachers.
MINORITY-LANGUAGE EDUCATION
Educational structure and support
The majority of Nunavut’s francophone population is concentrated in Iqaluit, the Territory’s capital and largest city. Nunavut’s only French-first-language (FFL) school, École des Trois-Soleils [school of the three suns], is located in Iqaluit. From 2005–06 to 2007–08, regular instruction from kindergarten to Grade 9 was provided by four teachers and a principal, who is considered to be part of the teaching staff. Personalized educational assistance for students with learning or behavioural difficulties was provided by two education specialists.
Thanks to funding received through the agreement, École des Trois-Soleils has evolved significantly since its construction in 2001, before which FFL education was offered in an anglophone school nearby. The levels of instruction offered
at the school have gradually increased as students have progressed to higher grades. In 2008–09, a strategic plan was put into place to expand course offerings. Teaching materials were purchased in preparation for the offering of a Grade 10 program in the following school year (2009–10).
École des Trois-Soleils is governed by the CSFN. The executive director of the CSFN, who is responsible for general direction and programs, has been in place only since 2004; thus, enormous efforts have been required in recent years to recruit trustees, to train trustees in the effective management of CSFN programs, and to implement an effective management system in French.
Over the course of the agreement, special grants to the CSFN supported the maintenance of the quality and diversity of French minority-language education in Nunavut. The BEFS worked with the CSFN on ongoing efforts to:
• establish a high-quality education program that fosters francophone cultural identity and, at the same time, respects Inuit principles;
• write educational regulations based on the requirements of the new Education Act;
• deliver in-service training sessions to staff on the implementation of the new Education Act; and
• develop a Grade 10 program.
Teacher training and development
Because of the geographical remoteness and isolation of Nunavut, the cost of implementing programs and supporting official languages in education is very high. The recruitment pool for French minority-language teachers (and other teachers) in Nunavut is almost nonexistent; most teachers are therefore recruited from the south. To attract and retain those teachers, appealing employment terms must be offered: a generous salary with benefits, storage services for personal possessions left behind in the teacher’s province of origin, a shipping grant, airfare for the teacher’s family members, a housing subsidy, and access to a professional development program. Over the course of the agreement, federal funding supported the costs incurred by the DEN in offering these employment terms, which averaged more than
$145,000 per teacher in the year of his or her recruitment.