Territory has higher-than-average unemployment and school dropout rates
Seven years after its creation, Canada's newest territory is facing a "crisis of education and employment," according to a new report.
The report, The Nunavut Project, found only one-quarter of Inuit students graduate high school. Unemployment averages 30 per cent, but is as high as 70 per cent in some communities.
The report also stated that only 45 per cent of the government's 3,200 employees are Inuit, despite a promise from Ottawa that Inuit, who represent 85 per cent of Nunavut's population, would be proportionally represented in government jobs.
Former British Columbia Supreme Court Justice Thomas Berger, who wrote the report, blamed the education system for failing to produce literate youth.
The practice of teaching students entirely in Inuktitut until Grade 4 or 5 and then switching to English "produces young adults who, by and large, cannot function properly in either English or Inuktitut," wrote Berger in the report.
As such, the Nunavut government has exhausted the supply of qualified Inuit to fill government jobs.
He recommended that the school system teach students in Inuktitut and English all through elementary and secondary school.
Federal Indian and Northern Affairs Minister Jim Prentice has said that it's unlikely that Ottawa will spend more money on education in Nunavut. He said the territory has some of the highest per-capita student expenditures in Canada and that education falls under territorial jurisdiction.
Berger cited Arctic warming as another concern facing Nunavut. The phenomenon could affect the territory's sovereignty as other nations try to lay claim to Arctic waterways. Arctic warming will also affect mining exploration and the migration patterns of animals.
The report, The Nunavut Project, found only one-quarter of Inuit students graduate high school. Unemployment averages 30 per cent, but is as high as 70 per cent in some communities.
The report also stated that only 45 per cent of the government's 3,200 employees are Inuit, despite a promise from Ottawa that Inuit, who represent 85 per cent of Nunavut's population, would be proportionally represented in government jobs.
Former British Columbia Supreme Court Justice Thomas Berger, who wrote the report, blamed the education system for failing to produce literate youth.
The practice of teaching students entirely in Inuktitut until Grade 4 or 5 and then switching to English "produces young adults who, by and large, cannot function properly in either English or Inuktitut," wrote Berger in the report.
As such, the Nunavut government has exhausted the supply of qualified Inuit to fill government jobs.
He recommended that the school system teach students in Inuktitut and English all through elementary and secondary school.
Federal Indian and Northern Affairs Minister Jim Prentice has said that it's unlikely that Ottawa will spend more money on education in Nunavut. He said the territory has some of the highest per-capita student expenditures in Canada and that education falls under territorial jurisdiction.
Berger cited Arctic warming as another concern facing Nunavut. The phenomenon could affect the territory's sovereignty as other nations try to lay claim to Arctic waterways. Arctic warming will also affect mining exploration and the migration patterns of animals.
