Racism at it's finest

Oh so you like taking pictures? A lot of us northern bloggers do, and some of us are quite good at it. But are you good enough for NTI's photo contest? Well, the first question you have to ask is what color is your skin?

How do you define a "beneficiary"? I'm not sure, but the simple answer is "an inuk". But what about the other people who live in Nunavut? Like the southerners who came to Nunavut decades ago and have lived here ever since, or the southern children who were born and raised in Nunavut? To call them anything but Nunavummiut would be wrong. So how do they differ from the Inuk 3 doors down? The answer: their skin color.

Seeing blatant racism like this is a remider just how backwards it can be up here. How is this not illegal? How can NTI get away with this? If any corporation down south refused a service to someone based solely on their skin color, there would be outrage, lawsuits, firings, etc. So why is Nunavut different? I'm asking these questions because I don't know the answer. Is it just a matter of time before the minorities rise up and file a class action lawsuit against NTI and Nunavut for this kind of stuff?

The Sad State of Education

There's no real secret that Nunavut's education system
lags way behind other jurisdictions in Canada. While
75% of students in the rest of Canada graduate, in
Nunavut this number is closer to 25%. YES 25%!

Now you would think that one of the ways the GN would
address this would be to ensure that all classrooms in
Nunavut are staffed with qualified teachers. However,
this is definitely not the case here. The GN puts
Inuit teachers into classes in the interest of raising
the number of Inuit in the education system. Sadly,
it does this at the expense of ensuring they have a
B.Ed. I've even taught in one school where the
Kindergarten teacher only had a grade 8 education! Is
this any way to raise academic levels or improve upon
our sorry graduation rate?!

Reading and writing skills are actually worse now then
they were 20-30 years ago under the residential school
system. Yes, for the first time we have a generation
of students that are more poorly educated than their
parents' generation.

The Department of Education likes to trumpet that any
teacher in Nunavut is qualified to teach any grade
from K to 12. This is nonsense. I have 3
undergraduate degrees from an Ontario university but I
am most definitely not qualified to teach say high
school math or science because I do not have a math or
science degree. However, according to the powers that
be, I or any teacher is qualified to teach these
courses.

As I understand it, the new Education Act sets a
deadline by which time teachers lacking a B.Ed. must
finish course work so that they will be fully
qualified. This is all well and good I suppose for
future students but I fail to see how this helps
students that are currently in the system. Would you
or anyone go visit a doctor, lawyer, surgeon etc. that
is not fully qualified? Obviously not, but Nunavut's
Dept. of Ed. apparently has no problem with kids being
taught by unqualified teachers.

In a majority of schools, K-6 classes are taught by
local teachers while upper grades (with the exception
of Inuktitut for the most part) have southern
teachers. The system simply is not producing enough
qualified Inuk teachers to take on the higher grades.
The Education Minister may say that any graduate of
the NTEP Program (Northern Teacher Education Program)
is qualified to teach up to high school, but the
reality is that the few teachers this program turn out
teacher only at the primary level.

The easiest way for the GN to fix the problem with
qualified teachers would be to ensure all teachers
have a B.Ed. NOW, not within 4,5 or 10 years from now.
However, this is not going to happen. It must
instead follow a Land Claim Agreement that ensures
people are given employment no matter how unqualified
they may be. Given that it's taken 9 years and we
still do not have an Education Act, one can only guess
at how long it will take to address this nightmare.

The GN points out that language of instruction is a
big issue and rightly so. Students must become
proficient in both Inuktitut and English in order to
succeed in the future. However, if classes do not
have qualified professionals than it matter little
what language students are being taught in. It could
be French, Chinese, Russian or Swahili. It matters
not. When you put teachers in your classrooms that
are themselves uneducated, you are only inviting
failure.

Worries though, its all good. A fully bilingual
curriculum will eventually be in place in Nunavut
by......2019.....YES 2019!! (Just in time for my
retirement - provided I haven't left here sooner out
of sheer frustration.)

signed
disgruntled teacher

Rise of the Nazis?

Thanks to L.W. for this one.  

This post is in response to this Nunatsiaq news letter to the editor.

 

Every once in a while we see a very telling Letter to the Editor in Nunatsiaq News. A good example of this is a letter written by Lootie Apak Kooneeliusie and published in that paper just yesterday.


Apparently, someone shit in Lootie's Corn Flakes and he suspects it was one of us "white Nazis".

I’m glad that Nunatsiaq News chooses to publish these racist rants whenever one of them comes across the editor’s desk, which I suspect happens quite frequently. It’s a good reminder to all of us that racism is not the exclusive domain of any one group.

It’s interesting to speculate on the background of this idiot. Does he work for the GN? That wouldn’t surprise me! If he does work for the GN, will his supervisor come down hard on him the way some of us "visitors" have been kicked around. I doubt it!

I’d like to think an imbecile like this would never be hired by any responsible employer.  I wonder what type of man Lootie really is?  Considering that he likes to run his mouth, yet probably would never consider living off the generousity of the Canadian tax-payer that he so reviles.

Keep it up Lootie - you’re giving us all a good laugh!

LW

A landfill as our landscape

Thanks to J.M. for this one.  Keep them coming.  

I'm looking for a little help in writing or staging a bit of a protest regarding some of Nunavut's municipal dumps, their solid waste management plans (specifically the lack of following these plans), the lack of fencing around many dump sites and the ensuing mess of garbage that ends up on the land and ice - and consequently, in the ocean.

My concern is with the blowing garbage that is polluting our landscape. It seems like such a simple problem with such a simple solution - enclose the dump with a tall fence, just as many solid waste facilities do in other parts of the world. It's not going to keep all of the garbage in but it will keep 99% of what would've ended up on the land or ocean in the dump, where it should be. Many communities already have fence enclosures, but many do not. I'm not exactly sure why - but lack of caring, enthusiasm and motivation at senior levels in the hamlets would be my first guess. Their first rebut would be lack of money... but that's horse shit. In my home community the hamlet actually pays volunteers - yup that's what I said - pays volunteers to clean up garbage in and around the community. The paid volunteer thing, an absolute epidemic, is another topic for another day.

(I'm starting to flush with calm anger)

I have a friend in Pond Inlet who has approached the hamlet in regards to their waste management practices. According to my friend the hamlet has a fairly comprehensive plan, but does not follow it. Not even close. Instead the hamlet, like many others, burns their garbage. Much of the time the smoke blows right through town creating a human safety issue (see a September 21, 2007 letter to Nunatsiaq News titled 'Health survey should measure toxins'). The burning of garbage, this time, is not my beef.

A similarity that occurs across the entirety of Nunavut is that community members can quickly get up in arms about an issue when they feel threatened by a 'southern' entity or action. However, the same issue right here at home is ignored. This territorial government (and some residents) seems to have an affinity for pointing fingers to the demons of the south (or southerners in the north) - the apparent cause of all things negative in the north. See http://www.cbc.ca/canada/north/story/2007/10/25/nu-navy.html. Our ex-Environment Minister scolds the federal government for wanting to adopt an open sea waste dumping policy and called on Hon. John Baird, federal Minister of Environment, to take a stronger stance on preventing pollution in northern waters. Yet here at home in many Nunavut hamlets we can't even get fences to curtail our own ocean dumping. It's all lip service.

I want to find a way to get fencing around our community dump, but I'm not a protester. I hate conflict. I'm a follower, not a leader. But this shit drives me to punches - and I'm feeling punchy today.

First Thief of the North

Thanks to S.A. for the post.  

I hate First Air.  Period. 

I do, however, believe in karma, and I'm convinced their day of reckoning will come.  A day when I can bask in the glory of First Air's demise.... I can only wait.  

   

If you are unfamiliar with First Air, they are the air carrier that operates flights to Nunavut.  Why do I hate first air? 

1. They are a monopoly.  Some may argue that "you can fly Kenn Borek" but let's be realistic -- I could also ski doo from Iqaluit to Pang (which I'm sure someone has done) but First Air is the only sensible way to travel quickly around the north.     
2. They have contracts to deliver mail, food, cargo, personal effects (when moving) and food mail, yet still think its ethical to charge people an arm and a leg for airfare.  A roundtrip ticket from Ottawa to Pond Inlet goes for $3400 wow! what a deal! 
3. Have you seen their cargo rates?  They start at $33/kg and increase from there.
4. Luckily they participate in Aeroplan, yet in all their stinginess, only allow two seats per flight for Aeroplan ticket holders.  This is in comparison to Air Canada who offer every available seat for Aeroplan rewards members.

The list goes on, but this latest issue makes my blood boil.  I'm attempting to fly home from from a nice holiday overseas.  I was able to fly from North America to another continent for $900 round trip.  Pretty cheap considering the costs of a First Air ticket, not to mention I'm flying 12,500 clicks.  This is in comparison to a 2500 km trip from Ottawa to Nunavut.  That's five times as far for 1/3 the price.   Makes perfect sense right?!?  But, I digress... this issue at hand concerns the weather.  One thing I will give to First Air is that they can fly and land in some sketchy weather.  Nothing compared to what I've seen Kenn Borek pilots do, but these guys aren't bad. On the other hand, planes and pilots in the south run into the corner and cry the minute any ice starts falling from the sky.  My flight from NYC to Ottawa was cancelled do to weather.  "Great", I thought, "now what happens to my Aeroplan ticket".  This meant that I wouldn't be able to make my connecting flight out of Ottawa on the next day.  So in a frantic few hours of web searching and phone calls, I come to the stark realization that First Air doesn't care that my plane was cancelled do to weather issues, and won't reissue my rewards ticket for later in the week.  All because "there's no availability"  No availability my ass!  There are so many open seats on that plane you could fill it with a dozen walrus and still have room.  Merry Christmas, here's your $2500 bill to get home.  Thanks First Air, Thank you for being understanding and going out of your way for customer service this holiday season.  Thanks for understanding, and Merry Christmas.   Fuckers....

The Start of Something New....

I created this blog for my fellow Nunavummiut. It's a venue for us to express our thoughts, emotions, and comments about life in Canada's arctic in a way that is not censored by the powers that be. It is meant to be part exposé and part journalism, part humor and part informative with the ultimate goal of showing the world the good, the bad, and the ugly of life across Nunavut.

Let's first remind our readers that Canada is a modern country, with modern rights and freedoms for ALL individuals.

Even though Nunavut may seem like another planet (both literally and figuratively) it nonetheless is part of Canada and extends these rights to ALL it's residents. I've chosen to highlight a select portion of the Charter Bill of Rights and Freedoms below:

Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms:
a) freedom of conscience and religion;
b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication;
c) freedom of peaceful assembly; and
d) freedom of association.

Every citizen of Canada has the right to enter, remain in and leave Canada.
Rights to move and gain livelihood

Every citizen of Canada and every person who has the status of a permanent resident of Canada has the right
a) to move to and take up residence in any province; and
b) to pursue the gaining of a livelihood in any province.

With that being said, I encourage my readers to send me links and ideas for posts. I'm thoroughly fed up with other writers being silenced by threats from employers or other community members. The concept of this blog is not intrinsically negative, and I'll try to collect positive stories about Nunavut as well. I will do my best to report on factual happenings, and keep the gossip and rhetoric to a minimum. =)

Enjoy

-Arctic Agent