Kativik Ilisirnalirinq hosts consultation in Kuujjuaq to collect opinions of parents, students and teachers 

A board shows displayed Oct. 9 at the Kuujjuaq Form shows Post-it notes from teachers, parents and students offering opinions on what the student experience should look like in Nunavik. (Photo courtesy of Jade Bernier/Kativik Ilisarniliriniq)

By  Cedric Gallant – Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

NationTalk: Nunatsiaq News – Nunavik’s school board is turning to the community to help improve the success of its students.

The first stop was a community consultation in Kuujjuaq on Oct. 9.

“We are here to hear the public’s voice on the success of our students,” said Kaudjak Padlayat, strategic co-ordinator at Kativik Ilisarniliriniq, in an interview at the Kuujjuaq forum, where the consultations took place.

Strategic co-ordinator Kaudjak Padlayat says she believes that holding dynamic consultations is the way forward to understanding educational needs unique to Nunavik students. (Photo by Cedric Gallant)

Instead of creating a strategic plan through video conferences and meetings, the school board opted for a dynamic approach by including teachers, parents and students in a discussion about student success. It’s called Sivumuattiit.

Padlayat said the goal is to find a “shared vision” of what student success looks like in Nunavik and settle on ways her team can help reach that goal.

Sivumuattiit is split into four phases — listening, creating a vision, taking action, and then deciding on a strategic plan for the future of education in Nunavik.

The school board hopes to have the plan completed by June 2025.

Community consultations are part of the listening process. Kuujjuaq was the first community to participate.

The same gathering is set for Ivujivik on Oct. 29, April 4 in Quaqtaq, and on April 8 in Inukjuak. An online version of the event is scheduled for Nov. 12 and April 10.

“There are levels to how we can get information from all these people,” said Eva Kauki, Kuujjuaq’s commissioner on the Kativik Ilisarniliriniq board.

“It does not take just one brain, but it takes a lot of brains to understand how our school system is right now. We need one giant school brain,” she added, laughing.

During the meeting in Kuujjuaq, the walls were covered with signs and posters asking visitors for their opinions on topics such as school life, how to get students more engaged, and the work done by the school board.

The community consultations are expected to serve as a series of big brainstorming sessions, organizers say.

Padlayat said her team has already collected hundreds of Post-it notes and replies in French, English and Inuktitut.

Denis Daigle, the administrative service director at KI, says he is sure that by bringing the communities into the strategic planning process, a better understanding of the school board’s needs can be reached. (Photo by Cedric Gallant)

“This is from the grassroots,” she said. “This is the best approach if we want to have successful students.”

Denis Daigle, administrative services director for Kativik Ilisarniliriniq, said this year-long plan is a “living” process and the board does not know yet what results will come from it.

All the ideas and suggestions brought up by participants will be “harvested,” he said.

“When you have large groups of people, the more people contribute, what is more important rises to the surface.

“Only then can we pinpoint what are the real solutions, and challenges that we need to work on.”

Kauki also urged parents to become more involved with their schools.

“The parents know their children, how they are raised,” she said. “As a teacher, it can be really hard to understand their situation and how the family is doing.”

The hope is that that sort of input will help the school board create its own educational system that works for Inuit in Nunavik.

“To constantly try to adapt to Quebec’s way of teaching does not always work,” Padlayat said. “If we had our own curriculum, if we had our own system, we would have more kids willing to go further in school.”

She added: “A change has to be made, and education needs to be adapted to us, the way we want to be schooled.”

Kativik Ilisarniliriniq teachers and staff gather at the Kuujjuaq Forum Oct. 9, starting the initial brainstorm before community consultations. (Photo courtesy of Jade Bernier/Kativik Ilisarniliriniq)