Northern Public Affairs Volume 2, Issue 2 December 2013 ᓯᕗᒧᐊᕐᓂᖅ ᓴᐃᒻᒪᖃᑎᒌᖕᓂᖅ Qikiqtani Truth Commission BETHANY SCOTT, JULIE HARRIS & DAVID JOANASIE China & the Arctic Council TONY PENIKETT Reflections on 40 years representing Inuit TAGAK CURLEY Recognition, reconciliation LITERACY & & resentment TIM QUERENGESSER DEMOCRACY Expanding possibilities for Inuktitut language literacy Is improving literacy the key to Northern MARY CAROLINE ROWAN Canada’s political & economic future? The decline of federal literacy programs THOMAS R. BERGER reflects on the 40th anniversary BRIGID HAYES of the Calder decision & the power of modern treaties The Northern Alliance for The NUNAVUT LITERACY COUNCIL on stitching Literacy & Essential Skills together literacy, culture & well-being through non-formal learning KIM CROCKATT, HELEN BALANOFF & BETH MULLOY MARCUS JACKSON on the Great Northern Arts Festival & the future of art in the Northwest Territories Canada $9.99 northernpublicaffairs.ca “When we come here, I don’t think it’s just all about ourselves. When I come here, my gosh, well I’ve been here 18 years, but if you can come here and even be here for one year and not take on a territorial perspective on issues, then you probably shouldn’t be here. If you’re here only about your people that you represent and not everybody else, and I’ve seen that, everybody comes here with a territorial view, and there are days where we fight about this and that and we feel like sometimes we’re getting overpowered by rural and remote communities, or [the] Yellowknife Caucus, there’s days that we feel that. But overall, and by and large, I believe that people come here with a perspective of the good of the territory. So in that sense, I don’t think we can count, oh well, they’ve got three times the amount of voice or three times the amount of representation in this House as somebody else.” — Jane Groenewegen on the Northwest Territories Electoral Boundaries Commission 2013 Final Report, November 5, 2013. Northern Public Affairs December 2013 FEATURES LETTER FROM THE EDITORS 4 Literacy & democracy GUEST EDITORIAL 6 Enhancing literacy innovation in the North: The Northern Alliance for Literacy and Essential Skills OVERHEARD 8 The Hon. Tagak Curley reflects on representing Inuit and Nunavummiut for 40 years NORTHERN VOICES 12 United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, James Anaya, on his visit across Canada. NORTHERN TOUR 2013 17 Prime Minister Stephen Harper visits Canada’s North ARTICLES LITERACY PROFILE Stiching together literacy, culture & well-being 28 Glen Coulthard & the three Rs 53 Shelley Tulloch, Adriana Kusugak, Gloria Uluqsi, Tim Querengesser Quluaq Pilakapsi, Cayla Chenier, Anna Ziegler, & Kim Crockatt ARTS The Great Northern Arts Festival 63 Literacy in Canada’s North 33 Marcus Jackson Helen Balanoff & Beth Mulloy QIKIQTANI TRUTH COMMISSION 69 Shifting priorities: 38 Moving towards Saimaqatigiingniq Federal literacy policy since 2006 Bethany Scott, Julie Harris, & David Joanasie Brigid Hayes ᓯᕗᒧᐊᕐᓂᖅ ᓴᐃᒻᒪᖃᑎᒌᖕᓂᖅ 73 Learning stories: Expanding possibilities for 44 ᐱᑕᓂ ᔅᑳᑦ, ᔫᓕ ᕼᐃᐊᕆᔅ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᑕᐃᕕᑎ Inuktitut language & literacy ᔪᐊᓇᓯ Mary Caroline Rowan ARCTIC COUNCIL 77 MODERN TREATIES China & the Arctic Council Providing the foundation for Canada’s political, 53 Tony Penikett legal, economic & social landscape Thomas R. Berger RESEARCH NOTES 79 FEATURES LETTER FROM THE EDITORS Literacy & democracy n October 28, 2013, Nunavummiut went to the polls san decision-making. Oand elected twenty-two independent members to The selection of Nunavut’s premier by secret ballot Nunavut’s fourth Assembly. Since 1999, Nunavut has op- has also become increasingly problematic. Members of the erated under a form of consensus government derived, in public and media are unable to vet nominees for premier part, from the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Terri- during the election period, nor during the leadership forum. tories. Under that system, the speaker, premier, and cabinet And while MLAs do ask questions of the nominees, candi- are chosen by the newly elected members in a leadership dates’ comprehensive visions for Nunavut remain obscure forum in the weeks following the territorial election. and, usually, unarticulated. In addition, during the election, Nunavut’s fourth leadership forum was held on Novem- most candidates for MLA remain mum about their leader- ber 15, 2013. Nominees for premier, Paul Okalik (Iqaluit-Si- ship plans, further obstructing the public’s ability to evalu- naa), Paul Quassa (Aggu), and Peter Taptuna (Kugluktuk), ate potential premiers, ministers, and, ultimately, to take the laid out their visions for Nunavut under their leadership. measure of a future government. The informational burden After a long day of questions and discussion, Peter Taptuna on the electorate is significant. was elected premier in a secret ballot. George Qulaut (Amit- This brings us to our special section on literacy in this tuq) was acclaimed as Speaker, while nine cabinet ministers issue, curated by the Nunavut Literacy Council, the NWT were selected – an increase from the previous eight. Literacy Council, and the Yukon Literacy Coalition. A In some ways, the 2013 Nunavut election could be healthy democratic politics requires an educated and lit- characterized as one of change. Taptuna is Nunavut’s first erate population. Consensus government demands an en- premier fluent in Inuinnaqtun and to represent a riding out- gaged electorate, one that can analyze the political positions side of Iqaluit. There was a 68% turnover from the previous of candidates in twenty-two ridings. Without the benefit of Assembly. The number of women in the Assembly has not political parties, or the direct election of the premier, the changed, and because of the increase in total members, the informational burden on Nunavummiut is high. proportion of female MLAs has, in fact, decreased. Education was a central issue for Inuit in the struggle In other ways, this Assembly is already showing signs of for Nunavut, and it remained central in the 2013 Nunavut continuity. Taptuna was the only nominee who served in the territorial election. Candidates took positions on social pro- previous assembly, and his top priorities in his responses at motion in schools, standard-setting, and legislative reform, the leadership forum — education, economic development, while training and adult education also registered on candi- and housing — are not markedly different than those of dates’ platforms. In one of the election’s great upsets, for- his predecessor, Eva Aariak. The new cabinet has a mixture mer premier and education minister Eva Aariak was defeat- of new and experienced MLAs, including both Quassa and ed by George Hickes Jr. who ran to make education a top Okalik, the latter serving as Nunavut’s first premier from priority. And, as noted above, the newly elected MLAs in 1999 to 2008. turn brought their concerns about education to the leader- Consensus government was, at one time, defended as ship forum in November. an important innovation in Northern governance, reflecting Across Northern Canada, literacy programming is both the flexibility of the Westminster parliamentary sys- helping to address the basic needs of many Northerners tem and traditional Indigenous values. Today, in both Nun- with already low literacy and essential skills. Literacy is the avut and the Northwest Territories, consensus government bedrock of any informed citizenry, denoting not only the is facing increasing criticism for its political and legislative ability to read and write, but also the ability to function in outcomes. and critically analyze the world. The absence of political parties, for example, means Unfortunately, while Northern literacy organizations there is no formal mechanism for developing a coherent, are leading the way in developing innovative and culturally broadly-shared vision for the future of the territory going relevant programs, the federal government appears to be into an election. Instead, voters elect regular MLAs who in downgrading literacy among its policy priorities. As Brigid turn elect the premier and cabinet. These MLAs may or Hayes argues in this issue, the federal government’s narrow may not share similar views, let alone priorities, and so it focus on training for the labour market through the Canada is up to the premier to marshal the necessary coherence in Jobs Grant, coupled with budget cuts and under spending, cabinet while voters are left on the sidelines to watch the is likely to reduce access to programming for the most vul- process unfold. nerable. Of course, a formal party system is not necessarily the Consensus politics — or any democratic politics, for solution to this problem. A slate of candidates running on that matter — cannot function properly without an edu- a common platform could emerge to challenge the status cated and literate population. For this reason, those candi- quo. But such a group would face the difficulties of long dates who were elected on a platform to improve education distance organizing if it wished to field candidates across deserve the support of the entire legislature. Let us hope the territory, not to mention the work of implementing its they will be successful in spite of the challenges of consensus vision in a legislature built for consensus rather than parti- government. ◉ 4 Northern Public Affairs, December 2013 IQALUIT Photo credit: Northern Affairs. Photo credit: Public Election signs in Iqaluit, Nunavut, October, 2013. GUEST EDITORIAL Enhancing literacy innovation in the North: The Northern Alliance for Literacy and Essential Skills Kim Crockatt with Helen Balanoff & Beth Mulloy Photo credit: Kara Allyson. Kara Photo credit: n today’s world we think about literacy different- innovative approaches that were contextualized to I ly than we did in the past. Literacy used to mean meet the needs and interests of the learners. only reading and writing (usually in English). Today Despite considerable evidence that these pro- it means much more. It includes all the basic skills grams are effective, they lack scale.