Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee on June 7th, 2006

[The Chair, Conservative, Colin Mayes]

We still have a few minutes.

[Nancy Karetak-Lindell, Liberal, Nunavut, NU]

I wanted to provide a clarification that might help with Mr. Albrecht's question.

When I was with Nunavut Arctic College, we found that doing just the literacy and basic adult education was very standard. It made it hard for people to stay in the program if they were just going to school for upgrading, and reading and writing. But if you incorporated a theme with it, such as jewellery making—which is what I wear all the time, made by students—the retention of the students was a lot higher because they were doing something they enjoyed.

Inuit are very artistic people, and they did that along with the reading, writing, and upgrading. It had a much higher graduation and success rate.

[Harold Albrecht, Conservative, Kitchener—Conestoga, ON]

I certainly wasn't implying that it wasn't worthwhile. But the motivation for my question is that I have a son who is an artist, and I know he doesn't make a living by his art. That was my bigger concern: that it was adequate to actually providing a job by which they could make a decent living.

[A voice]

But he's not Inuit.

[Harold Albrecht, Conservative, Kitchener—Conestoga, ON]

No, I know. That's why I was asking. Is it different in that context?

[The Chair, Conservative, Colin Mayes]

From the government side, is there someone to ask a question?

The chair will ask a question, if that's all right.

Really, the mechanics of the agreement are something that concerned me when I read the Kelowna accord. I understand there weren't any estimates completed, or a plan. You said in your presentation that there needs to be a plan developed.

I have a hard time—because I'm a business person—in that you always develop a plan and then put in the dollars. I understand that the intent was to put a general amount in and work down from that. That's a bit against the way I operate personally, and so that was my struggle. As far as the points and the issues raised in the accord are concerned, I think we all agree that they were the priorities of the people who were part of that agreement, and I think we respect that.

I lived in the north for a number of years, actually in the Yukon, which is a little farther west—the California of the north, I guess—but it was interesting because they made some great steps in education. They focused on what I would call pathways to employment for those people. They looked at the region to see what the opportunities were, then sent those pathways in a direction, so students wouldn't have to leave the northern region to go to be an engineer in Calgary, or whatever that might be.

Is there a desire for most students to stay in the north and be close to the community? If so, do you see educational opportunities presented in a way that would ensure they could do that?

[Richard Paton]

I think most students would certainly agree with me, and certainly most Canadians would agree, that living at home or living close to home is something that everyone wants. For the Inuit, that is certainly something that has been a barrier to education, because of the fact that at the higher level of learning, post-secondary and beyond, that level of education is away from home.

In terms of what's needed in relation to that, I think there are two things. The most important thing is the development of curriculum in the Inuktitut language. As a youth, when you're growing up, you're taught in Inuktitut by your parents and you understand Inuktitut first and foremost; therefore, being able to move into an education system or an institution that provides the level of education required in your own language is something that's important.

Tied into that is the ability and the capacity to provide that level of service. So when you look to the north and at identifying how to move forward, the requirement for educators, for teachers, for instructors, is just as important, in relation to providing a level of service in Inuktitut. When you look at some of the statistics that are coming out, close to half of the teachers we have today will be retiring in the next five to ten years, and so it is just as important to initiate the process of ensuring that the educators are there and the system is set up to provide the educators the opportunity to stay in the system.

The system we have right now is such that if I went through the education system and I got the level of learning they get, I have every other opportunity to work in other fields of opportunity. So when we address the issue of education and the issue of providing adequate numbers of educators in the education system, we need to take a broad focus and look at how we address the issue of ensuring that the capacity of the Inuit is such that they have the opportunity to work in all fields of opportunity, and not just the education system.

I think when you look at Mr. Berger's report, he touched on that issue as well.

[The Chair, Conservative, Colin Mayes]

Thank you very much.

On behalf of the committee, I want to assure you that this committee is focused on an action plan and on making sure that we see things more forward in education. I am sure we will be working with you and the department in the future.

Thank you very much for your presentation.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear!

[Richard Paton]

I would like to say one thing in closing, because I didn't touch on it. It is in relation to what we're talking about here today, and that is the draft declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples. I know it was discussed briefly here at the table.

[The Chair, Conservative, Colin Mayes]

It was adopted by the committee and will be forwarded to the House.

[Richard Paton]

It recognizes the over 18 years of work that has gone into it, and we do fully support that draft declaration.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Colin Mayes]

Thank you very much.

Committee, just before we run, I want to say that we need to have a subcommittee meeting to look at education and to try to focus a little bit on where we want to go with that, and also to look at some of the opportunities for witnesses in the future. Would it be agreeable to members to have a subcommittee to discuss that? We just can't seem to get enough time at our regular meetings.

So I would ask the clerk if he would organize that for us.

[Harold Albrecht, Conservative, Kitchener—Conestoga, ON]

Mr. Chairman, I suggest that we use the same approach we did when we were highlighting our priorities, and each submit a number of names to the subcommittee, which should look at those, come back, and then we would look at them. That really worked well when we were looking at our objectives or priorities.

[The Chair, Conservative, Colin Mayes]

I think that would be acceptable to the chair. So if you could get your priorities on witnesses to Mr. Préfontaine, he could forward those to the subcommittee and we'll review those.

Thank you very much. The meeting is adjourned.