You never know when things you say in public or to the media will come back to you, so here we are.
I still have that as one of the key foundational goals that I have and the reasons for doing the work I do: empowering Inuit and creating strong, capable Inuit.
The term in Inuktitut for this type of pedagogy is Inunnguiniq, which is the creation of strong, capable people who are then ready to be adults in their community and in the world.
It starts with a cultural foundation. It starts with early learning and child care opportunities. Within the K-to-12 system, the pedagogy is often borrowed from jurisdictions like Alberta, especially when you get into grades nine to 12.
There is a natural set-up whereby Inuktitut or Inuktut, broadly across Inuit Nunangat, and also our culture, is set up against the pedagogy and the requirements of K-to-12 education systems that then are prerequisites to go on to anything else.
Often, our educators and those authorities who run our education have had to make really tough decisions about not being aspirational, but just hoping that we can get enough of the prerequisites to allow our students to have transferable degrees.
On the other hand, there are so many social issues, such as food insecurity or lack of housing, that also are tremendous factors in the ability for our students to come to school ready to work.
In our pre-budget submission this year, we have put in a 15-year proposal for a school food program that would allow Inuit students to not have to worry about getting meals and would allow them to be more focused in the classroom and to have more food security in their lives. We do hope that is something the federal government considers.
It is an overarching approach and it needs people in communities who can be leaders in education systems and find their path. It also needs the Canadian government and Canadian institutions to fully accept and recognize indigenous knowledge and indigenous culture and language as adequate prerequisites to then build into the structures that allow for children to then proceed beyond grade 12.
It also requires the funds to be able to bring us into a better position in relation to the rest of the country.