Public Safety committee  With our work plan with the RCMP and the MOU we have signed, we are still in the very early stages, but one of the key components and one of the first things we are hoping to do with the RCMP is to create a more fulsome cross-cultural training opportunity for the RCMP. Perhaps th

Public Safety committee  There have been large recruiting efforts for Inuit within the RCMP. There are some huge barriers to this, whether it be serving your own community...and the challenges that come with that. Also, there is the transitory nature of being an RCMP officer on the ground. You don't kno

Public Safety committee  Yes. Using the distinctions-based lens in the way we work on these things together is so essential for Inuit to be considered at all within the implementation of this particular piece of legislation. Nakurmiik. Thank you.

Public Safety committee  Nakurmiik, Mr. Chair. It's good to see everyone here in this committee. As I have been introduced, I'm Natan Obed, president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, the representational organization for Canada's 70,000 Inuit. In our homeland, Inuit Nunangat, there are 51 communities. Ther

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Nakurmiik for the question, Lori. We will add the accord to the list of materials that we will provide to the committee. The accord was signed in anticipation of the release of the national strategy on education. Immediately there were jurisdictional fights between the federal g

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Across Inuit Nunangat and wherever Inuit live, there are arrangements between Inuit organizations or jurisdictions and southern jurisdictions for particular programs, such as a law program, a bachelor of education or a master's in education. They are one-offs, and usually there a

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  At ITK we've worked quite hard on early learning and child care. We released a framework in 2018. We will share that with the committee members. We'll also be sharing our national Inuit strategy on education. To your point, though, Michael, in the space of early learning, as so

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Specifically in relation to the calls to action, there are a number of things that we had hoped to do with Canadian educators and in Canadian educational systems to ensure that there was a distinctions-based approach to the way in which curricula are developed. Unfortunately, jur

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'll focus exclusively on Inuktut in response to your question. Anybody you interact with who is fluent in Inuktut and who does their work in Inuktut—just like Lori Idlout, who chooses to work in Inuktut in this committee—is an in-kind gift to the country. No formal education s

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'll start with the work that we've tried to do with the federal government. Starting in 2008 or so, when Inuit wanted to create a national Inuit strategy on education, we brought the federal government and the provinces, territories and all education authorities together to try

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes, it could be within an 800-kilometre or 1,000-kilometre radius where you have a regional centre, versus a centre where there are 300 to 500 people who live in it. The scaling of this project.... In many cases, Inuit communities didn't provide high school until the 1970s and

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  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 Inu

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I believe that there are amazing educators and amazing people in Inuit Nunangat who are striving for the best for their students, from early learning all the way up through to post-secondary. I think the systemic challenges within in our systems are with the system as a whole.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Nakurmiik. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Also, it's good to see committee members again. As you implied, I am a regular here and I always appreciate our conversation. Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami is the representational voice for Canada's approximately 70,000 Inuit. The majority of our

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The state of neglect is palpable in the outcomes. Our outcomes are still quite different from those of the rest of Canadians. The generations of unpredictable relationships for education, underfunding or the complete abandonment of responsibilities have led to scenarios perhaps