Lynn Lau
Northern News Services

Inuvik (June 10/02) - Wading into GNWT jurisdiction, the Beaufort Delta Education Council has decided to develop its own aboriginal curriculum.

At a meeting May 31 to June 1, the council's elected representatives said language loss was too important of an issue to wait for Yellowknife to take action.

After a long debate, council passed a motion that would see funds from other areas of the culture and language budget diverted to the development of a curriculum for Gwich'in and Inuvialuktun.

"It seems to me we've put the cart ahead of the horse," said Inuvik representative Mary Beckett. "We went ahead and developed the resources without an idea of where we were going to use them ... Our intentions have been good and we've certainly put a lot of money in that direction, but we're not getting any results."

The Inuvialuit Cultural Resource Centre and the Gwich'in Social and Cultural Institute, two organizations that receive funding from education council to produce teacher resources, were initially going to bear the brunt of the funding diversion, but after a long debate, won a reprieve from board members.

Instead of losing $57,500, or 50 per cent of their BDEC funding for the 2002-2003 year, the two organizations volunteered to give up $25,000 each and retain their core funding. The two groups will also be included in a committee that would oversee the project.

Initiatives underway

Ordinarily, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment writes or provides curricula for NWT schools. According to Ellie Elliott, director of early childhood and school services, aboriginal curricula and a language curriculum template are available to school boards. She said the Dene culture and language program, Dene Kede, is currently being re-written for Grade 7 to 9 students and will focus more on language.

"I think there's a number of initiatives underway that are addressing the concerns," said she said. "Having curricula developed in isolation in particular regions is problematic because we want to have common standards."

Council board chair Alex Illasiak said Dene Kede and Innuqatiigit, the two aboriginal resources currently available to schools, are not curricula. He said the council never considered approaching ECE about the developing Gwich'in and Inuvialuktun curricula because aboriginal languages seemed like a regional responsibility.

"Both aboriginal groups in the Mackenzie Delta want to hang on to their languages," he said. "It's ours -- we should keep it. Ownership of aboriginal languages belongs here."

A call for action

The board's decision was made in response to a call for action submitted in March by Pat Winfield, co-ordinator for the Inuvialuit Cultural Resource Centre.

In her submission, Winfield said school language classes are of uneven standards and largely ineffective at producing new Inuvialuktun and Gwich'in speakers. "Parents in most communities refer to language classes as 'colouring and sewing class' and in some communities have attempted to withdraw their children from the classes," she wrote.

"There are no clear guidelines given to language teachers ... We therefore have kindergarten students in one school learning numbers while high school students at another school are also learning numbers."

Summarizing the position of the Inuvialuit, Winfield wrote: "(We) face a crisis and if we continue to run the school language programs the same way we have since 1972, we will continue to achieve the same results. We need to change what we are teaching and how we are teaching it."

Winfield was supported by the Inuvialuit Regional Corp., Gwich'in Tribal Council and the Gwich'in Social and Cultural Institute.

In Inuvik, Gwich'in teacher Bella Kay welcomed the decision.

"I'm thankful that they're finally looking into something," said Kay, who teaches at Sir Alexander Mackenzie school. "If the curriculum is going to be done, the Inuvik region and the settlements, we'd follow it. That way we're not all over the place."