BEAUFORT DELTA - When Lucy Kudlak's son left Sachs Harbour to attend high school in Inuvik, it was bad enough for her to be so far away from him. But she also had to worry about whether he had a place to live or enough to eat.

The former boarding home for out-of-community students attending Inuvik's Samuel Hearne Secondary school is now owned by Northern Properties. - Andrew Rankin/NNSL photo

Now a Grade 12 student at Samuel Hearne Secondary school, her son has been staying in good homes with billet families for the past couple of years. However, the beginning of his high school career wasn't so lucky.

"He had to drop out of school. His grades weren't that good because of the places he was staying at," she said. "From what I heard, (he was) being threatened, being in places where he had to stand parties all the time. He couldn't sleep," Kudlak said.

"I trusted these people to look after my son and to make sure he goes to school and not just use him for an income."

Kudlak and other parents in communities without Grade 10 to 12 services, such as Tsiigehtchic and Sachs Harbour, are calling on the Beaufort Delta Education Council (BDEC) to re-open a boarding home in Inuvik. The former boarding home, located on Gwich'in Road, was shut down because of high operating costs about four years ago and the building is now owned by Northern Properties.

At its general assembly earlier this month, the Gwich'in Tribal Council passed a resolution pledging to work with BDEC to develop a boarding facility for Gwich'in students and provide them with tutors and counsellors.

The idea stemmed from a back-to-school meeting with concerned parents in Tsiigehtchic last month, said Anna May McLeod, executive director of the Designated Gwich'in Organizations and chair of the District Education Authority.

"Now parents are running into problems such as students not showing up at home, students are discovering drugs and alcohol, they're missing school, they're not getting involved with any activities that they were involved with in the community before, and the distance from the parents is causing them to become lonely," McLeod said.

The BDEC is supposed to find billet homes for students, McLeod said, but often parents end up finding their children places to live and contacting the board afterward.

"Some people don't have family members (in Inuvik) so they just go with what their friends say ... and it don't end up being a good place," McLeod added. "And sometimes those boarding home parents, they're into drugs and alcohol too, and BDEC just has to go with them because that's where a student could live. So that, too, needs to be looked at."

Tsiigehtchic resident John B. Firth, whose daughter Jessie goes to school in Inuvik, said he would like to see the boarding home open so parents can be sure their children are focusing on school.

"They should have a boarding home there with strict supervision where they can study and get their education," he said.

Herbert Andre, also from Tsiigehtchic, has had several children go to high school and each time he faces challenges trying to find them a place to live.

"This is going to be an ongoing thing," Andre said. "You're worried about your kids all the time and they get homesick."

Andre said he knows his children are staying in good homes, but he still doesn't like sending them away.

A representative from BDEC was not immediately available for comment.

In Sachs Harbour, Kudlak said, many students leave high school and return home based on unsatisfactory living situations in Inuvik.

"Most of them quit and came home from school. Some of them only had a month or two left and they came home. That's not good," she said, adding she hopes the Inuvialuit will join with the Gwich'in and work with the GNWT to get a boarding house open.

"If you say our children are our future and education is so important, put your money where your mouth is."