TULITA/FORT NORMAN
Chief Albert Wright school has a new principal, but he's definitely no stranger to the North.

Philippe Brulot has returned North after a six year hiatus from living and working in the NWT. Brulot, the new principal at Chief Albert Wright school, wants to create a student-led newspaper which he hopes will make education relevant for kids. - photo courtesy of Philippe Brulot

Philippe Brulot was welcomed back after a six-year hiatus from living and working in the NWT. Brulot was the superintendent in Yellowknife for the Commission scolaire francophone Territoires du Nord-Ouest before he left to northern B.C. to lead as superintendent of the Nisga'a school district. He said getting experience with Aboriginal people was one overarching reasons he felt he needed to make the move to an all-Aboriginal school district such as the Nisga'a's.

Brulot said when he left six years ago, he was really struck by the charisma of former Education, Culture and Employment minister Jackson Lafferty and department staff such as Janet Grinsted and Rita Meuller. He added their dedication to education was really refreshing and that made him want to be a part of it as well.

"You can't just jump from 20 years in the francophone system and all of a sudden be ready to understand Aboriginal education. It doesn't work that way. I needed to do my homework," he said. "I left that position to become superintendent of the Nisga'a school district in northern B.C. for four years, and that's an all Aboriginal school district.

"That gave me a very good background of the same kind of reality - remote communities - I'm not thinking of Yellowknife here, but of Tulita. Remote communities 100 per cent Aboriginal, so it was a fantastic experience," Brulot said of his time in northern B.C.

Brulot said there were two important things he learned during his time with the Nisga'a Nation.

"For one, I will be forever grateful to Nisga'a Nation, for teaching me how to be grounded. How to relate to mother Earth," he said. "The second thing I learned is how to be really understanding of the residue of residential schools.

"We have to be extremely understanding and when we see students that are disconnected from school we cannot judge. We are not in a position to judge, we just have to open our hearts and try to do our best to make a difference," he added.

Brulot said he has spent the past two years as district principal in Coquitlam, B.C., where he led the Aboriginal department which consisted of 1,400 students from various First Nations.

"That gave me a new vision of Aboriginal education because I had students from literally all over the country. It could have been Gwich'in kids, it could have been Cree students, from absolutely everywhere, but in an urban setting," he said.

He said he started an educational newspaper in that district, signing up other school districts in the lower mainland and is looking to create a similar project up here in Tulita and beyond.

"When I started the newspaper two years ago, I told the staff that we would run that newspaper very quickly and it was done within three months," Brulot said. "The first edition was at 1,000 copies, and the second was at 5,000 and the third one was at 15,000."

Brulot says projects like the newspaper makes education relevant for students by using English in a more hands-on way.

"They can interview people, learn how to write with good semantics, good appropriate level of language," he said. "They can write articles, do the same kind of activities they would do in the classroom, but they don't even realize they are doing English because for them it's fun."

The newspaper, he said, will focus on celebrating the culture and the people and their success stories.

"Interviewing our elders, you know, trying to find out what they know, what they can share about the land, and their stories. That's great knowledge that we have to pass on."

Brulot will be in his position with Chief Albert Wright school for two years, but said he hopes to extend that if he can, saying he chose being principal in Tulita over a superintendent position in Ontario.

"I really wanted to come back here. The North honestly is an addiction. We are blessed here.

Whether it be Yellowknife, Tuktoyaktuk or (Tulita), the entire North is a jewel."

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