.
Search
 Email this articleE-mail this story  Discuss this articleWrite letter to editor  Discuss this articleOrder a classified ad  Print this page

Cameras in all Kivalliq schools by end of summer

Daniel T'seleie
Northern News Services

Baker Lake (June 22/05) - Closed circuit camera systems are currently being installed in Kivalliq schools.

The cameras are not a case of, "big brother watching," said Bill Cooper, vice principal of Jonah Amitnaaq School in Baker Lake.

"You're not going to find people sitting in front of the camera monitors," Cooper said.

The cameras act as a deterrent, Cooper said, and school property needs to be protected.

"These buildings are like community centres, they're huge assets," Cooper said.

Even a broken window, which is dependent on shipping seasons to replace, could ruin educational opportunities for students and recreation for the whole community, Cooper said.

Jonah Amitnaaq school, which is in its first year of operation and has cameras already installed, has not had concern from the students about being monitored, Cooper said.

Cameras have been in Iqaluit schools for nearly a year, making them a testing ground for the rest of Nunavut said the department of education's manager of capital planning, Lorne Levy.

Public concern after territory-wide incidence of vandalism and arson, including several school fires, in recent years prompted the governments' move, Levy said.

The intent is to deter and not to prosecute vandals, Levy said.

The cameras do keep students from breaking laws and school policy, says Inuksuk High School principal Terry Young.

"I feel we've had less vandalism, I feel we've had less problems," he said.

Inuksuk has around 30 cameras, more than any other school in Iqaluit. As per department of education policy, they record only in public areas, not in washrooms or classrooms.

A television in the his office allows Young to monitor the cameras. Digital recordings from any of the cameras can be recalled for up to 21 days before it is automatically erased. It is the same system every school in Nunavut will eventually have.

Territorial initiative

The territorial initiative was supported by every District Education Authority in Nunavut, says Levy. Consultation of students met, "very little opposition," Young said. But some students at Inuksuk still feel the cameras are an extraneous measure.

"I'm not into cameras," said Elee Kango, who does not like being watched.

"It's definitely not a good idea," said Karielle Mackey. "There's no point in having them."

Both students agree, awareness of the cameras has helped reduce vandalism in public areas, but Mackey says this just pushes illicit activity to spots which are not monitored.

"It's not going to stop them from (vandalizing)," Mackey said.

Bathrooms, which are not monitored, are already a target for vandalism in Gjoa Haven's Qiqirtaq school, says principal Ian Critchley.

Administrators will have to be "vigilant" in checking tapes to see who has entered and left bathrooms, and other un-monitored areas, in time periods during which they were vandalized, says Critchley.

The tapes will help prove who committed the act of vandalism, but he is unsure how effective legal action will be in changing young peoples' lives.

Cameras will help reduce vandalism, though, Critchley said.

After an alarm system was installed at the school two years ago, "the incidence of break-ins dropped dramatically." He supports them as an administrator, but is, "not personally in great favour of them." Some students at the school have objections to the cameras Critchley said.

Invasion of privacy?

Some may consider surveillance to be an invasion of privacy, but as long as the public is given notice this is not the case, said Margaret Joyce, superintendent of schools for Kitikmeot School Operations.

"We have (cameras) in other places, we put cameras in airports," Joyce said.

Video monitoring is not just useful for deterring or identifying vandals, Joyce said. A fire, like the electrical blaze which consumed Iqaluit's Joamie school, could be caught in its earlier stages if noticed on real-time video.

$1,250,000 cost

Equipping Nunavut schools with the cameras will cost the government $1,250,000 said Levy.

It may reduce insurance rates for school buildings, now considered a high risk by the governments insurance company.

The department of education pays a $10 million deductible on school buildings, Levy said.

There are currently cameras in every Iqaluit school, and both of Baker Lake's schools.

Every community in Nunavut will have cameras by next Christmas, Levy said.