Brent Reaney
Northern News Services

Coral Harbour (June 29/05) - Never afraid to share her opinions, Leonie McKitrick may have taught her fellow college students and professors as much as she learned.

This past school year, the Coral Harbour adult educator was the top student both semesters in her general arts and science certificate course at Confederation College in Thunder Bay, Ont.

"It opens my eyes to a lot of issues, and I'll be better able to assist students who might want to go down south and take a program," Leonie McKitrick said last week after returning home to Coral Harbour.

While there were three Inuit studying at the college, McKitrick was the only Inuk student in her class.

"It was kind of interesting to see the books when they referred to Inuit," the 37-year-old said of texts used to promote class discussion.

One thing that stood out was a chapter telling of the high level of respect Inuit have for their elders, but only as long as they are useful to the community. "It sort of promotes racism," she said. To communicate her feelings, she wrote a paper on the issue.

Not afraid to share her thoughts on any subject, McKitrick worried her opinions might have been too different from those of her mainly Ontario-raised classmates.

"It seemed I was going against the grain on a lot of issues," she said. "But they were interested in what I had to say."

McKitrick's ethics course professor, John Kornichuk, welcomed her unique ideas.

"Those course, in my mind, work best when there are multiple strong view points," he said from Thunder Bay. "She's the type of student you wish you had all the time."

With Leonie's daughter Suzy achieving an A average in the first year of her aboriginal law and advocacy at Confederation college, and husband Bruce completing a masters in education at nearby Lakehead University during the same time frame, the whole family seems to have an aptitude for education.

"She's the one who should be interviewed," Leonie says of Suzy.

For Leonie, adjusting to life in southern Canada while studying in her second language and helping manage a household - including Suzy, as well as sons Judai and Daniel - was difficult, but Suzy says her mom "really pulled it off."

'She was awesome'

"I'm really proud of her, she was awesome this year," says the 19-year-old, who is heading back for her second year of college sometime this August.

Leonie's college certificate is in the mail.

"I'm sure my husband's going to find somewhere to put it, but I'd rather file it away," the modest student says.

While Leonie wants to return south to study at Lakehead University one day, for now she is happy in Coral Harbour.

"I have a home here, and I'm going to be here for a while."