Rankin Inlet (Feb 15/06) - More than 180 students have taken part in the cultural inclusion program at Manni Ulujuk high school (MUI) in Rankin Inlet so far this semester.

Cody Tulugak skins a fox for the first time at a land camp near Rankin Inlet. - photo courtesy of Mark Ronald

Program activities are extremely popular among students, with requests often exceeding the number of available spots in the various events outside of the school.

Students receive academic credits for taking part in the program.

Cultural inclusion events at the school have included elders speaking to classes, excursions, boat trips to Marble Island, field trips to qarmuk (sod house), three-day hunting trips, weekend trips, skin preparation, kamik making and a Christmas feast.

School principal Jesse Payne says elders are hired through the local District Education Authority to provide instruction for land trips.

He says the school has concentrated on senior students for longer trips.

"In some cases Grade 9 students have participated, but we prefer to take the older students on the longer trips," says Payne.

"The elders also prefer to have the older kids to work with on longer trips, so we try to accommodate them.

"The visit to the sod house with elder Ollie Ittinuar has been popular among the younger students and their teachers.

"He does a great job explaining how the sod house was built and the importance of tradition."

Payne says the main focus of the program is to bring culture into the school and make it representative of the community and its culture.

He says that's why elders are brought in to work with students and teach them traditional ways and values.

"That's done in both a classroom setting and when the students are taken out on the land for the various trips.

"They actually live the culture when they're on the land, which is what spawned the living-classroom term."

Payne says school staff would love to be able to take every student through the program each year, but that's not fiscally realistic.

He says the hope is to have every student experience a trip in the program at least once during their time in school.

"We've really put a push on with the program this year because MUI was in a period of transition this past year.

"While not a new school, it was somewhat of a new creation in becoming a Grade 7 to 12 school again after so many years of housing junior students.

"So last year was more about growth, with a lot of issues to work out, and making sure we had an effective system put in place.

"This year, we felt as a staff, we really needed to put an emphasis on growing the cultural inclusion program."

Teacher Mark Ronald has been out on a number of land trips with students in the program.

He says the program is extremely beneficial to students because it teaches them traditional skills, while increasing their self-esteem and cultural knowledge.

"Their ability to use Inuktitut also increases because the elders only speak Inuktitut during the trips," says Ronald.

"It's also beneficial for them to learn a little discipline by getting up earlier in the morning than they ever would in town and getting right to work."

Ronald says the students always give 100 per cent while on the land.

He says when an elder asks something of a student, it's done right away.

"They take responsibility for what they're doing out there.

"They're on the land to learn and work, and they accept that.

"Any kid who has been on a trip can tell you how much work is involved.

"They're tired by the end of the day out there."

Ronald says there's always more students looking to go on a trip than spots available to them.

He says many female students want to go, but their participation depends on whether a female elder goes on the trip.

"It also depends on the weather. If it's -40C and blowing wind, there's still a core group of students who are always willing to go.

"If we could run a couple of more trips during the next few months, there would be 50 kids who would want to go right away."

Ronald says he would like to see funding made available for the creation of a full time cultural inclusion co-ordinator for the three schools in Rankin.

He says that would be a busy and worthwhile job.

"It's hard for full-time teachers to find the time to plan events like this on top of their busy schedules.

"Right now, our funding's not too bad. We ran a bingo a few weeks back and raised enough money to fund a few more trips.

"We also have other funding which needs to be spent by the end of March, so we'll see what happens with that, as well."