Literacy skills needed for success
Gjoa Haven MLA candidates talk education, housing and employment
Miranda Scotland
Northern News Services
Published Monday, October 21, 2013
UQSUQTUUQ/GJOA HAVEN
Work needs to be done to raise the literacy level in Nunavut or residents won't be able to lead the territory to a prosperous future, said Gjoa Haven MLA hopeful George Sonny Porter.
"How are we going to have an effective government in the future when our people can't read and write?" wondered Porter.
Election 2013
Please see the special 16-page
Nunavut territorial election PDF file which contains profiles on a majority of the candidates seeking office October 28.
Nunavut currently has the lowest literacy and numeracy scores in the country, according to a recent survey of adult skills done by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which is based in France.
Nunavut's literacy score is also lower than the average scores of each of the 24 countries surveyed.
More than 27,000 Canadians aged 16 to 65 filled out the questionnaire using a computer or on paper, depending on their technology skills.
Countries were given a score out of 500. Canada's average score for literacy was 273 while Nunavut only received 219 points.
"Our people, when they graduate from school, they're not ready for college and university down south because their English and writing skills aren't good enough," said Porter, adding he believes the problem is that Nunavummiut are stuck between two worlds at the moment.
"It's tough. There is no easy solution to it, but if we work with different people, educators ... we can change that."
Tony Akoak, who is running against Porter, suggests the best way to improve education in Gjoa Haven is to graduate students only when they're ready.
Akoak went to school in Yellowknife and Inuvik, and remembers students being sent on to the next grade when they had the knowledge to succeed.
However, he said he believes that Gjoa Haven students are being moved to the next grade based on their age, not skill.
"I don't think it's right," said Akoak.
What's more is even when students graduate, many struggle to find employment.
The territory needs to be looking at ways to create more work opportunities for residents, said Akoak.
"Our communities are growing rapidly and there are hardly any jobs to show for it."
Gjoa Haven's population was at 1,279 in 2011, up from 960 in 2001, according to Statistics Canada.
The community's unemployment rate is nearly 30 per cent.
Housing can't keep up with the birth rate, added Akoak. As a result, issues with homelessness and overcrowding are growing.
Residents are staying with family and friends, in cabins on the outskirts of town or in tent frames they've put up, said Akoak.
"Before this year, we hardly ever saw (homelessness) but we're starting to see it more and more," he added.
"If our government could start focusing on the housing issue crisis, you would see a lot of happier people in the community. When you're a happy person, you go out and look for jobs and seem to find it. I think that's where the problem starts - no housing."
In March, the federal government committed $100 million to provide 210 additional housing units in Nunavut.
But Gjoa Haven didn't make the cut under the Nunavut Housing Corporation's allocation system.
Only Iqaluit, Arviat, Baker Lake, Rankin Inlet, Kugluktuk, Clyde River, Repulse Bay, Cambridge Bay, Pangnirtung, Iglulik, Cape Dorset and Coral Harbour will get a piece of the pie.
Linda Hunter, Gjoa Haven's third MLA candidate, would like to see the community get a homeless shelter, a women's shelter and a group home.
As a social worker, Hunter said she's seen a need for all three facilities.
"I see a lot of issues in the day to day that come with my job," she said.
"Things can't just be fixed overnight. If I do become elected, I'm going to have to work closely with the hamlet and the council. I know it's a big responsibility, but I know I can do it."
