Law school accepts 25
We will only give a degree to people who've earned it: dean
Michele LeTourneau
Northern News Services
Monday, June 12, 2017
NUNAVUT
The next four years are bound to be grueling for Guy D'Argencourt and his fellow 24 students, who will embark on a path that will take them, beginning Sept. 11, to a degree in law from Nunavut Arctic College's partner university, the University of Saskatchewan.
Iqaluit resident Guy D'Argencourt is one of 25 successful applicants who will begin the law program at Nunavut Arctic College Sept. 11, via University of Saskatchewan's College of Law. - photo courtesy of Guy D'Argencourt |
That Juris Doctor (JD) will be as rigorous as any in Canada, said Saskatchewan College of Law dean Martin Phillipson.
"We are the third oldest law school in Canada. We've been going for 105 years. We have a great reputation," Phillipson said. "We will only give a degree to people who've earned it. This is not going to be a cake walk by any stretch of the imagination."
Phillipson says the admissions process was
very competitive.
There were 86 applicants. The $3,442,513 contract between the law school and the Government of Nunavut (GN) is for 25 students.
The numbers were not a surprise to the dean. At his school there are usually 1000 applicants for 125 places. He says that makes for very difficult decisions.
Iqaluit-Niaqunnguu MLA Pat Angnakak probed Education Minister Paul Quassa on the make-up of successful applicants in the Legislative Assembly June 5. She wanted to know the details regarding numbers of Inuit and non-Inuit students, and how many were government employees on paid education leave.
"I imagine that I am not the only person who is wondering why almost a third of the entering class is non-Inuit. Can the minister clarify why this is so," she asked.
Quassa replied that there were 18 successful Inuit applicants and 10 GN employees, nine of whom were approved for paid education leave. He stressed others were long-time Northerners.
D'Argencourt is an example of the complex make-up of applicants. He is both Inuk and long-time Northerner. His mother is from Pond Inlet.
"My mum worked at ITC (Inuit Tapirisat of Canada), which later became ITK (Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami). When my mum worked at ITC, they had initiated discussions with the Government of Canada on negotiating the land claim," recalled D'Argencourt.
After school, at his mother's office, he met the negotiators John Amagoalik, Tagak Curley and Paul Quassa.
He moved to Iqaluit in 1996. As manager of claims implementation for Executive and Intergovernmental Affairs (EIA), he is a government employee taking education leave.
D'Argencourt was immediately interested in the program when it was announced.
"With all our land claims files, there's usually a legal aspect that comes with dealing with articles in the land claims. Even though we have an implementation plan which lays out the responsibilities of the Government of Nunavut or the Government of Canada or NTI (Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.), it's usually interpretive," he said.
"I've been with EIA for 15 years now and over the years I've seen many times and occasions where we required legal advice or lawyers present to provide advice."
Pursuing a law degree was always at the back of his mind. He says having the program in Iqaluit is less disruptive.
"And having it here, it has a flavour of the North. The focus will be about Nunavut. It will give people a better sense of how the law will apply in many different aspects here."
The Nunavut-based JD will take four years instead of the usual three years - with the first year focused on skills development as not all students have post-secondary education. That provides Phillipson time to build his team. He says once the program gets running in September, his main priority will be to gather professors, "including the Northern bar, lawyers who have specialist knowledge of the law in Nunavut. How things actually work in Nunavut."
"While the degree can stand next to any in the country, it will also be tailored to the needs of the territory," he adds.
