Going Places: Preparing Inuit high school students for their future in a changing, wider world

This video describes the hopes and challenges of bicultural, bilingual high school education in two Nunavut communities, Clyde River and Pangnirtung. Interviews with students, school administrators, parents and other community members encourage students to stay in school, to have hope for the future. Inuit leadership in the education system recognize the importance of deep connections and relationships with culture and community, yet they also express a desire that their children’s education be “on par with the rest of the world” – an education that will set them up to live anywhere, to succeed wherever they choose, and even to be Prime Minister one day. The challenge for students to maintain a positive outlook in the face of so many suicides of friend and family is discussed.

Naively, I was struck by the use of the word “bicultural” to describe how students are learning about their Inuit culture and the culture of the Canadian South. Upon reflection, I think that I have subsumed Inuit and Aboriginal cultures (in my mind) as part of the wider Canadian culture, when really they are distinct and stand alone.