Latest news with #InuitQaujimajatuqangit
CBC
01-04-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Nunavut hunters urge for reassessment as Baffinland eyes 2026 construction of Steensby rail
Baffinland Iron Mines is now looking at 2026 as a start date for its proposed expansion to an iron ore mine in Nunavut, but local hunters are calling for the project to be reassessed before it can go ahead. The mining company wants to ship iron ore from its existing Mary River mine, by building a railway south to a proposed port at Steensby Inlet. It's a plan that was approved by the federal government in 2012. For years, it was put on the back burner with Baffinland favouring a railway to be built from the mine north to Milne Inlet — an option it said would be less costly. That was rejected by the federal government in 2022, causing Baffinland to switch back to the Steensby Inlet track. But Judah Sarpinak, chair of Igloolik's hunters and trappers association, believes environmental conditions, and the climate, have changed a lot since the project was approved in 2012. Sarpinak wants a reassessment of the project before construction is allowed to begin. "The importance of substance hunting for Inuit has been going on ever since we can remember," Sarpinak said. Under federal law, a mining project in Nunavut must be reassessed if it hasn't begun within five years. But Eric Head, a spokesperson for Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada, said the port and rail project falls under the wider Mary River project — which has commenced. The federal government can order a reconsideration of an approved project if "the circumstances relating to the project are significantly different from those anticipated at the time the certificate was issued," he said in a written response. Losing hunting grounds Sarpinak worries his community could lose precious hunting grounds if the project is allowed to continue. The railroad would have to cross permafrost, which he said could affect caribou migrating from their winter feeding grounds to spring calving grounds. Between 2014 and 2015, there was a moratorium on the hunting of Baffin Island caribou, which Sarpinak believes has skewed the outdated environmental assessments Baffinland is relying on for its Steensby Project. In an email to CBC, Baffinland spokesperson Peter Akman said it's done numerous baseline studies on caribou since 2006, with an aerial survey as recent as March 2023. "The environmental data and information is not outdated. Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit is valuable, rich information that does not have an expiry date," Akman said. To address concerns with the operation of the rail line, Akman said there have been several mitigation measures, which "include the installation of ramps at areas where the railway will intersect a visible caribou trail". Baffinland's use of baseline data for shipping it's already doing was also a point of contention with Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the Qikiqtani Inuit Association. The Nunavut Impact Review Board's 2023 – 2024 annual monitoring report for the Mary River Project, released last month, stated DFO and QIA's concerns with Baffinland using 2013 baseline data for narwhal abundance estimates in Eclipse Sound, situated north of its Mary River mine. In the report, it was recommended that Baffinland use 2004 data as its baseline, to compare narwhal stock with pre-project levels. NIRB noted that project-related shipping in that area has been ongoing since 2006, and since there was a "significant increase in regional vessel traffic" since construction started in 2013. Consent an 'obligation' Baffinland could start shipping year-round through the port at Steensby Inlet — and that also worries communities south of Igloolik. Sanirajak's hunters and trappers association chair, Paul Nagmalik, says walruses cross the waters near Steensby Inlet, as part of their migration to the Salliq (Southampton Island) area. "These walruses are sensitive and quickly draw away from noise. Even when they are not being hunted, they drift away quickly," he said. Warren Bernauer is an assistant professor of environment and geography at the University of Manitoba who's been assisting the Igloolik hunters and trappers association with its submissions. He believes the federal government has an obligation to get consent from Inuit — rather than just community feedback — under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act. Baffinland, he said, needs to do the same. "They need to ask permission and that's not what they're doing," he said. "[Baffinland] can ship for almost the entire season, ice breaking through Steensby Inlet in their existing project certificate. The communities that I've spoken to want to reconsider this, that maybe that's too much shipping." CIRNAC spokesperson Eric Head said the federal government has conducted two consultation tours, and continues to engage with Inuit organizations. Baffinland's Peter Akman also reiterated the multiple community consultations it's hosted, with information shared on multiple channels outside the meetings. Permits still required Akman said the plan is to start construction as soon as financing for the expansion is finalized. There are still several federal authorizations required for Baffinland to begin that project — including a railway operating certificate that Transport Canada said it hasn't received an application for. The federal government also isn't ruling out amendments to the project. Head said a workshop conducted by NIRB has put forward several recommendations. Among those is "an evaluation of the existing Mary River mine monitoring program to identify improvements and consider whether updates to existing project certificate terms and conditions … are needed to address concerns about potential cumulative effects."
CBC
22-03-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Teachers learning new curriculum to be rolled out in Nunavut starting next year
Teachers association worries who will teach new curriculum amid teacher shortage Image | Inuktitut Caption: Inuktitut symbols in a Nunavut classroom in an undated file photo. The territory is rolling out a new school curriculum starting next school year that's rooted in Inuit culture and language. (Claudiane Samson/Radio-Canada) Nunavut teachers were in Iqaluit this past week to learn a new education curriculum rooted in Inuit language and culture that the territorial government says it will start rolling out next school year. The curriculum will be used in kindergarten and Grade 1 classrooms in Nunavut schools in 2025-2026, though the territory says it has finished developing the curriculum all the way through to Grade 6 so far. Pamela Gross, the territory's education minister, described it as a "very huge milestone" and said it was also a "really large undertaking" that she hopes students will be proud of. "The curriculum is fully embedded in Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit [Inuit traditional knowledge and principles] and will have our culture, our language, and what we know in our environment in the curriculum," she said, adding that it will be "very relevant" to students. Right now, Nunavut's curriculum comes from Alberta and other jurisdictions. The territory says each year the new curriculum will be introduced to another grade, until it's fully implemented up to Grade 12 in 2036. Gross said the territory was still working on developing the curriculum for grades beyond the sixth, and that the first draft of it was done for Grades 7 to 9 so far. Teaching materials for kindergarten and Grade 1 are available in Inuktut and English, according to a news release from the government of Nunavut last week. Gross said educators were brought to Iqaluit this past week to be trained on the new curriculum. Ashley Tulugak, the manager of program implementation and training in the territory's educator development division, helped develop part of the curriculum. She said an example of traditional knowledge in the program is how, in the first grade, students will learn about traditional naming practices. "They could learn their Inuktitut name, who they're named after, learning to write their name, spell their name in Inuktitut. They can practice the kinship terms, with each other like in the class." Teachers association worries how curriculum will be delivered Justin Matchett, the president of the Nunavut Teachers Association (NTA) which represents teachers and administrators in Nunavut's education system, welcomes the new curriculum. "This has been a demand from our teachers for a long time, they keep asking about resources, they keep asking about how they're going to meet the expectations that the government has set," he said. The government of Nunavut passed legislation in 2008 to require Inuktut education for all grades by 2019-2020. The government missed that initial deadline and in 2021, Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. launched a lawsuit against the territory claiming that it had failed to provide education in Inuktut and was discriminating against Inuit as a result — a legal battle the government has since taken to the highest court. "It's very important that this curriculum comes out. It's going to help teachers in their attempts to achieve the goals of the [Nunavut government]," said Matchett. But he is also worried how the territory will find the teachers needed to deliver it. "While the NTA firmly believes that teaching the language is important, we're also very firm believers in qualified educators in the classroom, and we don't think language … prioritization should take precedence over having a qualified teacher in the classroom," he said. Matchett said there are already "a lot" of unqualified teachers in Nunavut classrooms. "If the government wants to roll out this curriculum effectively, and if we're talking about the 2030s, there has to be that long-term plan of how they're going to get qualified Inuit teachers into the classroom." Consultations with communities finishing this month Gross said the territory has enough teachers who speak Inuktut to start rolling out the curriculum for kindergarten and Grade 1 students in the coming school year, but that they "always do need more" teachers. "This will be worked out with the district education authority and the school and the department just to make sure that they're filling what they need," she said. The territory is wrapping up consultations in communities this month for input on regulations about the language of instruction. Those consultations will help map out the percentage of the curriculum that's taught in Inuktut and English in each community. Tulugak said it would be up to local district education authorities to decide which model they would like their schools to use.
