In spring 1994, after 14 years of teaching grades 2 through junior high, I was asked to become the computer teacher of Leo Ussak Elementary School. I was both thrilled and daunted. The school had few resources for teaching about information technology, but I had big dreams for our students. What to do?
The answer, I felt, lay in our community.
An Inuit Community
Rankin Inlet is a community of approximately 2,000 people. About 80 percent of the population is Inuit, with the remainder coming from southern Canada. The unemployment rate across the Northwest Territories is 23 percent; but it is even higher in Rankin Inlet, as in many communities outside of Yellowknife, our territorial capital. The Inuit have a suicide rate three times the Canadian national average, and substance abuse is also a serious problem.
Geographically, we are quite remote. Rankin Inlet is on the west coast of Hudson Bay in the Canadian Arctic, approximately 1,000 kilometers north of Winnipeg, Manitoba. We are accessible only by airplane, which is very expensive. Traditionally, a small number of families used this area as a temporary camp to pursue a hunter/gatherer subsistence economy.
The modern community developed in the mid-1950s, when the North Rankin Nickel Mine began operations, establishing Rankin Inlet as the first, and one of the only, communities in the Canadian Arctic to be founded on a business other than the Hudson Bay Company. Ours was the first modern mine in the Canadian Arctic and the first to employ Inuit in all facets of the mine operation. The mine ran from 1957 until 1962, when the rich nickel-copper ore deposits ran out. The community suffered greatly from the closure, yet it survived—and has grown into a major government center in the Northwest Territories. Despite economic hardship, Rankin Inlet has a vital history, with a strong wage-based economy and a spirit of entrepreneurship and cooperation that still exists today.
Our community has experienced a boom of late, untypical of the Northern region. We have more than 100 small and large businesses, which are increasingly Inuit-owned. The Sakku Investments Corporation is a major player, responsible for investing Nunavut Land Claims money on behalf of the Inuit beneficiaries in the Kivalliq region. Sakku has become our primary Partner in Education, taking the lead in creating "Igalaaq," the Rankin Inlet Community Access Centre, in Leo Ussak Elementary School.
Partners in Education
Leo Ussak Elementary is a true community-based school. Since its inception in 1988 under our founding principal, the late Simon Ford, our school has included the community at every opportunity. We commonly have Inuit elders in our classrooms, passing on their traditional knowledge. Ford, an Inuk himself, instilled in his staff a respect for the Inuit culture and the Inuktitut language (see fig. 1). He also had a vision for the future that involved access to appropriate information technology.
Figure 1
Igalaaq (ee-ga-laak) — means “window.”
Inuit (ee-noo-eet) — formerly known as Eskimo, means “the people.”
Inuk (ee-nook) — singular person of Inuit.
Inuktitut (ee-nook-tee-toot) — language of the Inuit.
Nunavut (noo-na-voot) — means “our land.” on April 1, 1999, the New Canadian Territory of Nunavut will be created.
In 1994, Sakku Investments Corporation announced a plan to create an Internet service provider for Rankin Inlet. At that time, we held informal discussions with possible community stakeholders about the potential uses of this service for our community. I wanted this technology to be publicly available to provide training and access to those who did not have technical skills or financial resources to pay for Internet services. With school staff, administration, and the Community Education Council, I initiated a plan to create a Community Access Centre in the computer room of Leo Ussak Elementary School. In 1995, I obtained a grant from Industry Canada. This funding helped to create a link from Leo Ussak School to Sakku Arctic's Internet service provider.
The grant provided approximately $14,000, which funded the initial connection to the local area network. However, it was not enough funding for continuing Internet service, or for upgrading the outdated school computers.
Enter Ron Dewar, CEO of the Sakku Investments Corporation. Dewar had the vision to realize that the Internet could be an economic lifeline to this geographically isolated region, an area of high unemployment, as well as high business costs. Dewar made clear that Sakku was to be a Partner in Education. Sakku provided presentation hardware and software and a color scanner. Most important, Sakku agreed to support the Community Access Centre by underwriting the costs associated with using its Internet service provider. This meant that students and staff could have access to the Internet during the day, and the community of Rankin Inlet could have access at night and on weekends.
As computer program coordinator, I asked then-principal Simone Clark and our Community Education Council whether I could approach other community stakeholders to become Partners in Education. At a time when our school's phone bills were soaring and school budgets were shrinking, Clark and the Council were very supportive. I can vividly recall the look of wonder and amazement on the face of elder Lucien Taparti as I demonstrated a virtual Internet tour of the Louvre Museum in Paris. Some Council members had been born on the land in skin tents and igloos. As elder Taparti said through a translator, "We need this for our grandchildren!"
They gave their approval without hesitation or condition. Next, I canvassed local stakeholders. I held a series of Internet Cafes for the public, led staff training sessions for government personnel and fellow educators, and ran a computer club for preschoolers on Saturday afternoons.
Support began to snowball. We established new partnerships weekly, which enabled us to purchase new computer hardware and software. One fine spring weekend, four electricians, parents of students at our school, installed a complete electrical upgrade to our computer room for free, all with donated materials. Our school had tried to upgrade for years, but was told that the job was too difficult and too costly.
On another front, the Government of the Northwest Territories and the Keewatin Divisional Board of Education were having serious financial problems. They threatened teacher cutbacks and job losses. Despite our progress, the position of computer program coordinator looked as if it would be terminated. However, through the support of the school administration, staff, parents, the media, and our Partners in Education, we were able to save the position. The staff of Leo Ussak Elementary School made the visionary and unselfish choice to take larger class sizes to keep me in my position and thus keep the program going.
Window to the World
On Saturday, November 2, 1996, after 18 months of developing and organizing community partnerships, the Igalaaq volunteer team proudly welcomed everyone to the grand opening of the Northwest Territories' very first Community Access Centre. The center, called "Igalaaq"—Inuktitut for "window"—became a technological "window to the world" for the citizens of Rankin Inlet. Igalaaq gives all citizens access to current computer technology and the Internet. Students from Maani Ulujuk High School, together with 30 adult volunteers, staff the center, which is open several evenings a week, Sunday afternoons, and Saturdays for a special computer club for preschoolers.
More than 250 people attended the grand opening. Northwest Territories Air and Sakku Arctic Technologies presented new computers to the Igalaaq team. We raised about $2,200 in a raffle. Community members cut a giant Igalaaq cake and unveiled a sign for the Igalaaq Centre. More than 100 people signed up for their own e-mail accounts. "The center was packed to capacity on its first day of operation, and it hasn't slowed down since," said Igalaaq volunteers Vinnie Karetak and Maggie Putulik.
To date, we have managed to raise $100,000 to equip Igalaaq. Fifty-two business and government stakeholders, as well as 61 individuals, have become Partners in Education. Leo Ussak Elementary School and Sakku Investments Corporation received the Royal Bank National Partners in Education Award by the Conference Board of Canada. With more than 35 volunteers, Igalaaq may be used by anyone in the community on evenings or weekends, regardless of technical experience or financial resources. Igalaaq has seen more than 3,000 visits in less than a year, all without theft, vandalism, or disturbance to the computer lab or the school facility. More than 25 percent of the people in Rankin Inlet have established e-mail accounts.
For Students, Too
Our students at Leo Ussak Elementary School now have access to state-of-the-art information technology. Students use technology to record and share information about Inuit culture and modern Arctic life with the rest of the world. In turn, they receive feedback about other cultures. Since the center opened, students have had better attendance records in school and have shown more interest in learning. Many students have their own e-mail accounts and Web pages, and some even work at Igalaaq. Most important, students from kindergarten to grade 6 have regular classes in information technology and are learning to become creators of content rather than passive consumers of information.
We have created the very first Web site of any school in the Canadian Arctic; indeed, the school's Web site (http://www.arctic.ca/LUS) has been showcased to Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and First Ladies Aline Chrétien and Hillary Clinton. The Igalaaq Access Centre and the Leo Ussak Elementary School have been recognized by national and international organizations, from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation to National Geographic.
Igalaaq now offers a wide variety of information technology tools and resources to Rankin Inlet. Among the special materials available are 20 Macintosh multimedia computers, all with CD-ROM drives on a high-speed Ethernet network; computers with two high quality, color, 17-inch professional monitors; scanners; two ZIP drives; and a digital video editing system. Students, staff, and community members now have access to more than 60 computers schoolwide and a wide array of software resources, thanks to our many Partners in Education. And nearly 300 such centers will open across Canada this year. Industry Canada aims to have 10,000 in place by the millennium.
Community Partnerships
What lessons have we learned? Communities do want a greater part in our schools. Schools must look to businesses for financial support without fear of "selling out." Administrators and bureaucrats must support teachers who champion dreams and visions, without finding excuses or putting unnecessary roadblocks in their paths. Businesses also must share the greater vision for lifelong learning, not merely the month-end bottom line. When schools and communities work together, everyone wins.
