The future of Innu education in Quebec is expected to take shape this week in the community of Uashat mak Mani-utenam, not far from Sept-Îles. A three-day summit starting on Wednesday will bring together indigenous delegations from the Atlantic and Ontario. His goal: to trace the contours of a school oriented towards the emancipation of cultures and liberated, the Innu hope, from the assimilation heritage of the colleges.
More than forty years after taking charge of its schools, the Innu community of Uashat mak Mani-utenam still faces a significant challenge to early school leaving and the deterioration of its language and traditions. Now is the time to take stock: the summit promises to spark ideas to better chart the future.
“The first goal is to take stock,” says Vicky Lelièvre, director of education at Innu Takuaikan Uashat mak Mani-utenam (ITUM). The summit, for her, is rightly called because it will be “stopping at the top of the mountain, where the gaze can see the path traveled, but also embrace the road that remains to be done”.
The path is paved with challenges in the summit host community. Fewer than one in two Innu students graduate from secondary school following a traditional path, that is, without repeating at least a year or following adult education. The 2016 census also shows that 56% of adults over the age of 25 have lower than secondary education and that only 4% of them complete university studies.
A historic momentum
The Uashat mak Mani-utenam summit will take place more than 1,000 km from Ottawa, but the presence of the federal capital will undoubtedly raise the three-day meeting. This summer, the Canadian government announced more than $ 1 billion over five years to fund the education system of 22 Quebec’s aboriginal communities.
The Innu gangs, with the exception of the Mashteuiatsh, have not ratified the agreement. ITUM is organizing a summit, the first of its kind in Quebec, in the wake of negotiations it is conducting with Ottawa to conclude its regional education agreement. Uashat mak Mani-utenam is a pioneer: the deal the community is negotiating with Ottawa will inspire Quebec’s other Innu bands, organizers believe.
“The summit will shed some light on us,” underlines Mr.myself Hare. We could have negotiated our deal without reaching out to our people, but our parents and students are important and we wanted to take their opinion into account. “
In the light of the consultations held before the summit, “the protection of the mother tongue and culture” clearly appears as the priority of the community, continues the director. “Young people always came back to us with the demand that our education system give more importance to the mother tongue, because it is at the heart of Innu identity and pride. “
Currently, the little Innu of Uashat mak Mani-utenam speak their language at the CPE and kindergarten. However, from the beginning of elementary school, French takes precedence and the Innu language is relegated to second or even third place. “So it takes two or three hours a week as a special language, like English,” says the lady.myself Hare.
ITUM intends to increase the place of the Innu in school, but also to negotiate greater control over the content of the courses. “Programs that talk about First Nations must be done by First Nations. It’s a must for me ”, says Vicky Lelièvre.
The community also wishes to repatriate the conditions for obtaining degrees, currently established by Quebec. “We are often told that we have a lot of leeway, but we don’t have much. We want our students to be able to graduate without necessarily having to comply with ministerial restrictions. “
The means of his ambitions
This greater autonomy requires more funding, according to Vicky Lelièvre. Already a temporary financing formula concluded with Ottawa has allowed ITUM to compensate for the historical delay of its schools compared to the provincial institutions. “We calculated that we would have 30% less funding than if we were in the Quebec system. There has been a notable recovery from the federal government, “explains the director of education.
The community is already reaping the rewards of the investments it has sown.
“We now have full-time speech therapists in our schools, social workers, educational counselors, psychosocial and drug prevention workers, occupational therapists,” lists Vicky Lelièvre.
The new money also made it possible to implement specialized programs. “We have inaugurated four sports concentrations, adds Mr.myself Hare. Our top-tier teams enable our young people to meet up with other Innu nations. It favors belonging to groups and to our culture. Two months after the start of the school year, we are already seeing that there are fewer absences and fewer problematic behaviors. “
The summit will try to build on these “success stories”, concludes Vicky Lelièvre, to bring as many young people as possible to the top. “We have great ambitions. Scholastic success for us goes beyond school: it affects the entire community. When a young man graduates, everyone is proud, both parents and young people. “
