Beatrice Ocquaye, right, directs her Inuit kindergarten class as they sing songs of their native Nunavut. The Inuit classroom, located in Vanier, is the first of its kind in Ontario. Ottawa is home to a population of over 1,800 Inuit.
EMC News - Inuit Kindergarten is now in session in Vanier on McArthur road.
The class, the first of its kind in Ontario, is home to 15 Inuit children who learn a combination of approved Ontario curriculum and the history of their own culture in a full-day Kindergarten program. The class is located near Robert E. Wilson Public School in a small building that looks more like a small two-storey residential home than the typical larger educational facility.
Children are bussed in from around the city to attend the class, which was in demand from the 1,800 Inuit in Ottawa for some time.
"The need came from the fact that Ottawa has the largest population of urban Inuit in this country," said Karen Baker-Anderson, executive director of the Ottawa Inuit Children's Centre. "What we know about kids is they do really well in life when they start off knowing who they are and have a strong identity as part of the community and linkages to their culture."
Baker-Anderson, who has an adopted Inuit daughter herself, cited the many Inuit parents in the community were worried about their children in "the south," as Inuit parents call Ottawa, losing touch with their culture and identity as urban Inuit.
The teacher of the class is Bea Ocquaye, who was selected as the teacher of the class from more than 260 applicants for the position. During the celebratory introduction of the classroom on Jan. 21, Ocquaye led the children in throat singing, Inuktitut storytelling and songs in their native languages of Nunavut.
"We also have a cultural teacher here," said Baker-Anderson. "She speaks Inuktitut in the classroom to the children. It's all about living the northern Inuit lifestyle here in Ottawa."
The class took only six months to organize and put together, and came partly out of necessity through the Ontario government's new mandate for all-day Kindergarten.
"Our parents came forward and said, 'how are we going to choose between being at the Ottawa Inuit Children's Centre in a culturally rich environment where kids hear Inuktitut," said Baker-Anderson. "We also knew there was pressure on parents to put kids in these full-day programs. How can we do both? How can we break down barriers that exist in systems that are finding barriers to make this work for children? We had been building relationships in the City of Ottawa Child Care Services, the Public Health Agency of Aboriginal Children's Services. Everyone got together with the Ministry of Education and the school board and said let's not worry about what box we fit into and all come together with the common goal of providing these children with an educationally rich environment that celebrates their culture."
If the program proves to be successful, plans may be put in place to keep these children in an Inuit learning environment as they get older.
"That would need to come from the parents," said Baker-Anderson. "We do continue to educate. We do have Inuktitut classes on the weekends, we go into schools and do cultural presentations. That's not only been educational and supportive for the kids who are Inuk in this school."
"This is their culture," said Baker-Anderson. "I think it has really brought this whole community together, and this is a celebration of the beauty that this community and this culture have."
By Andrew Sztein EMC NEWS
Pictures: Ottawa Citizen
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