École des Trois-Soleils: 20 years of teaching in French in Nunavut


For the president of the Commission scolaire francophone du Nunavut (CSFN), Judy Romaric Sessua Kuengou, the very existence of the school is the culmination of hard work of a handful of parents who wanted to offer their children a French-language education.

The CSFN is responsible for the management of the École des Trois-Soleils, which today has around a hundred students from kindergarten to 12and year.

We are very grateful to all the people who worked very hard to make this school possible.says Judy Romaric Sessua Kuengou.

On April 12, the establishment celebrated 20 years since its official opening, although it welcomed its first students in December 2001.

Projects that paved the way for the creation of a school?

Daniel Cuerrier, a Francophone from Iqaluit, was one of the architects of the creation of the school, which he describes as the culmination of long processes and a some stubbornness.

The francophone admits that his involvement has given him little respite, so much so that his children grew up with a father who was not very present at home.

They were the guinea pigs of this whole processrecognizes the man who is now an interpreter-translator and director of the Translation Bureau for the Government of Nunavut.

In 1988, the coming into force of the Official Languages ​​Act of the Northwest Territories gave Francophones hope of obtaining education in French.

Several projects have set the table for the creation of a French-language school, he said, citing the opening of a trilingual daycare center in French, English and Inuktitut, the establishment of a group of Francophone parents, the creation of a French-mother-tongue program from grades 1 to 6, in 1993-1994, then that of a school board (ancestor of the CSFN).

That’s what gave the final impetus to get the schoolexplains Daniel Cuerrier. We managed to listen to Premier Paul Okalik at the time, the Minister of Education and […] of Canadian Heritage.

Although aware of their language rights, French-speaking parents had to advance their cause sparingly, according to Daniel Cuerrier. We also had to deal with our reality, which was that we live on Inuit territory, that the Inuit are very poorly served in terms of their education in their mother tongue.

A student from the back stands in front of École des Trois-Soleils on the day of her return to school, in Iqaluit, in September 2020.

École des Trois-Soleils in Iqaluit was inaugurated on April 12, 2002. Today, it welcomes about a hundred students from kindergarten to grade 12.

Photo: Radio-Canada / Matisse Harvey

Challenges and progress

The president of the CSFN acknowledges that the past two decades have not always been easy. He cites in particular waves of staff departures and the migration of students to the English-speaking system.

This migration is fed, according to him, by the lack of space which obliges the pupils of the 9and at the 12and year to take their courses in French at the nearby Inuksuk High School.

This last issue is however on the way to being overcome. thanks to expansion work which should be completed for the start of the 2023 school year.

Since the expansion will make it possible to accommodate more students, he says, he foresees the hiring of new teachers. The number of teachers the school has depends on the number of students for whom the school [offre] serviceshe explains. more students, [cela] means more services to offer.

He believes that this expansion brings hope, and a sign that things are progressing.

HERE Far North



Reference-ici.radio-canada.ca

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