Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dlnhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T23:51:49.638Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Influences Preceding “Nunatsiavut” Self-Determination: Historical, Political and Educational Influences on the People of Northern Labrador (Canada)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 July 2015

Kirk David Anderson*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Education, University of New Brunswick, PO Box 4400, Fredericton, New Brunswick, E3B 5A3, Canada
Get access

Abstract

What were the influences on the Inuit of Northern Labrador preceding the creation of the self-governing territory of Nunatsiavut? What are the preterritorial influences of the Inuit on the territory’s five schools? To answer these questions and to share the success of one Indigenous people, the Nunatsiavut Inuit (the Inuit of Northern Labrador, Canada), this paper traces their survival, recovery, and development as they reclaim their right to self-determination (Smith, 1999). As part of this process, the paper reports such influences as: the bicultural and assimilationist forces (Moravian missionaries and the governments of Newfoundland), the rise and successful influence of the Labrador Inuit Association as a precursor to the Nunatsiavut Assembly, and the Inuit influence on schools in the region. This paper concludes with a discussion of the nature of northern isolation as a source of economic and cultural strength, which may have enabled the Nunatsiavut Inuit to resist complete assimilation, a factor in Nunatsiavut Inuit survival and increased potential for successful self-determination.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2007

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anderson, K., & Smith, E.. (1986). A pictorial history of school in Northern and Central Labrador. Unpublished paper, Memorial University of Newfoundland .Google Scholar
Annahatak, B. (1994). Quality education for Inuit today? Cultural strengths, new things, and working out the unknowns: A story by an Inuk. Peabody Journal of Education, 69(2), 1218.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Armstrong, E., Bennett, S., & Grenier, A. (1997). Satuigiarniq: Reclaiming responsibility for education. Journal of Staff Development, 18(3), 611.Google Scholar
Bassey, M. (1999). Case study research in educational settings. Buckingham: Open University Press.Google Scholar
Brady, P. (1991). An analysis of program delivery in First Nations, federal and provincial schools in Northwestern Ontario. Unpublished Masters thesis, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto.Google Scholar
Fuzessy, C. (1988). Biculturalism in postsecondary Inuit education. The Canadian Journal of Native Education, 22(2), 201212.Google Scholar
Hughes, J. (1990). The philosophy of social research. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Leithwood, K., Jantzi, D., & Steinbach, R. (1997). Changing leadership for changing times. Unpublished document, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto.Google Scholar
Miles, M.B., & Huberman, M.A. (1994). Qualitative data analysis. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Nachtigal, P. (1982). Rural education: In search of a better way. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. (1996). Residential schools. In Looking forward, looking back. (pp. 333409) vol. 1. Ottawa: Canada Communications Group Publishing.Google Scholar
Roberts, L.W., Clifton, R.A., & Wiseman, J. (1989). Exploring the value orientations of Inuit and white students: An empirical inquiry. Canadian Journal of Native Education, 16(1), 1223.Google Scholar
Ryan, J. (1996). Restructuring Native education: Trust, respect, and governance. Journal of Canadian Studies, 31(2), 115132.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smallwood, J.R., Poole, C.F., & Cuff, R.H.. (1991). The encyclopaedia of Newfoundland and Labrador. vol. 3. St. John's, NF: Harry Cuff Publishers.Google Scholar
Smith, L. (1999). Decolonising methodologies: Research and Indigenous peoples. Dunedin, NZ: University of Otaga.Google Scholar
Warren, R. (1967). Report of the Royal Commission on Education and Youth. St. John's: NL.Google Scholar