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Thank you Canadian Council on Learning (CCL) and Inuit Tapirit Kanatami (ITK) for having me speak here.
My name is Robby Qammaniq. I grew up in Hall Beach NWT (now Nunavut). My parents separated when I was 5 years old. Although it was hard, it gave me the opportunity to travel to visit either parent. It also gave me the opportunity to be more independent because neither parent had a job to support my visits.
A lot of people ask me if it was a culture shock when I moved to Peterborough to attend Trent University. It was not so much a culture shock, but an educational shock because I have never had to read and write so much in my life.
When I was in grade 9 our principal asked us what we wanted to do after high school, I chose to be a medical doctor.
I started my first year university in 2001, and started with a summer course. I didn’t do so well in my first year; I was under academic suspension because of that. Because I wanted to be a medical doctor I wanted to continue to pursue this goal. There was an opportunity to take a high school summer course in Peterborough (summer of 2002), and I took advantage of that by taking a course that was not offered by Nunavut schools, which was grade 12 Physics. After that, I went to Rankin Inlet to return to high school to obtain the background for university courses. In the summer of 2003, I went back to Trent University and I was better prepared after that for the workload because of my experience after my first year. Currently, I am in my third year with a joint major in Anthropology and Biology.
I think that Nunavut should have a summer school that would offer courses that academic students don’t have the opportunity to take, because the majority of the students are general students and the school is more concerned with those than the very small portion of academic students. Also, schools in Nunavut should concentrate more on reading and writing skills because that is the most difficult thing I had (and still have) to face.
Thank you CCL for bringing up issues on aboriginal learning. I hope CCL will produce great results!
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