The Ministry of Education has opened an investigation into the administration and operation of the Kativik School Board in Nunavik. A situation which, against all expectations, raises a lot of hope for the management of the organization.
“When the lady from the ministry called me on January 3 to tell me that the School Board was under investigation, I said “yay!” », says with a laugh the general director of the Kativik school board, Harriet Keleutak, in her office on Cavendish Boulevard, a stone’s throw from the Montreal airport.
“The lady on the phone was like, ‘No, Harriet, that’s not good news.’ But I kept repeating: “Yay! This is good news for me, finally the ministry will understand what we are doing and under what conditions we operate. They will finally understand our needs.” »
The investigation by the Ministry of Education “into the administration and operation of the Kativik School Board, with regard to the management of its human, financial and material resources,” was announced in the Official Gazette from January 10, 2024.
The Ministry of Education refuses to provide further information on the alleged facts, the duration of the investigation and its precise mandate. “Out of respect for the various ongoing processes, no comments or information will be communicated in relation to the investigation,” responds the ministry’s communications team.
A deficit of almost 30 million
Mme Keleutak makes no secret of the fact that his organization’s finances are not doing well, far from it. The school board has accumulated a debt of $27.4 million over the last four years.
But she is convinced that the problem is not linked to poor financial administration, but rather to the underfunding of the school board by Quebec which does not understand to what extent everything is more complicated and costs more north of 55e parallel.
By videoconference from her office in Quaqtaq, Sarah Aloupa, the president of the School Board, agrees. She talks about the many rules imposed by Quebec which do not correspond to the reality of the North and which generate additional costs. She gives the example of school buses, which are supposed to be renewed every ten years, but which never last that long in the arid climate of Nunavik. “Quebec asks us that maintenance be done by a certified mechanic. But we don’t have Mr. Muffler or Canadian Tire! And we don’t have certified mechanics in all the villages. He has to be flown in. We often don’t even have a garage to keep the buses sheltered from bad weather! »
The pandemic and inflation put the final nail in the coffin, she says. Thus, the construction project for the new Quaqtaq school, approved by Quebec at a cost of $60 million, has tripled due to the explosion in the cost of materials, which must, in addition, be transported by boat. “We haven’t changed anything about the project, but it now costs $180 million,” summarizes M.me Aloupa.
Recovery plan
Quebec has been demanding for a while now that the School Board present it with a recovery plan, but the two women say they are navigating blindly, because the budgetary rules, which must be approved by Quebec, have expired since June 2023.
“Previous budgetary rules did not provide adequate funding, which explains our accumulated deficit,” explains the School Board in a summary of events provided to the Duty. This is particularly evident in terms of the material and human resources needed to provide the necessary support to our students in Nunavik. »
For the president and general director of the Kativik School Board, who say they are very happy to collaborate with the investigator and to finally be able to explain their reality to someone from the ministry who will be on site, there is no doubt that the The conclusion of the investigation will demonstrate chronic underfunding of their organization. “I hope that at the end of all this, the government will apologize for having neglected us,” concludes Harriet Keleutak.