Jean continues to push for Arctic university
Says Canada is "at least 40 years behind" Norway, Finland, Sweden and the U.S.
CLYDE RIVER, Nunavut — Michaelle Jean has delivered a sharp criticism of Canada’s record in delivering education in the Arctic, saying it lags 40 years behind other countries when it comes to higher learning in the North.
The Governor General said she’s undeterred by the lukewarm response from Ottawa to her call for a university in the Arctic, which the government has labelled a non-priority.
Jean said she would continue pressing politicians for an institution that would better serve the Inuit and attract non-aboriginal students and teachers to the North.
Jean has stepped up her campaign for such an institution after the government responded less than enthusiastically when she first floated the idea last week.
While her meal of seal heart at Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, on Monday has monopolized attention down south, Jean has actually spent much of her eight-day Arctic visit advocating a university for the region.
In an interview with The Canadian Press, she said she will “of course” continue peddling the idea to elected officials.
In the meantime, she described Canada as a laggard compared with other countries with Arctic populations.
“Canada is at least 40 years behind,” Jean said. “Canada is the only northern state that doesn’t have a university in the North. Canada is four decades behind Norway, Finland, Sweden, the United States.
“The United States has three universities in Alaska. There’s a university in Greenland. In northern Sweden. In the Norwegian Arctic.”
It was her recent visit to Tromso, Norway, that inspired the Governor General to speak up. That town on the 69th parallel has become an economic hub and major supplier of skilled labour for its region.
The website for the University of Tromso notes that its creation faced stiff public resistance in the 1960s and warnings that its remote location wouldn’t attract students – fears that were all quickly proven false.
But there are limits to the parallels between Norway and Nunavut. About 150,000 people live in Tromso’s surrounding county – roughly 50 per cent more than the entire population of Canada’s enormous northern territories.
Some might also considered a university an unaffordable luxury in a region with plenty of other pressing problems.
Only 25 per cent of Nunavut children finish high school, and those who head down south to university often require extra courses to catch up.
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Someone should note that climate on the Pacific west coast in America (Anchorage, Alaska) and the west coast of Europe (Tromso, Norway) benefit from much milder climate compared to similar latitudes in the Canadian interior and east coast. Outside that difference, I agree that the University of Tromso, Norway, which is the northernmost university in the world, I think, could be a model, for example by looking at its capacity to attract collaborators from around the world. I would also add that the Canadian Arctic is already the site of a growing body of research due to interest in climate change questions…