Students living in the four Inuit regions of Canada are a step closer to being able to attend university at home.
On Wednesday, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK), the national organization representing Inuit in Canada, unveiled its plans to build a university on traditional Inuit lands.
The institution — called Inuit Nunangat University — has been in the works for years.
Wednesday’s announcement also includes a $50 million donation by the Mastercard Foundation toward the university.
Natan Obed, president of ITK, said Inuit Nunangat University would be the first Inuit-governed and Inuit-owned university in Canada’s Arctic.
“It’s to create an opportunity for a particular type of student who wants to live and study in Inuit Nunangat, and also an Inuit institution where all of the values and the governance and the way in which a person interacts with the institution as a part of Inuit society,” he said.
No decision has been made yet on where the university will be located. Smaller campuses will be built in each of the four Inuit regions.
“We’re going to do an exhaustive search, I suppose, for a campus,” Obed said. “So hopefully by this time next year, we’ll be talking about the location and imagining how to build the infrastructure on that campus.”
For Tracy Denniston, a university student from Nain, in Labrador, completing her master’s in social work at Memorial University in St. John’s, it’s welcome news.
Denniston, who has three adult children, said she wished she could have attended an Inuit university at the time she did her undergraduate degree, and now, as a master’s student.
“It was difficult leaving our home community,” she said.
“One of the biggest challenges was moving. Adjusting to living in a city compared to our remote communities.”
Denniston plans to go back to Nain after she finishes her studies, to continue working as a social worker.
Obed says ITK will need a total of $160 million to make the university a reality.
ITK has asked the federal government for $50 million in next year’s budget for the university.
“We do hope that there will be a lot of interest in this university … and with all the necessary administration, including legislation that will give the university life,” Obed said.
The rest of the money will come from private donations, philanthropists and other levels of government.
In 2025, an interim academic council will be established, along with a five-year work plan. A site will also be selected for the university in 2025, according to ITK.
From 2026 to 2027, the university will develop an Inuktut language model along with at least one degree program. Infrastructure planning will also take place.
In 2028, the university will review its academic programs and accredit its initial programs.
The goal is to welcome the first students in 2030.
