Education in the Canadian Arctic

Extract

Children in the Canadian north—the children of hunters and trappers, of miners and prospectors, of bush-pilots and government workers—all attend school together. This year over 8500 pupils are enrolled in the sixty-seven schools of the Northwest Territories and Arctic Quebec comprising some 3600 Eskimo pupils, 1500 Indian pupils and 3400 white and Metis. It is estimated that about 13 per cent of school-age children in the north still do not attend school; these are children whose families live outside the settlements, mainly in the Upper Mackenzie, Nahanni and Central Arctic coast areas. Camp life, however, is swiftly disappearing and a much higher percentage of school-age enrolment is expected within the next few years.