The Influence of Elders in Schools: Inuit Elders and Cultural Education at Nuiyak School

Lisi Kavik

As someone who survived the residential school experience, Lisi Kavik knows first-hand the value of traditional Inuit culture and the devastation that results from attempting to supplant it with another. While her research does not shy from the colonial legacy of the residential schools and the post-colonial legacy of much recent settlement schooling the roles, it points the way to a more hopeful alternative. Drawing from her own experience, relevant literature, and the perspectives of nine community interviewees, her research argues for the need for consistent support for Elders in schools as a way to support Inuit cultural survival and individual and collective well-being. Although her research leads to specific, practical recommendations to support such programs, it also points to a vision of the school as a place where learning is shared equally across generations and cultures.