Save for the reds and whites of the Canadian and Peruvian flags, it was a monochromatic morning , snow across the lawns of the golf club and a frozen harbour beyond. In this January setting our guests were Abraham, Keith Williams (guest of Joe Watson) and Crystal Speedie our guest speaker.
Coming up. At our meeting of February 8th Past President Catherine Brady will conduct an auction to serve two purposes, to raise some cash and to help you re-gift that special horror/something. If I’ve got it right, you bring wrapped and ready to share that appreciated-but-untouched: I-love-NASA dog T-shirt, box of cat-butt push pins or set of Architecture of Chicago egg cups, Your contribution along with one or two other collectors’ items will be raffled off in groups, bucket raffle style. To make it seriously worth your while to participate is that one of the buckets will hold a ticket to Lakeside a la Carte.
Eric Anderson asks that if you are planning to participate in the RI Convention hosting event in June, please pay $100 (per person) to Eric by the end of February; we must have demonstrable support for this to work.
Our guest speaker put some perspective to that snowy outdoors scene. Crystal Speedie spent seven years teaching and providing teaching support in Inuit communities in northern Quebec. She spent much of her time in places whose names tripped lightly of her tongue but which cause the likes of you and I some trouble. Places like Kuujjuaq (pop. 2,375), Aupaluk (pop. 195) or Illuqarviviniq.
I’ll admit that my mental picture of any of those places does not include trees, My mind’s-eye prejudices see open gravelly areas (roads maybe) and scattered one-storey, prefab buildings with ATVs parked in front. If you look at Kuujjuaq on Google Maps you’ll see I missed the mark by quite a long way, it is set in a rather spectacular and treed valley, like something you’d expect out of a tourist brochure of Alaska.
Crystal spent 5 years teaching in Inikjuak on the shores of Hudson Bay. I think it goes without saying that it was a challenge, she taught all students the core subjects and then tried to tailor instruction to suit the apparent interests of each student. If a child seemed to have some business aptitude for example she would find a way to introduce him or her to accounting (I’m making that up, but it was along those lines.) The curriculum also included some traditional crafts too, igloo-construction for example (I’m not making that up) taught by locals of course.
Because the workaday day-night cycle you and I know doesn’t necessarily apply, classroom time had to be flexible. Many children don’t go to bed until way after ‘our’ midnight.
Later in her career Crystal was a pedagogical advisor to other teachers; they rely heavily on each other for support and finding supplies. The turnover rate among southern teachers, medics and police was high and the comforts we take for granted were few: supply ships bring in the heavy goods but everything else has to be flown in – and is consequently expensive.
Crystal is now back in Ontario and is currently supply-teaching with the Halton Board hoping for a permanent position. You would think her previous seven years count for a lot; I hope so.
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