Senator Fairbairn:

Welcome, Ms. Simon. It is very good to see you here. This has been a very interesting conversation, and it is important for us to hear what you have to say.

It was about this time last year that the Standing Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry visited Iqaluit. We had been on a tour to every corner of Canada to study the issue of rural poverty.

We had very interesting hearings in Iqaluit. I recall that people whom I had met before talked about the fact that they were still working hard on literacy, learning, books and all of the things that we take for granted down here in the South.

Listening to the emphasis you have been putting on the learning issue in your communities, do you still have the programs that are reaching out to help both children as well as adults? Are you still able to get the kinds of books that are open to being read in your area? Is this still moving ahead and beyond in a useful way for you, or are there more things we need to do?

Ms. Simon: Senator, I think there is a lot more that has to be done. I know that literacy projects are very important. However, more importantly, I think the Inuktitut curriculum needs to be developed. We do not have enough curricula in our schools to teach in our language.

We have curricula, let us say up to grade 3, in Nunavik and also in Nunavut. However, beyond that, no real investment has been made for the development of curricula because, like one senator said earlier, some parents have started to lose their language. I think it was the Navajo, and I think it was Senator St. Germain who said that the parents are learning with their children in their language.

To me, this is so important because we will have to do that, as well; we will have to regain our language with parents, as well as the children. Therefore, the development of curricula in our schools is paramount. It does not replace the literacy programs and programs that are also needed in adult education. In most small communities, they do not exist. However, it is very important to have a curriculum that can be used in places other than just the school.

Senator Fairbairn: As we have heard here today, in so many ways it is just absolutely gorgeous up there. When I look back on the final day of our committee hearings in Iqaluit, it was gorgeous — cold but gorgeous. It is a very important part of this country.

My hope is that we in the nation's capital, our place of government, can give you more help in this way, not just encouragement but more in the way of the efforts that are there to be had if we can only get it together, you and us. I hope we think carefully about what you have been saying today and realize that there is much to be done in that part of Canada.

It is far away, but almost everything is far away in Canada. The North deserves just the same as, if not more than, anywhere else. I hope that we will be able to give you that advance to help your young people and to help their parents, because it works for all. Thanks so much for being here.

Ms. Simon: Thank you very much.

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