Consultation and Advocacy in Northern America

Why Cape Dorset?

Cape Dorset Cape Dorset was a sacred land for the ancient Inuit people called the Dorset Culture. It was named after the Earl of Dorset, Edward Sackville.as It is located on southwestern Baffin island. In 1953, artists from Toronto came to Cape Dorset who's goal was to recruit gifted artists. They encouraged carving, sketching and other handicraft productions Cape Dorset is a small community and with very rich Inuit art. It earned its reputation as the capital of Inuit Art.

The Problem Education is the problem that has been uprising and degenerating over the years in Northern Communities. Studies done by the Government of Canada have shown that schools in Nunavut aren’t well maintained. Students drop out of their school due to the consumption of alcohol, and other illegal substances. Skipping classes also contribute to students dropping out. Financial Problems conflict with schooling along with the weak law enforcement due to the lack of education. Since the territories are the newer parts of Canada, the Government is too busy dealing with the other greater provinces such as the lower mainland while they are neglecting the territories themselves.

The Goal As a team, our goal is to enhance the school system in Cape Dorset in order to provide students with better education for their future. We plan to protest to the Government in Nunavut and hold town meetings to gain knowledge of the town’s opinions. We will gather around 10 well-educated volunteers to help out with the problem We plan to have fundraisers The team will try to get other communities to help improve the schools We hope to decrease the amount of students that dropout of school.

Indicators To spread the awareness of this issue, we will use the power of the media to advertise We will be able to take pictures and videos to post in the Internet. We will be putting up signs and poster boards around the community to advertise And if the problem gets a lot of attention, we might be able to be featured on the news We hope to have many people join the protest to gain the Government's attention The government will be able to provide funds for the schools once they are improved. Many student will be able to have a much better future once the problem is resolved.

Person Hours Amount of Volunteers :10 Hours spent preparing for protesting (ie. getting supplies, setting up/down): 2 hours every week for each volunteer for one month. 16 h/ volunteer. 160 hours spent all together. Hours for protesting: 4 hours twice a week for a month per volunteer. 32 h/volunteer. 320 hours all together. Hours for Town meetings: 1.5 hours per week for 1 month per volunteer. 6 h/ volunteer. 60 hours all together. Hours for Fundraising: 7 hours for one day for each volunteer. 70 hours all together Hours for preparing ads: 5 hours for making posters for each volunteer that helps out. 8 hours to put up the posters around the community. 10 hours to create a video about the problem. Total hours that we will be using would only be 633 hours h/ volunteer More hours will be used by citizens of Nunavut.

Budget Materials: Balsa Wood $ 1.25 ea. Writing Utensils $ ea. Poster Paper $ ea. These are the materials that we will be needing to make signs for protesting. We won't be spending a lot in advertisement because we will be using our own person hours to create posters and videos to put up around town and on the internet. We will be staying in Cape Dorset's finest hotel for one month. Food will be provided at all times. We will be using taxi cabs or car rentals for transportation around town. We will be providing for the the volunteers as well.

Timeline Our team has decided that we would travel to Nunavut and allow them to explain how well they are getting their education and learning plans. We will also allow them to explain how the community is doing. We will plan fundraisers, such as barbecue and small activities for the children in the community. Parents and other adults will be able to get involved and learn more about their community as they volunteer The fundraiser will raise money for the school. People will be able to realize that their community is in need of a push in developing their education and they will be able to protest The protest will attract media attention and this will help us advertise our problem The government will be able to realize and understand what changes that are need to made around Nunavut The Government will be able to help develop a better education system. Once Nunavut sees how well we have improved their community, they will need to do their part to keep the new and improved systems. They will be able to help with more changes and help develop new possibilities.