On June 14, 2022, the Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT) welcomes visitors for five days of collaboration, exchanges, discussions and festivities. UQAT’s Unité de recherche, de formation et de développement en éducation en milieu autochtone (URFDEMA) of the Unité d'enseignement et de recherche en sciences de l'éducation welcomes to Abitibi-Témiscamingue Inuit teachers and partners from the Nunavik communities of Ivujivik and Puvirnituq. During the week, they will take part in several activities organised by various UQAT's departments and teaching and research units. This visit of Inuit women is organised and coordinated by the URFDEMA team: Glorya Pellerin, Véronique Paul, Virginie D. de la Chevrotière and Sylvie Tanguay.

Upon their arrival, preparation workshops will be held for their participation in various meetings, depending on the working group they are part of.  One team is working on a research project on the cultural distance between Inuit education and Euro-Western schooling processes. The work related to this project, in particular with the aim of adapting the school curriculum and teacher training, will therefore continue throughout their stay.

Several Inuit guests will also have the opportunity to participate in the first international meeting of the Indigenous Knowledge and Education Partnership organised by Benoit Éthier, professor at UQAT’s School of Indigenous Studies to be held from June 15 to 17. Under the theme Tissons des liens entre les peuples et territoires autochtones (Connecting Indigenous people and territories), this event aims to share between different countries, namely Canada, Chile, Mexico and Brazil, indigenous educational initiatives implemented within communities to meet the educational needs of indigenous youth. The experience of teachers from the North will certainly be very profitable in the discussions between the various nations participating in the symposium.

The co-management committee members of the Ivujivik-Puvirnituq-UQAT Inuit teacher training program will also be part of the event. Since 1984, a partnership has been ongoing between UQAT and representatives of the Northern Quebec education field and it is with this desire to develop and take charge of education in these communities that the URFDEMA was created. The co-management group for Inuit teacher training activities is composed of Inuit representatives from school committees, principals and pedagogical advisors as well as Professors Paul and Pellerin from UQAT. Working sessions are scheduled during the week to plan courses and research projects for the year 2022-2023. This team will then travel to Winnipeg to attend the 22nd Inuit Studies Congress - Auviqsaqtut.

The week will end with two celebration ceremonies for the 12 teachers who graduated from UQAT's Northern Teacher Training Program. It is first with the First Nations graduates of various UQAT programs that the guests will be celebrating the completion of their study program and the end of their university career during a festive event to be held at the UQAT campus in Val-d'Or. A major event will follow the next day with the Convocation in Rouyn-Noranda. It is with great pride that these teachers will receive their diplomas in the company of the academic community, which in turn is extremely proud to contribute to the development of education in the communities of Ivujivik and Puvirnituq, in partnership with the Kativik Ilisarniliriniq School Board.