Covid-19 travel restrictions have dampened many peoples efforts to get together and has made conferences gatherings a challenge. However one highlight, if one can be found, was the opportunity to revision what a Fulbright lecture could look like. On May 28th, instead of preparing a “classic style” lecture, which is usually the Fulbright scholar alone, speaking to a large audience in an auditorium, I was able to organize a panel of experts, Inuit education knowledge holders who could speak out Education in Nunatsiavut from their varied experiences. This allowed for a larger audience for their voices, instead of mine. Usually limited by release time from school, time for travel, expense of travel and so many other factors, within this panel we were only limited by bandwidth. To be truthful, it was a limitation for some, but with patience we were able to gather together to share stories from education with researchers, students and interested people from across the US and Canada. What would have been a talk limited to a few people at the University of Washington was opened up, potentially to the world.

The panel consisted of: Jodie Lane, director of education, Nunatsiavut Government; Doris Boase, a teacher at Amos Comenius School in Hopedale, Newfoundland and Labrador; and Diane Obed, an Inuk mother, scholar and community member originally from Hopedale, Nunatsiavut now living in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

You can find out more information about the panel here: https://bit.ly/2MS84lc

If you missed it you can view/hear the panel discussion here: