Back to School Time Again

Well, school is back in session all across Canada now. The excitement of the first few days has surely worn off and its time for some good learning (and fun too of course).

I was looking through the Education Canada website today, noticing that there are still so many unfilled teaching positions across northern Canada for September. Many students will have come back to school, excited about a new school year to find that they don’t have a teacher. 

So what happens in that situation? Well, sometimes a local teaching assistant will be assigned the class until they can find a teacher. Sometimes a special education or other non-classroom teacher will be asked to fill in or maybe even the principal will have to cover that class. Its not a good situation for anyone but especially for the students.

If you are a teacher, looking for adventure or just a change, please consider applying for a job in one of the many wonderful First Nations and Inuit communities in northern Canada to make sure that every student returns to school in September to find a teacher in their classroom.

Today, teachers have the Education Canada and other websites to find teaching jobs. Back in the day, when I was hunting for my first teaching job, we only had newspaper ads to depend on. The Globe and Mail was the best for finding career ads from across the country. When we found an ad for a teaching job, we wouldn’t really know much about the community. We couldn’t just ‘google it’ to learn more about the school and community. 

Large school boards would do most of their hiring in the spring while many smaller boards were still looking for teachers during the summer months. After applying for several jobs, including INAC (Indian and Northern Affairs Canada - now called Indigenous Services Canada), I applied for a teaching job in a one-room K-6 school on an island in Lake of the Woods. I didn’t hear from them until the middle of August and they asked me to come to Kenora for an interview. I lived in Cambridge, Ontario - a two day drive away. I was 23 years old. My mom and younger brother and I set out by car for Kenora.

The interview was held at the Holiday Inn by the lakeside docks. I think the hotel is still there but its not the Holiday Inn anymore. The chief and several other community members were there for the interview which went well. They asked if we would like to go to the island to see the school building and community by boat. We were always up for a boat ride so we said ‘sure’. Well, it was an hour boat ride - one that I still remember to this day. When we met them at the dock, I was surprised to realize that all the people standing around were coming in the boat! There were probably 5 or 6 adults along with myself, my mom and little brother.

It was a beautiful northern Ontario summer day. The sun was brilliant as we flew through wild rice fields and open bays, leaving a wake behind us. The driver slowed down to show us a black bear swimming across a channel. 

When we arrived at the island, we parked at the school dock and walked up to the new school building. Even though it was the second last week of August, the new school was not completed and there were no workmen around. They assured me that it would be finished by September (which it wasn’t) The school building consisted of the teacher’s 2 bedroom apartment on one side and the classroom on the other side with a wide hallway in the center.

Through the pine, poplar and birch trees around the school, the children were hiding and peeking at us. The chief walked us over to the small collection of houses and took us in through the back door of one of the houses. Inside, there were gathered several adults including a few elders and more children. He introduced us to them and we shook hands with the adults. Then the chief led us out the front door. We stood around outside for a bit while there seemed to be a serious conversation going on with the chief and a few other men. It was all in Ojibwe, so we didn’t know what the conversation was about. Turns out that even though they had brought us out to the island from Kenora, no one was heading back to town by boat. They were trying to figure how to get us back there. Finally they came and told us that they found us a ride. We travelled back to Kenora in a boat with 3 rather elderly men who mostly didn’t speak English. 

After travelling back to Cambridge and packing up my life, I drove back to Kenora by Labour Day, ready to start my teaching career. That is another whole adventure, let me tell you!