Nunavut Arctic College (NAC), the only post-secondary institution in Nunavut, works in cooperation with the Government of Nunavut and other partners to increase access to lifelong learning in the territory’s most remote regions. With its headquarters in Arviat, NAC has campuses in Iqaluit, Rankin Inlet and Cambridge Bay as well as 24 Community Learning Centres for adult education dotted across the territory.

Susie Aliqatuqtuq is a student at the Community Learning Centre in Qikiqtarjuaq, a tiny island community just off the east coast of Baffin Island and 97 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle.

The 34-year-old mother of four dropped out of school in Grade 10. While raising four children, Susie worked at several jobs, from cashier to customer service representative at the local airline to a tenant relations officer for the Nunavut housing authority. In 2008, she signed up at the local Community Learning Centre for a pre-trades program that prepares adult learners for entry into a variety of trades. “I wanted to get a better paying job to support my family,” says Susie, who receives financial help from the Financial Assistance for Nunavut Students (FANS) program.

Then, in 2009, Susie enrolled in the Nunavut Teacher Education Program (NTEP). The NTEP is being offered for the first time at the Community Learning Centre in Qikiqtarjuaq. Thirteen students are enrolled in the four-year bachelor degree program, taught in co-operation with the University of Regina.

Lizzie Aliqatuqtuq (no relation) works full-time at Qikiqtarjuaq’s Community Learning Centre and teaches much of the program, including the pre-trades course that Susie has completed. Lizzie has first-hand knowledge of the hardships that adult learners in the Far North can face.

Lizzie, 34, grew up in Pangnirtung and completed her Grade 12 before moving to Qikiqtarjuaq when she married. She started working as a teacher’s assistant at the local school, which has a kindergarten-to-grade 12 program. The isolated community of 470 inhabitants was desperately short of teachers, so Lizzie became the Grade 1 teacher.

Lizzie later was hired under contract to teach Inuktitut, mathematics and an Adult Basic Education (ABE) upgrading course at the Community Learning Centre, which also had a full-time teacher. She soon found herself with a full-time job when the Learning Centre’s full-time teacher left abruptly. Lizzie competed for the full-time position and was hired.

Then came the challenge of getting post-secondary training. Qikiqtarjuaq is accessible only by air, so Lizzie took the 90-minute flight to NAC’s Iqaluit campus for a 1½-week instructors’ skills workshop. In 2006, Lizzie got her certificate from St. Francis Xavier University’s Adult Education Training Program. The university, in Antigonish, N.S., offers the program at several centres across Canada, including NAC’s Iqaluit campus. For a year, Lizzie flew to Iqaluit for week-long study sessions while continuing to teach in Qikiqtarjuaq. Lizzie is now applying to St. Francis Xavier for the diploma program in Adult Education Training, which can be done by correspondence.

Meanwhile, Lizzie runs the Community Learning Centre, which consists of two portable buildings. Each year she performs an education-needs assessment to determine the learning needs of the community. “They vary depending on the employment opportunities and what is happening at the time,” she says, though she admits that employment opportunities in the tiny community are limited. Pr