Northern Quebec teacher up for prestigious $1-million global teaching prize

The students were able to get to the Middle East thanks to financial help from the Kativik School Board and Air Inuit.

MacDonnell, a native of Afton, located in Antigonish County in Nova Scotia, is being recognized for her work at Ikusik High School in Salluit, Quebec’s second-most northern community.

She repeatedly balked at the idea of a nomination.

“He (a friend) finally convinced me by saying: ‘You work with such a unique population, think about this as a way to raise their profile.’”

MacDonnell has championed physical activity and has seen tangible success, having started up a running club and helped set up a fitness centre. It’s welcome in a region where youth battle substance abuse, isolation and suicide. Ten kids have taken their lives over a two-year period in just her community.

MacDonnell, who worked in Botswana, Tanzania and Congo before moving to northern Quebec, said that in a place where student needs outweigh available resources, teaching them to use physical activity to help with their mental health is key.

“I can’t say it’s going after the root issues — physical activity isn’t the solution to the housing crisis, it isn’t a solution to the food security those kids are facing in the north,” said MacDonnell. “But it is a tool to building resilience and it’s a really great coping strategy for them to have considering all that they’re dealing with.”

All of it makes teaching in the north a far different experience.

“When you’re there as an adult in their life, you end up, for a variety of reasons … (taking) on one of the more familial or parental roles with them,” she said. “Because there are so many funding gaps in the north, you end up stretching yourself to cover those gaps, so you become an informal counsellor or social worker for some of the kids.”

If she wins, MacDonnell wants to start an environmental stewardship program for northern youth, focused on kayaking.

“I want to see that sport, that physical activity and that part of their culture come back to life in their region,” she said.

The award, administered by The Varkey Foundation, a non-profit group that focuses on education issues, is in its third year.

The other finalists are educators from China, Jamaica, Kenya, Brazil, Germany, England, Spain, Australia and Pakistan.

Online:

Global Teacher Prize http://www.globalteacherprize.org/

Sidhartha Banerjee, The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

Northern Quebec teacher up for prestigious $1-million global teaching prize

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