This year, with the support of camp counsellors, elders, parents, and community members, over 500 campers will expand their vocabulary and increase their love of reading through storytelling, group reading, arts and crafts, writing, and field trips.

The literacy camps build community bonds and encourage a shared culture of literacy and learning that benefits the whole community. Children between the ages of 5 and 12 also get the opportunity to practice the Inuktitut, English, and French reading skills they acquired during the school year. “This really helps prevent the learning loss that can happen over the summer break,” said Etua Snowball, director of Education Services at Kativik Ilisarniliriniq.

Reached in Kuujjuaq on June 27, Mélanie Valcin, regional director for Quebec, Nunavut, and Atlantic Canada at Frontier College, said that “at the end of every summer camp, parents are keen to share stories about how their child’s reading skills improved at camp.”

Originating in Kuujjuaraapik, the literacy camp is now offered in 12 of the 14 Nunavik communities. “We are really happy to say that nearly half of our 40 literacy instructors were recruited locally this year,” said Valcin. “Our long‑term objective is to hire camps instructors only from the region,” she added. All instructors had the opportunity to meet at a pre‑camp training offered by Frontier College in Kuujjuaq at the end of June.

This summer marks the fifth year of a successful partnership between Kativik Ilisarniliriniq and Frontier College. Snowball describes the collaboration as fruitful and beneficial to Nunavik students. “In addition to literacy camps in the summer, the relationship we have developed with Frontier College allowed us to roll out a three‑year mathematics tutor program in almost all Nunavik schools last fall. The tutors provided much-needed support to our secondary III, IV, and V students throughout the school year, as we transitioned to a new curriculum,” he explained. The math tutor program was successful and will continue next year.

The literacy summer camps begin on July 9 in the communities of Kuujjuaraapik, Umiujaq, Inukjuak, Puvirnituq, Ivujivik, Salluit, Kangiqsujuaq, Quaqtaq, Kangirsuk, Aupaluk, Tasiujaq, and Kuujjuaq. Frontier College will also provide over 3,000 new books to campers and communities this summer. These are often the books that campers use to start their personal library at home.

The literacy camps are made possible with support from host communities, as well as funding and in‑kind contributions from Kativik Ilisarniliriniq, the Makivik Corporation (Ungaluk Program), and Air Inuit.

To register your child, please visit your local school.

For more information about Frontier College, please visit frontiercollege.ca.