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NAM objects to ordering teachers back to work; wants schools to remain closed until fall

The Nunavut Association of Municipalities (NAM) is urging the Government of Nunavut not to order teachers back to the territory, or to work, and to keep Nunavut schools closed until the beginning of September.

The Nunavut Association of Municipalities is encouraging the Government of Nunavut to keep schools closed until September in light of the coronavirus pandemic.
photo courtesy of the Department of Education

This position was endorsed during a meeting of NAM’s board of directors on Tuesday.

“Although the NAM executive board has made it very clear that our communities don’t want schools to reopen until September due to the Covid-19 threat, we also wanted to point out that we support teachers throughout Nunavut and we look forward to them returning when it is safe to do so,” reads a statement from the organization.

NAM encourages Nunavummiut to maintain social distancing and to avoid unnecessary interaction to keep Covid-19 at bay in the territory. The news release cites Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s April 10 advice to “stay home, only go outside when necessary and stay two metres apart,” and notes that Nunavut Health Minister George Hickes extended the territory’s state of public health emergency on April 2.

Close to 2,500 signatures have been gathered as part of an online petition that calls upon government leaders to stop teachers from flying back to Nunavut from the south, regardless of self-isolation centres set up in southern cities.