A Response to Kelly Gallagher-Mackay in the Canadian Journal of Education 30(4), (2007), 1093-1104/A Reply to John Bainbridge

When the negotiations to update the funding levels for the continued implementation of the NLCA began in 2001, it quickly became obvious within GN that the implementation of Article 23 of the NLCA (the obligation to achieve and maintain a representative level of Inuit employment in the public service at all grade levels and in every occupational group) was not only going to be staggeringly expensive, it was well beyond the capacity of this small and inexperienced government to implement. Gallagher-Mackay is correct in asserting that there is a lack of political will in the GN, although I am not sure it is fair to include the land claims politicians.\n Additional language acquisition - and educational success - is strongly correlated with the resources for learning that exist in the home and in the community (August & Hakuta, 1997; PISA, 2007). It is difficult to ask for ambitious education reform and to demand other forms of social investment addressing poverty and deprivation of key basic services from adult learning to adequate housing to community mental health.