Kativik School Board defends decision to send delegates to conference in Honolulu for $23,000

The Kativik School Board in northern Quebec is defending a decision to send four delegates to a conference on aboriginal education in Honolulu at a cost of $23,000, reports CBC. A local politician had accused the board of wasting taxpayers’ money, but the board shot back saying the trip is justified for the development of curriculum and culture/language work, and the complaint took the travel costs in the north out of context. “You cannot really in all fairness compare our expenses on that level to that type of expense [at] any other school board in the province of Quebec,” reads a statement from a public relations officer with the board, adding sending school board officials to Nunavik communities can be just as expensive as sending them to Hawaii. The board provides education to Inuit and others in the 14 northern Quebec communities of Nunavik, and has offices in Kuujjuaq, Que., and Montreal.