The only law school in the North is searching for alternative sources of funding after Nunavut’s minister of justice denied the program funding worth 70 per cent of its core budget in a letter dated May 31.

“It’s very unfortunate,” said Susanne Boucher,  president of the Law Society of Nunavut. “There is a great need for Inuktitut-speaking lawyers with cultural familiarity.”

The Akitsiraq II law program is a partnership with the University of Ottawa, according to its website. U of O common law professors travel to Iqaluit to teach the bachelor of laws (LL.B.) curriculum to students in the North.

In the  letter, posted on Northern news website NunatsiaqOnline, Nunavut Minister of Justice Keith Peterson denied the program $5.2 million over six years.

Anne Crawford, the Northern director of the program, said the request was for $3.57 million over six years, to be divided between the ministries of justice, human resources and education, for a total cost of under $200,000 per department per year.

“In a time of limited resources, our focus is on improving our school system from kindergarten to Grade 12,” wrote Peterson, adding the government of Nunavut is working towards a pan-territorial "University of the North."

The minister was otherwise unavailable for comment.

“That is a long way off,” Crawford said about a Northern university. “We’re looking at eight to 10 years.”

Crawford addressed this concern, among others, in a letter she said she had hand-delivered to the minister’s office on June 2, requesting a meeting with Peterson to discuss funding options.

She said the money would go towards bringing in U of O instructors, setting up admissions and placements, and student costs.

“The public program for students here is inadequate for law textbooks,” she said, among other necessary law school resources.

The only response she has received, she said, is an email confirming his office received the letter.

The Akitsiraq II program brings law school to students who may not be able to access it otherwise, Crawford said.

“Many of our students, or our potential students, have families," she explained. "Taking the family into a new culture at the same time you’re starting law school is very difficult."

The program is unique in that it does not require students to take the LSAT exam like other schools teaching the common law system, said Crawford. Instead, students are evaluated based on life experience.

“Often, if they don’t have undergrad, they would be less likely to be seen as a viable law student in a conventional school,” she said.

Crawford added that students spend the first year receiving a general education to put them on the same educational level.

There are also work placements in each year of the program, according to the Akitsiraq website.

The four-year program ran once before, in 2001, in partnership with the University of Victoria, according to the Akitsiraq website. Of the 11 graduates, according to the website, nine were called to the bar in Nunavut.

Boucher said she has worked with graduates of the program and found their education to be of good quality.

The Akitsiraq Law School Society will continue to search for more donors and other sources of funding, Crawford said.

“We’ve seen that it’s successful. It works, and it has the ability to make very positive social change.”