What will residents, students get from Dehcho education investigations?

A major report on the Dehcho’s education system is complete but the territorial government has declined to publish it in its entirety. It isn’t the only investigation the system faces.

This is the third and final part of a series examining a years-long rift in Fort Simpson and how it has affected education bodies in the NWT’s Dehcho region. 

In the first two parts of this series, Cabin Radio explored how the handling of two incidents at the Łı́ı́dlı̨ı̨ Kų́ę́ Elementary School contributed to tension in the community and fuelled calls for the school’s principal to be replaced.

Read part one here: The incident that fractured Fort Simpson’s education system

Read part two here: As disagreement over Fort Simpson education grew, politicians stepped in

In our final installment, we’ll run through what we know about the investigations and look at what people in Fort Simpson hope for from their education system in future.

Weeks after the territory’s minister of education, Caitlin Cleveland, met with parents, educators and community members about their concerns in June 2025, she appointed an independent investigator to examine whether governance and operational responsibilities were being fulfilled by the Dehcho District Education Council, known as the DDEC, and its district education authorities.

That’s the investigation most people in the region know about. A final report was handed to the territorial government late last year. 

Initial findings from the review were released in late October. They included a concern that some district education authority members had been continuing in their roles after their terms expired, and that some DEAs hadn’t been aligning elections with local community governments as required.

However, the full investigation report will not be released because of privacy concerns, the GNWT has said.

In a statement provided to Cabin Radio earlier this month, a spokesperson for the department of Education, Culture and Employment said the department “is working with the DDEC on a response plan and will share the findings with key parties and the public, as appropriate.” 

However, the spokesperson said the investigation “did not find evidence of systemic, widespread dysfunction across all nine education bodies in the Dehcho.”

“Instead, the most serious issues were localized in Fort Simpson and originated from the breakdown in the relationship between the Fort Simpson DEA (FSDEA) and the administration.”

In an email to Cabin Radio, Terry Jaffray, interim associate superintendent of the DDEC, said the investigation was initiated after the Department of Education Culture and Employment (ECE) and the minister received numerous reports from a variety of sources, “identifying concerns related to the success of students and the strength of the education system in the Dehcho.”

“In the fall of 2024, the DDEC had a new senior management team, and several other staff had changed, or positions were vacant. Most DEAs had not had elections in years and did not have a full membership. The changeover process raised many questions,” Jaffray explained.

She said these questions related to roles, responsibilities and who had the power to make decisions. 

“Controls were put on spending, decisions and communication. Everything had to go through the superintendent,” Jaffray said.

Other investigations underway

When the investigation was announced, Cleveland mentioned two other investigations were already under way. 

The first of those was led by the Department of Finance into human resources matters and was concluded in February, according to the GNWT.

“As this was an internal human resource matter, the department is not able to provide further details due to privacy and other considerations,” Agata Gutkowska – a spokesperson for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment – said.

A second investigation was a financial review of the DDEC and its DEAs launched by the GNWT’s Internal Audit Bureau (IAB) in the spring of 2025.

In an email to Cabin Radio, Gutkowska said the financial investigation was triggered by 20 separate allegations of “asset loss” made by the superintendent of the DDEC at the time. 

“A final audit report was completed in October 2025 and, while it identified deficiencies in operational controls and governance structures, found insufficient evidence to substantiate loss-of-asset claims.” said Gutkowska. 

“It recommended addressing underlying control and governance issues to safeguard assets, ensure effective program delivery, and foster a culture of accountability.”

The report made the following recommendations, Gutkowska said:

• the DDEC should implement all recommendations that support organizational change;   
• ECE should provide additional oversight and support of DEA elections;
• ECE should clarify the roles, responsibilities, and lines of communication for all stakeholders;
• ECE should support DDEC in staffing vacant positions; and
• the education minister should appoint an interim trustee of the DDEC and Dehcho Divisional Education Authorities under Section 113 of the Education Act until steps could be taken to address the other recommendations. 

Gutkowska said the findings of the report were provided to the independent third-party investigator as part of the broader investigation initiated by Cleveland.

A summary report of the IAB investigation is set be published in June, Gutkowska said.

Reached for comment about the allegations of asset loss, Donna Miller Fry, the DDEC’s superintendent at the time, said she couldn’t speak to the claims without breaking confidentiality. 

DEA funding pause

Recently, DEAs in the Dehcho did not receive funding through their operating budgets as usual.

In an email to Cabin Radio, director of cabinet communications Jeremy Bird said this did not occur as a result of any investigation. Instead, he said this happened because the DDEC had not yet finalized its budget for the 2025-26 school year. 

“There was uncertainty at the administrative level regarding the timing of funding allocations to DEAs in the absence of an approved budget,” said Bird. 

“In that context, a decision was made within the DDEC’s administrative structure to defer the flow of DEA funding pending confirmation of budget and related financial information.”

Additionally, Bird said the 2024-25 financial audit (an annual requirement of all NWT education councils) has not yet been completed. Annual reports from past years show that audits are typically completed between September and November of the following academic year. 

Jaffray, whose interim appointment was announced in February, said there wasn’t any documentation available to explain why the annual report wasn’t submitted to the Department of Finance, but suggested it could have been because of the incomplete audit for the 2024-25 school year.

“As a result, the annual funding allocation to the DDEC was late and the Dehcho DEAs didn’t receive their funding,” said Jaffray. 

Speaking as a collective, members of the Fort Simpson DEA said that typically its budget is used for events like a corn boil held at the beginning of each school year, supporting sports programs, student council fundraisers as well as the honorariums allocated to DEA members for their work. 

Without this funding, members said they felt powerless in their roles, and that it affected the school programs typically funded through the DEA such as speech therapy and counselling. 

In an emailed statement, Bird said the education department’s understanding is that specialized student supports are primarily funded by the federal government through Jordan’s Principle.

That program underwent changes early last year, which has had ripple effects on how education is delivered across the territory. 

Bird said the education department became aware that Dehcho DEAs had not received their funding in December 2025.

“Upon being advised of the situation, the department took immediate steps to work with the Dehcho Divisional Education Council to support the resumption of DEA funding,” said Bird. 

He said that funding was reinstated within two weeks of learning of the issue. 

Broader DEA concerns 

In an interview with Cabin Radio, members of the Fort Simpson DEA raised serious concerns about the delivery of education in the village, and about the relationship it has with the territorial government. 

They raised one particular instance last year where they said three Grade 12 students wanted to take a distance education course that wasn’t being offered at their school. DEA members said they were initially told the students couldn’t enroll because they were a week late to register for the course. However, the students offered to work through their March break to make up the time.

Members of the DEA said it took intervention on their part, and a letter to the education minister, for those students to finally be allowed to enroll in the course. 

One DEA member spoke of a neurodivergent student who they said is reading at a level three grades below the one in which they are enrolled. 

They said the student hasn’t been provided with a personalized learning plan despite repeated requests for such an intervention from the child’s parents. 

In general, the members of the DEA said that communication with the DDEC and with the territorial government feels strained and they don’t often receive any follow up when they bring forward concerns vocalized by parents. 

Members of the DEA say they were told they’d be provided with some of the findings from the investigation into the DDEC and its DEAs in a private meeting. 

“By asking us to only be in-camera to discuss some of the findings, we would essentially be muzzled from speaking out,” said one member.

In an email, Bird said the education department “respects the important role elected education officials play in representing their communities and raising concerns on behalf of students, families and residents.”

“Some matters raised through these processes involve confidential student, personnel, human resources, or investigatory issues. Those matters cannot always be discussed publicly or in detail, but they continue to be addressed through the appropriate processes,” said Bird. 

DEA members said that, ultimately, their goals are simple. 

“We really want the education system in the Dehcho to be thriving,” said one member. 

Another member said that the 2023 incident in which a teacher was photographed dragging a student “continues to divide the community.”

“We want to bring the community of Fort Simpson back together. We want our schools to be rooted in culture, language, on-the-land programming and have strong relationships with families and community members,” they continued. “Right now, there is a division and conflict because there has been no real leadership focus on bringing back the community, bringing everyone together again.”

In an email to Cabin Radio, Jaffray said that, to her knowledge, there has been no response by the DDEC to address the longstanding rift in the community that stemmed from incidents at the  Łı́ı́dlı̨ı̨ Kų́ę́ Elementary School. 

A system that ‘used to be phenomenal’

In an interview with Cabin Radio in early May, Nahendeh MLA Shane Thompson said he had spoken with the education minister earlier that day. He said she had met with the DDEC about the independent report and that she was scheduling a meeting with the Fort Simpson DEA to review the report. 

While he isn’t aware of the contents of the report, he said it includes 20 recommendations for improving the education system in the region. He believes those recommendations will eventually be released publicly. 

“We’re trying to fix a system that used to be really phenomenal here,” said Thompson. “All my children graduated from this education system. We had some amazing administration and teachers.

“We still have some amazing teachers, we’re just having some struggles that have led to where we are now.” 

In informal conversations around Fort Simpson, some residents suggested children may be struggling with key skills such as literacy.

In a school improvement plan for the 2022-23 academic year posted to the Łı́ı́dlı̨ı̨ Kų́ę́ Elementary School’s website, there is a stated a goal for 55 percent of students to be reading at grade level by June 2023. The plan did not indicate how many students were previously meeting that requirement.

The DDEC’s annual report for that year indicated 36 percent of students were reading at their grade level by the end of the academic year. A year later, that number jumped to 59 percent. 

Brendan Whelly, a parent of a child at the school and Thompson’s son-in-law, said his daughter’s kindergarten class had a substitute teacher for several months during the last academic year.

He worries staff shortages at the school could affect students’ ability to bond with their teachers and, in turn, affect their academic performance. 

“It’s not as big a deal at that age, but it’s building the foundation for their whole academic career,” said Whelly. “Consistency is important at that age, even if it doesn’t seem like it is.”

To attract more teachers, he suggested site visits be offered, which could allow prospective teachers to visit the school and get a sense of the community before having to commit to a job there. 

“For teachers especially, it’s pretty important, rather than just get hired and they’re coming in cold with no idea of what the school is like,” said Whelly. 

“Some of that may contribute to staff turnover.”

More Dene representation in education

Líídlįį Kúę First Nation Chief Kele Antoine said he’s heard from community members that they would like to see more investment in education in Fort Simpson.

“Our agreement – our Treaty 11 – wasn’t just about land, it was about a shared future, and education was part of that understanding, and our people were promised the tools to thrive in both worlds, and education is central to that,” said Chief Antoine. 

“Governments need to recognize that education funding and the delivery of that is not discretionary, it’s tied to these treaty obligations.”

He said he’d like to see more investment into hands-on learning, such as through shop class, that could lead to careers in the trades and skills – for which there is a deficit in the North. 

Additionally, he said he and others feel there should be more representation from the First Nation on the District Education Authority. 

Currently, the Líídlįį Kúę First Nation appoints a single representative to the DEA, as does the Village of Fort Simpson, while the other six members are elected by the community. 

The student population in the Dehcho region is about 88-percent Dene, according to the DDEC’s annual report from 2022-23. 

Antoine said the DEA should represent people who are aware of the realities of life in the community, and not “transplanted thoughts and ideas of what an education should be from people that might be new to the area.”

“We’ve seen that in the past. We get a lot of focus towards something that’s more southern, and it should be something that’s catered to the majority of the students that are going to school.”

He said the DEA should also include people who are aware of the hurdles students may face.

“A lot of our youth might be struggling with intergenerational trauma from the legacy of residential schools,” said Antoine.

“Education is about giving our children every opportunity to succeed in life. Líídlįį Kúę First Nation is ready to work collaboratively, but it must be grounded in Treaty 11, must be grounded in respect, must be grounded in real, tangible outcomes for our kids, because that’s what it’s about. 

“It’s not about teachers. It’s not about administrations. It’s not about government. It’s not about policies. It’s about our kids learning in a good way to provide for them in the future, for their Elders, for our community, and to be good members of society that contribute to this path forward.”