Moving Communities in Nunavut: How to Transfer Your Child's ISSP

Families in Nunavut move. The territory's housing crisis, employment patterns, and family networks mean that intra-territorial migration is common — families relocate from Iqaluit to Rankin Inlet, from Rankin Inlet to Arviat, from Arviat to smaller hamlets, chasing scarce housing and community connections. For most families this is disruptive. For families with children who have ISSPs, it can be catastrophic to their child's education if the transfer is not managed correctly.

The problem is not that the receiving school is indifferent. The problem is structural: Nunavut operates under a unified Department of Education, but resource availability varies dramatically from community to community. A student receiving dedicated 1:1 SSA support at Tumit Level 4 in Iqaluit may arrive at a hamlet where no SSAs are currently employed or funded. The ISSP does not disappear — but its implementation can.

Before You Move: Request Your Child's Complete File

The single most important action to take before moving communities is requesting a complete copy of your child's educational file. This request should be made in writing, citing both the Nunavut Education Act and the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (ATIPP).

Your request letter should specify:

• Current ISSP (signed copy, with all goals and support specifications)
• All prior ISSPs and any IAPs
• All psychoeducational, speech-language, or occupational therapy assessment reports
• All prior Tumit level designations and any formal documentation of how Tumit levels were assigned
• Behavioral incident records and any behavioral support plans
• Report cards for the most recent two to three years
• Any letters or formal communications between the school and the Department of Education regarding your child

Under ATIPP, the school must respond to your request within 30 days. Request both digital and physical copies — digital files are easier to transport and share with the receiving school, but physical copies provide backup.

Do not assume the school will automatically transfer this file to the receiving school. In practice, file transfers are frequently incomplete or delayed. Having your own complete copies means you can provide them directly.

Notifying the Receiving School Before You Arrive

Contact the receiving school's principal in writing before your family moves. Introduce yourself, identify your child's special education needs, and provide a summary of the current ISSP. Ask specifically:

• Does the school currently have SSA staff, and at what levels of support are they currently deployed?
• Who is the Student Support Teacher (SST) at the school?
• What is the process for establishing a new ISSP when a student transfers in?
• How soon after arrival can a school team meeting be scheduled?

You are not asking permission — you are gathering information that will help you advocate effectively when you arrive. A school that knows in advance that a student with specific ISSP requirements is arriving has more time to prepare. A school that is surprised by a student's needs on the first day of enrollment will be slower to respond.

Also Contact Regional School Operations Before the Move

Simultaneously, notify the Regional School Operations (RSO) directorate for the region you are moving to. RSO controls SSA allocation and specialist resources across the region. If the receiving community has no SSA budget for a Level 4 student, RSO is the body that can authorize emergency allocation.

Your written notification to RSO should:

• State that your child is transferring from [community] to [community] on [date]
• Summarize the current ISSP including Tumit level and support specifications
• Request confirmation of what resources will be available in the receiving community
• Ask RSO to flag any resource gap in advance so a plan can be in place before your child starts school

RSO directors can be found through the Department of Education. The three RSOs are:

• Qikiqtani School Operations (QSO): Baffin region — [email protected], 867-899-7350
• Kivalliq School Operations: Rankin Inlet area — contact through the Department of Education main line
• Kitikmeot School Operations (KSO): Cambridge Bay area — [email protected], 867-982-7420

The First Week at the New School

Request a school team meeting within the first two weeks of your child starting at the new school. The school may want to "observe" your child first — which is reasonable, but the observation period should not be used to delay formal ISSP implementation for months.

Bring your complete set of documents to the meeting:

• The signed ISSP from the previous school
• All assessment reports
• A written summary of what supports your child receives and why they work

The receiving school is legally required to provide an inclusive education to your child. The existing ISSP is the evidence base for what that means. You are not asking the school to accept the previous ISSP without modification — circumstances change, and the new school's resources may be different — but you are establishing that your child's needs are documented and that there is a legal obligation to meet them.

If the receiving school proposes to put in place significantly less support than the previous ISSP specified, because of resource constraints, you should:

1. Request that the gap be documented in writing
2. Escalate to the RSO in writing, citing the resource shortfall
3. Apply through the Inuit Child First Initiative if specialist services (assessment, therapy) need to be secured at the new location

ATIPP Requests: Your Right to School Records

The Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (ATIPP) governs access to government records in Nunavut, including school records. Parents have the right to request their child's complete educational file under ATIPP.

The formal ATIPP request process:

• Submit a written request to the Department of Education or directly to the school, clearly identifying yourself as the parent or guardian and specifying what records you want
• The institution has 30 calendar days to respond (with possible extensions for complex or large requests)
• Records must be provided except where specific exemptions apply (which rarely affect educational records requested by parents)

ATIPP requests are most useful when a school has been reluctant to provide records informally. In most cases, asking the principal directly for a copy of the ISSP will produce one promptly. ATIPP is the formal mechanism when informal requests fail.

When the Move Is to or From Southern Canada

The transfer challenge is particularly acute for military families or families moving between Nunavut and a southern province. Nunavut's ISSP framework does not map directly onto other provincial systems:

• Ontario uses IEPs under the Ontario Education Act with IPRC identification processes
• BC uses IEPs under the School Act with a different funding model
• Alberta uses IPPs (Individual Program Plans)

None of these are direct equivalents of a Nunavut ISSP. Moving from Ontario to Nunavut means the Ontario IEP's content must be reviewed by the Nunavut school team and mapped onto the Tumit model. Parents should work with the new school to ensure the goals and supports from the previous jurisdiction's document are translated into Nunavut-appropriate equivalents — not simply dismissed because "the format is different."

Moving from Nunavut to a southern province means the Nunavut ISSP will not be recognized as such, but the assessment reports and functional descriptions within it remain useful. Provide the receiving school with the assessment reports (especially psychoeducational assessments) and use them to advocate for appropriate supports under the new jurisdiction's framework.

The Nunavut Special Ed Advocacy Playbook includes an ATIPP request letter template, a school transfer notification letter, and a records checklist so that moving communities does not mean losing the educational protections your child has earned.

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