NAIN, N.L. — When Julie Dicker hung up the phone after being notified she had won an award, she wanted some answers.
First, she wanted to know more about the Award for Inuit Excellence she was going to receive from Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK), the national representational organization protecting and advancing the rights and interests of Inuit in Canada.
Secondly, she wanted to know who had nominated her.
“I didn’t even know I was nominated,” said the educator and school principal at Jens Haven Memorial, a kindergarten to Grade 12 school in Nain, the northernmost community in Nunatsiavut.
“I didn’t know how to feel. I was surprised and in disbelief.”
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The ITK Awards have been presented annually for more than 20 years. This year, though, ITK moved from honouring a slate of recipients to recognizing one person who has demonstrated excellence in an area that contributes to Inuit self-determination.
Dicker was chosen by an ITK selection committee from among 39 nominations.
While she was grateful to receive the award at the conclusion of ITK meetings held in Nain recently, she remained humbled by the honour.
“I thought about why and how come I’m nominated,” she said. “I thought about all the other people who could be nominated and receive this award. There are so many in the Inuit region who could have been nominated and received this award.”
“I didn’t know how to feel. I was surprised and in disbelief.”
— Julie Dicker
Dicker, the first Inuk to hold the position of principal in Nain is an enthusiastic supporter of Inuktut education and physical education and, according to the ITK, exemplifies Inuit self-determination in education.
She completed her bachelor’s degree in education and bachelor’s and master’s degrees in physical education from Memorial University of Newfoundland and is now pursuing her PhD in Arctic and Subarctic Futures at MUN.
Dicker has worked for the Labrador School Board for 14 years, becoming the first female Inuk to teach physical education, first at John Christian Erhardt Memorial in Makkovik, Nunatsiavut and then in her home community of Nain. When Jens Haven Memorial faced a two-year gap without a permanent Inuktut teacher, she took on the role of teaching Inuktut as well.
Last year, Dicker became the principal at Jens Haven Memorial. When time permits, she continues to fill in as a teacher and volunteer for youth sports.
This past summer, she spent two weeks in Halifax as manager of the Newfoundland and Labrador boys volleyball team at the North American Indigneous Games. She is also helping to coordinate Nunatsiavut’s 45th annual fall sportsmeet by hosting the event at her school in Nain.
20 Questions
1. What is your full name?
Julie Margaret Dicker.
2. Where and when were you born?
I was born in North West River, Labrador in 1978.
3. Where do you live today?
Today, I live in my home community of Nain, Nunatsiavut.
4. What’s your favourite place in the world?
I really enjoy travelling, so wherever I am travelling at the time is my favorite place. We always try to travel somewhere different just to get away from the north coast sometimes.
5. Who do you follow on social media?
Lately, my thing has been scrolling through TikTok. I just shut my brain off and scroll. Most of my feed seems to be about chiropractic stuff. I love to go to the chiropractor and watch a lot of that. I also watch some paranormal stuff to scare myself at night.
6. What would people be surprised to learn about you?
People would probably be surprised that I almost quit university twice. I didn’t quit, but I quit in my brain. I didn’t stop going, but I almost did.
7. What’s been your favourite year and why?
My high school years were my favorite. My passion is sports and that’s when I played the most sports in my life. I wasn’t injured and I could play whatever I wanted to play.
8. What is the hardest thing you’ve ever done?
The hardest thing I’ve ever done was pass those two stats courses that almost made me quit university.
Congratulations to Julie Dicker, recipient of the 2023 ITK Award for Inuit Excellence. As principal of Jens Haven Memorial in Nain, Julie is an enthusiastic supporter of Inuktut education and physical education. Read more: https://t.co/kQJdI1QN8d @EDU_GovNL @ITK_CanadaInuit
— Labrador Affairs NL (@OLA_GovNL) October 3, 2023
9. Can you describe one experience that changed your life?
I was a phys ed teacher for the first 13 years of my career. Then, I made the decision to apply for the principal’s job. This is my second year as principal and everything in my life has changed.
10. What’s your greatest indulgence?
Coffee and chips. I drink three or sometimes four cups of coffee every day. My favorite potato chip is Zesty Doritos.
11. What is your favourite movie or book?
I read “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” and that trilogy is my favorite. I don’t read much and that was the only trilogy I have read, but I was hooked on them. My favorite movie is probably “The Green Mile.”
12. How do you like to relax?
It’s kind of hard to unwind after working at the school all week. I probably go home, lie down and scroll through TikTok or Facebook or maybe go out for a Ski-Doo ride or a truck ride.
13. What are you reading or watching right now?
Right now, I’m reading a lot of course work for my PhD and watching “The Wheel of Time” on Prime.
14. What is your greatest fear?
The dark.
15. How would you describe your personal fashion statement?
Mostly comfy, athletic type wear: Nike sneakers, jogging pants, Under Armour t-shirts and stuff like that. I still like the phys ed style.
16. What is your most treasured possession?
Right now, it’s the little drawings, pictures and colourings from my niece and nephew that I have stuck up in my house because they don’t live here and looking at them makes me think of them.
17. What physical or personality trait are you most grateful to a parent for?
The personality trait I’m most grateful for is from both of my parents and it is never giving up and keeping trying.
18. What three people would join you for your dream dinner party?
Hayley Wickenheiser, Steffi Graf and Ellen Degeneres.
19. What is your best quality, and what is your worst quality?
I think my best quality is the one I got from my parents: to keep trying and never giving up. My worst quality is probably overthinking and worrying too much.
20. What’s your biggest regret?
My biggest regret right now is, when I think back on my first year of university at the University of New Brunswick when I was 17 years old. I quit that year in mid-semester in winter and didn’t go back. I was playing varsity female hockey, but got too homesick and quit. I try to tell all my students to try not to quit, but I just couldn’t take it anymore. I went to university at MUN after that, but they never had a varsity female hockey team.
(Answers have been edited for length or clarity.)
'I was surprised and in disbelief': Award-winning principal Julie Dicker from Jens Haven Memorial School in Nain ... - Saltwire
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