By any other name, the ujarak’s just as sweet

Amittuq MLA Joelie Kaernerk doesn’t like the term the Inuit Uqausinginnik Taiguusiliuqtiit language authority has decreed for cannabis: “surrarnaqtuq.” (WIKIMEDIA COMMONS PHOTO)

The officially imposed Inuit-language term for “cannabis” doesn’t match the language used by regular people, Amittuq MLA Joelie Kaernerk says, and he wants the Government of Nunavut to nip it in the bud.

The Inuit Uqausinginnik Taiguusiliuqtiit language authority recently decreed that “surrarnaqtuq,” or ᓱᕐᕋᖕᓇᖅᑐᖅ, should become the standard Inuit-language term for the substance known in English as “cannabis.”

But Kaernerk, who first raised the point this past June, doesn’t like that usage and says many others in Nunavut don’t like it either.

“Many regular residents don’t agree with that word,” he said.

That’s because “surrarnaqtuq” is a poor fit for a soft drug like cannabis, he said.

“It’s like saying, ‘using stronger drugs,’ for example, cocaine, crack, meth. These are the stronger drugs that my constituents understood with the terminology ‘surrangnaqtuq,'” he said.

Another complaint is that the terms the GN uses on the Inuit-language sections of its website are confusing and inconsistent.

To represent “cannabis,” the GN also uses the term “aangajaarnaqtuq,” he said.

“Looking at the Inuktitut website, it’s going all over the place from ‘aangajaarnaqtuq’ to ‘surrangnaqtuq’ and these little things,” Kaernerk said.

A quick check of the cannabis section on the Finance Department’s website reveals that in eastern syllabics, the GN uses ᐋᖓᔮᕐᓇᖅᑐᖅ (same as aangajaarnaqtuq in Roman orthography) in addition to “surrangnaqtuq,” and in Inuinnaqtun, the term “aangayaarnaqtuq.”

“Now, as a regular Inuk, I have never used the internet to visit that website and it was only today that I looked it up and they were using terms such as ‘aangajaarnaqtuq’ and within our legislation put forward in the spring session, the Inuit Language Authority recommended the term ‘surrarngnaqtuq,’” Kaernerk said.

The best word, he said, is “ujarak,” or ᐅᔭᕋᒃ, a term in use for many years.

“Ujarak” literally means rock or stone, and appears to be a form of cross-cultural wordplay for that which gets you stoned.

“My question is: will the minister start using this term “ujarak” rather than these other Inuit terminologies when it comes to cannabis?” he said.

Finance Minister George Hickes, whose department is in charge of the Nunavut Liquor and Cannabis Commission, said he will consult the IUT.

“My officials are listening right now and, in their dialogue with the language authority, they will bring forward your concerns, and I look forward to bringing more information back to the member after those discussions have taken place,” Hickes said.

The unedited Nunavut Hansard for Oct. 30 also reflects a lack of consensus on standard usage. There, ujarak is spelled as “ujaraq” and surrangnaqtuq is spelled “surrarngnaqtuq.”