Inuinnaqtun program crashes

An Inuinnaqtun interpreters program in Cambridge Bay shut down after Christmas due to a lack of teachers and students.

Education Minister Ed Picco told CamBay MLA Keith Peterson that it was hard to find “proficient Inuinnaqtun speakers” who wanted to instruct the program, and tough to find enough qualified students to take the program.

Peterson said the decision to pull the plug on the program meant students were suddenly left without jobs or a program of study. “It was a very dramatic experience for them.”

Of the six students who made it through the first semester, only one passed, Picco told Peterson.

Picco said the Inuinnaqtun language committee would be meeting later this month on what the future of the interpreters program would be.