“Keep Our Language Strong – Speak Inuktut,” GN says during Inuit Language Week

“Keep our language strong – Speak Inuktut,” says this poster from the Government of Nunavut for Inuit Language Week, Feb. 18 to 2

From Feb. 18 to 22 Nunavut is celebrating Inuit Language Week around the theme “Keep Our Language Strong – Speak Inuktut.”

The week is “an occasion to reflect collectively on the importance of our language, and what it means for the future of our territory,” the Government of Nunavut said in a Feb. 18 news release, which uses the word “inuktut” to represent the Inuit language’s various regional forms.

“As minister of languages, I urge all Nunavummiut to keep our language strong by speaking and using it every day, particularly with our children – they will be the ones to carry the torch into the future and make it thrive,” said James Arreak, the GN’s minister of Culture and Heritage.

Among this year’s activities, the Department of Culture and Heritage is releasing a colouring book for children and launching a CD with birthday songs in Inuktitut.

The department also collaborated with the Office of the Languages Commissioner on a poster for the private sector.

For more information on Inuit Language Week, please visit go to the department’s website here.

Among the suggestions for activities which can be found on this website: an in-school cultural day during the Inuit language week, with activities like a hunter skinning an animal and butchering the animal and explaining the process only in Inuktitut, using the terminology used for instructions in Inuktitut, or qulliq lighting lessons.