Nunavut does not meet the linguistic needs of its children

Indigenous language preservation and revitalization in Canada is deeply underfunded.

The Tumikuluit daycare is the product of Inuit parents who get this – and who worked incredibly hard to make this Inuktitut child care centre a reality. They are awesome!

I expect that if there were an infinite number of spots, and not a two year wait list for most day cares in town, they would welcome all comers who want to be in an Inuktitut environment.

But that is not the case and I fully support their choice to prioritize Inuit kids who live with an Inuk parent.

Sadly, daycare or not, the chance of your child becoming fluent in Inuktitut is slim if he lives in a home with parents who don’t speak the language (my assumption.)

Our school system does not meet the linguistic needs of my kids, your kid, and the vast majority of Inuit kids who should be able to grow up speaking and learning Inuktitut and English, and if they are lucky, French too.

Not sure what you were hoping for by writing your letter to the editor, but that’s my two cents.

If you feel genuinely that the discrimination is unjust, the Nunavut Human Rights Tribunal might be an avenue for your family.

Madeleine Cole
Iqaluit

Email your letters to editor@nunatsiaq.com.

Nunatsiaq News welcomes letters to the editor. But we are under no obligation to publish any given letter at any given time.

In our print edition, we usually print letters on a first-come, first-served, space-available basis. In our online edition, we usually print letters as soon as we are able to prepare them for publication.

All letters are edited for length, grammar, punctuation, spelling, taste and libel. You may withhold your name by request, but we must know who you are before we publish your letter.