Nunavut MLA calls for end to “language shaming”

George Hickes, MLA for Iqaluit-Tasiluk and now Nunavut’s new finance minister, wants to see more Inuktut-language learning possibilities in Nunavut and more support for language learners. (PHOTO BY BETH BROWN)

More Inuktut language training and less language shaming in Nunavut—these are among the key areas likely to be tackled by the new Savikataaq government.

“Even in this House myself here … I’ve felt little because I don’t speak Inuktitut. I know it’s not an excuse and it’s not even really a reason,” Iqaluit-Tasiluk MLA George Hickes, who is now back as a minister, said June 13 as the MLAs’ committee of the whole looked at the Department of Culture’s budget requests.

He said too often people are laughing at, rather than with, somebody when they mispronounce something: he wants to see the Nunavut government and members of the public work on ending language shaming.

“Could I work harder? Absolutely. Do I want to learn more? But there are barriers and of course, scheduling is one of them; support in the community,” said Hickes, adding that Iqaluit is a difficult community to learn Inuktitut “because there are a lot of people from all over the territory and many different dialects are spoken here in town.”

Hickes also said he thinks there needs to be more awareness about people who are trying to learn Inuktut.

”I know many people who have given up because they get embarrassed,” he said.

“They say something wrong or pronounce something incorrectly and they’re made fun of, so they don’t try again. I think that is going to be the first step when we’re talking about rebuilding our language and keeping it alive.”

During the spring sitting, which wrapped up June 14, MLAs learned that the amount of money earmarked for training civil servants had been doubled to $5 million.

But Hickes also said that, in looking online, he found the next Inuktitut language course for Government of Nunavut employees is being offered at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont. and in the fall, which means many GN employees in Iqaluit could not take it.

“I’ve noticed in the past with the scheduling of language training, it invariably coincides with the sitting of the legislature, which basically eliminates a fairly large demographic of our civil service,” Hickes said. “Pretty much anyone in communications or policy would not be able to take language training and when you’re looking at that cohort of our civil service, it’s an important demographic.”

During the June 13 discussions, MLAs also learned that the Inuit Language Authority has moved ahead with its plan to conduct proficiency testing of government employees. To date, 100 GN employees have been tested in Iqaluit and Gjoa Haven, who are eligible for bonuses ranging from $1,500 to $5,000 a year, depending on their level of proficiency.

Of those tested, 83 tested were in Iqaluit and 17 in Gjoa Haven. Seven were highly proficient or what the GN calls “language experts.”

But Hickes would like Inuktut language training expanded beyond the civil service where the GN has about $2 million set aside for community-based projects.

“I don’t believe it was my fault that I didn’t have the opportunity to learn Inuktitut at home, and I know there are many people across this territory that are in similar situations; older people, younger people, whether it be from residential schools to parents not teaching their children at home,” he said.

“There is a very wide diversity in the type of people of Nunavummiut, Inuit and non-Inuit alike, that would very much like to learn more of the culture and language.”

In Nunavut, according to 2016 figures, 89 per cent of Inuit—about nine in 10—can speak Inuktut.