Nunavut org president’s remarks were “hurtful and discriminatory”

I have had enough of seeing and hearing Nunavut Tunngavik’s president, Cathy Towtongie, make hurtful and discriminatory comments towards her fellow Inuit.

I have had enough of seeing our elected representative get away with her childish behavior.

On many occasions she has made remarks to Inuit, questioning how Inuk they are, or how they are not Inuk because they do not speak Inuktitut.

A large percentage of people she was elected to represent and lead do not speak their mother tongue as a result of colonization.

The goal of the church and the government was to assimilate us, to take the Inuk out of us. They did not succeed. We are here, we are Inuit, regardless of how others choose to identify themselves or us.

When someone questions your Inuk identity, it creates pain.

When those comments are made by and among Inuit, colonizers have victory. Those that attempted to colonize us are happily dancing in their graves that people like Cathy believe someone is less Inuk because of their inability to speak their mother tongue. This is abusive and is a form of bullying.

Many Inuit and indigenous people were shamed and physically abused for speaking their own languages. Now we have “leaders” abusing fellow Inuit for not speaking the language that was taken from them.

I am speaking out after far too many incidents and after Cathy’s questions to the newly elected ITK president, Natan Obed. She asked Natan about how he will lead ITK when he doesn’t speak Inuktitut and if he has lost his identity because of it.

Her question was meant to be hurtful and is a form of internal oppression. It was not a question that we should ever expect from our elected leaders.

Inuit have the highest rates of suicide. Often the pressure of balancing both worlds and dealing with bullying causes suicide. Cathy was elected to lead, she was elected because a small population of Inuit had faith that she could make things better but she has become a part of the problem.

I felt it was important to write this, so that all the people who were following the Sept. 18 vote and anyone who has been made to feel less Inuk because of any reason know that this is unacceptable behaviour from anyone.

We are Inuk because we are Inuk. No one will ever take that away from us. We need to support each other and bring each other up.

We are struggling enough with the effects of colonization, we are all affected by the trauma caused by the attempt to assimilate us. We need to start moving forward together and not against or without each other.

If I can make a recommendation to Cathy in her powerful role as the president of Nunavut Tunngavik, is that she make the best use of her job and do what she can to empower young people and to influence policies or better yet, use the settlement money NTI just received to provide opportunities for every beneficiary to reclaim their language.

Instead of turning her back on Inuit, she should be working to empower us in our languages and in our lives.

Jesse Mike
Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Beneficiary

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