Nunavut’s Inuit organizations demand that GN withdraw Bill 37

Education Minister Paul Quassa is pictured in the legislature last year. A standing committee currently reviewing Bill 37 will report back to Nunavut’s Legislative Assembly later this spring to review the legislation clause-by-clause. (FILE PHOTO)

Nunavut’s Inuit organizations have asked the Government of Nunavut to do away with Bill 37, the territory’s proposed set of amendments to the Education Act and the Inuit Language Protection Act that received second reading earlier this spring.

In a written submission, Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. President Aluki Kotierk is asking that the legislative assembly’s standing committee on legislation, which is reviewing the bill, recommend the government withdraw it. That request is submitted on behalf of NTI and the three regional Inuit associations.

The proposed legislation sets the territory back in its efforts to address the decline of Inuktut in Nunavut, Kotierk said in the letter, which NTI made public this week.

“This bill has too many shortcomings, has stirred too much public concern, and is too important to be made into law,” Kotierk wrote in the April 20 submission. “The bill should be withdrawn and fundamentally rewritten. We urge this committee to report back to the assembly accordingly.”

NTI and the territory’s Qikiqtani, Kitikmeot and Kivalliq Inuit organizations say they want to provide input and support to re-draft the legislation—this time incorporating their vision.

NTI has already flagged Nunavut’s largely English-speaking school system as a major factor behind the erosion of Inuktut; no less under Bill 37, which would delay the implementation of Inuktut instruction in grades 4 through 9 until 2030.

In its submission, NTI reiterates its wish to see the GN launch an Inuit Employment Plan for educators to help increase the number of Inuktut-speaking teachers in its school system.

The Inuit organizations also call for:

• more information on what Inuktut language-of-instruction curriculum and resources are available, and what still needs to be developed;

• cooperation from the Department of Education to make Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit a core curriculum subject from Kindergarten to Grade 12; and,

• District Education Authorities to receive powers comparable to southern boards of education.

Finally, Inuit organizations have requested to appear as witnesses when the legislative assembly’s standing committee on legislation reviews the bill—a request that hadn’t been granted as of May 3, NTI said.

The standing committee on legislation is meeting this week for the first time to begin consideration of Bill 37, though those meetings are occurring in camera which means they are not in public.

Bill 37 received second reading during the winter sitting of the legislative assembly. The committee then issued an invitation for public submissions, likely be tabled during the spring sitting, which begins May 30.

Following the review, the committee will report back to the assembly to review the legislation clause-by-clause, at which point Education Minister Paul Quassa will appear before committee of the whole.

Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. Written Submission on Bill 37 by NunatsiaqNews on Scribd