'I think the answer is short and sweet: lack of funding.'

If there's no way easy way to enforce them, new language laws won't help Nunavut residents protect and promote their languages, Nunavut francophones say.

"The laws must include a mechanism that will ensure their implementation," said Daniel Cuerrier, director general of the Association des Francophones des Nunavut.

Cuerrier and Iqaluit lawyer Paul Crowley appeared before the legislative assembly's Ajauqtiit committee Oct. 19 to give MLAs their views on the Government of Nunavut's proposed new language laws: Bill 6, which would create a new Official Language Act, and Bill 7, which would create the Inuit Language Protection Act.

They told MLAs that the Franco-Nunavois represent a small but vibrant minority that's rooted deeply in Nunavut. It's estimated that about 1,000 francophones live in the territory, most of them in Iqaluit.

And because they're a "double minority" – a minority within a non-Inuit community that in turn forms a minority within an Inuit territory – they say they understand the linguistic fears of the Inuit, especially in Iqaluit.

"In Iqaluit you can live in English if you want to without having to speak a word of French or Inuktitut," Crowley said.

And they reminded MLAs that 40 per cent of students at Iqaluit's L'école des Trois-Soleils are Inuit beneficiaries. Because of this, they want the Inuit Language Protection Act to guarantee Inuit language instruction for French-first-language students.

"Languages should not be taught in a vacuum of culture… We do have a Franco-Nunavois culture," Crowley said.

They said, however, that francophones are satisfied with the French-language rights set out for them in the current Official Languages Act, which the Government of the Northwest Territories adopted in 1984.

And they're also satisfied that the proposed new language laws won't diminish those rights.

But they do say territorial governments fail to meet many obligations to francophones set out in the federal Charter of Rights and territorial language law – mostly because governments won't pay for them.

"I think the answer is short and sweet: lack of funding," Crowley said.

For example, the Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories, in response to a lawsuit launched in 1999, ruled in 2005 that the Government of the Northwest Territories breached its own language law in numerous ways. The judge in that case said this shows "the existence of a serious and widespread problem."

In response, the GNWT suspended publication of Hansard after the court ordered them to publish it in French, then launched an appeal.

Crowley said Nunavut francophones refused to join that lawsuit because in 1999, they wanted to give the new Nunavut government a chance.

But he points out that the situation in Nunavut is actually worse now than in the Northwest Territories – implying the GN would likely lose a similar legal action.

So to prevent such messy, expensive lawsuits in Nuna­vut, francophones say a new Official Languages Act should contain a better way for rights holders to claim damages when their rights are infringed.

To that end, they say the Official Languages Commissioner should be able to assess damage awards and order governments to pay them into a fund that would be used for language promotion.

For that reason, they agree with other groups that the role of the Official Languages Commissioner should be strengthened, not reduced.

And they say that the "language minister" should be designated as the premier, because the premier is the one cabinet member who is able to issue directions to all government departments and agencies.

They also told MLAs that francophones didn't get a big enough say in the consultation process that preceded the tabling of Bills 6 and 7 in the assembly earlier this year.

"In late spring the process began. By then the cake was baked," Crowley said.