Gender-bending MLAs?

I finally saw the swearing-in ceremony of the newly minted slate of Nunavut MLAs on television, and, after laughing for a little while, I thought I’d go ahead and comment on two things that struck me about the ceremony. I may lose in some way over this, but it is tongue-in-cheek.

1. The spectacle of some thoroughly Eskimo MLAs deliberately doing their oath in Eskimo English, instead of in Inuktitut, to nail down the Eskimo character of the Nunavut government; and,
2. The gender-challenged fashions of some MLAs. Some men appeared to wear silapaaq/atigiit with akuqs, traditionally ornamental in women’s apparel.

Okalik wore one with akuq-like indentations on the sides, Evyagotailak wore one with an outright akuq (perhaps excusable if such are the traditions of his region), and Simailak’s was just sooo flowery. An Arctic Liberace?

Well, after Nunavut, 30 years in the making, deserves 30 years of grace from unkind criticism, but some things are just too good to pass up.

Peter Ittinuar
Toronto