Government focuses on Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit

SARA ARNATSIAQ

Since the inception of the Government of Nunavut, three Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit coordinator positions have been in place to represent three key government departments.

Andrew Tagak Sr. is the Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit coordinator for the department of health and social services. He started May 1.

When policies or procedures are introduced, Tagak Sr. reviews them to make sure they are culturally sound and practical. He makes recommendations for changes to ensure the department operates in a manner suited to Inuit culture and traditions.

For instance, when unilingual elders have to travel to Ottawa for medical treatment, they should be given an escort, Tagak Sr. says.

Anthony Saez is a senior policy analyst for the department of culture, language elders and youth. Monitoring IQ is one of his many jobs. The IQ position in the department of sustainable development is vacant because Joanna Quassa was recently promoted.

The three coordinators have met on occasion to discuss progress and areas that need improvement.

It is Tagak Sr.’s hope that every government department will have an IQ coordinator. He believes that once this happens, the government will be able to provide programs that are more relevant to Inuit and benefit Inuit more effectively.

This fall, CLEY will create an elders council — an IQ mechanism for the legislative assembly. The council is meant to perform the same function for MLAs that Tagak Sr. performs for employees in the department of health and social services.

Exactly how people will become members of the elders council and what the council will look like is being finalized now. An announcement will be made in the legislature in October, after cabinet has approved it.

Tagak Sr. thinks it would be a good idea for it to work the same way as the legislative assembly — for elders to represent each community in Nunavut, and be appointed to different departments according to their knowledge in a particular subject.

He also said that groups such as the Niutaq Cultural Institute and Inuit Cultural Institute might be able to contribute to government — and to the elders council — in ways that individuals might not be able to.

Tagak Sr. believes Nunavut needs an elders council because it is sometimes difficult to implement IQ. The Bathurst Mandate is not always followed.

The elders council will allow the GN to combine oral tradition with the modern way of documentation.

He said that if IQ is going to be implemented properly, then we need elders to provide the guidance.

He used the example of a white man who has never seen a polar bear or fired a rifle saying, “First of all, you need to be taught how dangerous the bear is, then you need to know how to fire a rifle safely without endangering yourself. Then with that guidance, you have to judge for yourself whether or not you’re really in danger.”

He said barbecues and picnics for GN employees, where someone plays the drum to celebrate IQ day, are not the way to implement IQ. However, he said the GN’s methods should improve over time.

Once inaccuracies in government are being pointed out and the elders council is running, he said, the relationship between the government and ordinary people should improve.