Incorrect name spellings should be fixed

This is an open letter to all the Inuit of Nunavut. This is something that might upset some Inuit, however I think and feel that it should be brought up.

Going through the phone book for Nunavut, I see it all the time — our families’ last names have been misspelled by southerners after they first started coming up north to our homeland.

At first they gave us E-numbers, then gave us names spelled the way they pronounced our Inuktitut names. I feel that if we are to maintain our language and culture, all the misspelled last names should be corrected.

Whenever a southerner tries to say my last name, if he or she says it wrong, I correct the person just as we were corrected in school, sometimes very harshly in a way that today would bring criminal charges.

So please consider how your last name is spelled. If it is incorrect, please change it for the sake of maintaining our language and culture.

(Name withheld by request)
Baker Lake