Language law fails Inuit, Francophones, Nunavummiut say

PATRICIA D’SOUZA

A Nunavut health card renewal form printed in English and French, and distributed to residents this past fall, instructed Nunavummiut in French to fill out the English side of the form.

“We don’t want to take an antagonizing approach. We don’t file complaints,” said Daniel Cuerrier, executive director of the Francophone Association of Nunavut, as he related the situation to a legislative assembly committee reviewing the Official Languages Act this week.

“However, this may come soon, unfortunately.”

The francophone association has received about 30 calls since November from outraged French-speakers, Cuerrier said. As a result, he has drafted a letter to the office of the official languages commissioner and the department of health and social services.

“This is the worst it can get, being able to communicate with your government in no other language than English,” he added in an interview after his presentation to the committee.

“Especially with a health-related issue, I think this is extremely important.”

In addition, he said, a participant in the public meeting told him the Inuktitut forms say the same thing.

Jack Anawak, the minister of culture, language, elders and youth, and the only cabinet minister at the Jan. 28 public meeting, promised to follow up on the matter.

“I’m not the minister of health, but I will assure you that we will look into that,” he said.

The committee is wrapping up a year of consultations and plans to introduce its final report in the legislative assembly when the House resumes sitting in March.

Members have travelled across Nunavut to seek out public opinion on the language law. One last meeting is scheduled for Qikiqtarjuaq next week.

But the five questions provided by the committee don’t go beyond the limited range of the current law:

• Which languages do you think should be recognized as the official languages of Nunavut?

• What kinds of government services and documents do you think should be a priority to be made available to the public in all official languages?

• Do you think that Inuktitut and Inuinnaqtun should be considered to be separate languages in the Official Languages Act? How do you think the act should address the issue of different dialects in Nunavut?

• Do you think that Nunavut’s Official Languages Act should apply to the activities of municipal governments and the private sector?

• Do you think that the Official Languages Act meets its commitment to the preservation, development and enhancement of aboriginal languages in Nunavut? How could it be improved?

The questions don’t touch on the issues people want to discuss. Even members of the committee were overcome by the emotional side of the language debate.

“I don’t understand my own grandchildren when they speak [English],” said committee member and Akulliq MLA Ovide Alakannuark, in his introduction,

The Official Languages Act was inherited from the Northwest Territories in 1999, and is being reviewed to omit outdated references to Dene languages.

Eva Aariak, Nunavut’s language commissioner, has proposed creating separate legislation — an Inuktitut Protection Act — to strengthen the Inuit language and embed it in law.

However, many participants expressed a fear that those changes won’t happen within their lifetime. “I always envy the francophones — how strong and powerful an association they are. I usually say I’ll be 70 years old by the time these plans are implemented,” said Iqaluit resident Mary Wilman.

“My generation and those a little bit older than me are the guinea pigs of a changing society. We made a sacrifice in order to be educated. The people out there think we know the Inuit culture, but we don’t,” said Elisapi Davidee, also of Iqaluit.

Celistin Erkidjuk described how it feels for a unilingual Inuk to speak English: “It’s like when your lips are cold, it’s hard to speak — that’s how hard it is for me to speak in English.”

Before the amendments to the Official Languages Act are introduced in the Nunavut assembly, they must go to the House of Commons for approval.

That will add a significant delay to a process that is already behind schedule. The committee had planned to table its final report and proposed amendments by February.