‘My pride and joy’: A year for Inuktut revitalization

Nehaa Bimal (file photo)

The beauty of Inuktut is not just in its structure and its syllables, but also in the way the language mirrors the lives of those who speak it.

The stories I’ve covered this year have highlighted Nunavummiut’s love for Inuktut, expressed through their regional dialects, which carries the weight of generational knowledge and survival in the Arctic.

Donna Adams, the winner of the third annual Inuktuuqta! Inuktut Writing Prize, shared how she found a profound connection to the language through transcribing archived interviews with elders for the former Nunavut Literacy Council.

Elders were interviewed on their role models as a child, which were often the great hunters and seamstresses of the past.

“My heart belongs to the storytellers of old,” Adams said. “Their heroics, their tragedies, their stories of overcoming strife and the hardness of life — like you’re living between life and death … they need to be shared.”

Tagak Curley, one of Nunavut’s founding fathers, also shared the importance of preserving a language that is his “way of life.”

“I lived the language, I spoke the language and it is my pride and joy,” he said, in an interview for my feature story on the Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. presidential election headlined ‘NTI … NT Why?’

“Inuit language reflects strength, perseverance and resilience and we ought to keep it alive.”

Echoing this sentiment, Andrew Nakashuk, who was one of the NTI presidential candidates, spoke to me about the significance of safeguarding Inuktitut from his perspective as a hunter.

“It’s not just about speaking Inuktitut,” he said, “but knowing the different names we call our hunting tools, techniques, and the animals that are hunted.”

Literary recognition and support for Inuit writers was further highlighted this year through the Inuktuuqta! Inuktut Writing Prize.

One of the finalists, Kevin Kablutsiak, discussed how a lot of meaning is lost when Inuktitut is translated into English.

“When you write in Inuktitut first, you’re thinking with your Inuk mind,” Kablutsiak said.

“I think it’s so important that Inuit are given the opportunity to write more in our language, from the Inuit thought.”

This year also marked significant strides in learning Inuktut with the introduction of the Inuktut language on Google Translate, the first Indigenous language in Canada to be on the platform.

The Inuinnaqtun dictionary app, launched in August, was developed through workshops with elders hosted by the Cambridge Bay-based Kitikmeot Heritage Society. The focus of their language preservation was environmental terminology in Inuinnaqtun.

Emily Angulalik, their senior Inuinnaqtun language expert, said that “when combining scientific knowledge and Inuit traditional knowledge, it’s so important to listen for terms from our elders that they had forgotten and are remembering as they describe our land. It’s an awesome learning experience for all.”

Inuktut has the ability to connect with non-Inuit speakers, too, such as Igloolik-based Inuktitut teacher Stephen Frampton, whose 2024 album Qanuq is a testament to his three-year journey learning the language.

“Learning Inuktitut started out of my own curiosity, but then became part of me over time as it’s associated with amazing relationships and memories I’ve made here,” said Frampton, who even practised the language with monolingual elders.

This year, thanks to the dedication of lifelong speakers and the passion of first-time learners, Inuktut continues to thrive in a digital world.