No need to for ilirasungniq

In every issue of Nunatsiaq News under Letters to the Editor, the letters published have their names “withheld by request.” Why do you have such lax criteria if this is happening in every issue? Are people afraid to speak out under their own names on issues or trends that concern them?

Most, if not all other newspapers in Canada or the rest of the world would not allow letters to editors be published without names. Perhaps it’s an ilirasungniq thing?

Not only does it not give your readers an idea of who it comes from, but also where it came from. Since most of the Nunavummiut know about people in communities, it’s a good guess by the last name to figure out where the letter would be coming from.

A newspaper is meant to inform its readers of issues, happy times, accomplishments, deaths and just about everything else that concerns it’s citizens. I’m just thinking that with so many letter-writers withholding their names, it appears that people are ilirasuktut of speaking their minds!

I encourage writers to use their names. Sometimes this takes courage, but it can also force the concerns publicly and to make change.

Writers, publish your names. It is not iliranaqtuq to speak your mind as a member of your society, your community, as an Inuk and as a Canadian citizen.

Meanwhile, Nunatsiaq News, perhaps you can be more assertive and start asking for names. It gives you as the publisher more validity just as it gives the letter validity.

Suzie Napayok
Yellowknife

Editor’s note: Nunatsiaq News requires that letter writers provide their names and contact information so that we can verify their letters, but if someone from a small community requests that their name not be published, we will usually grant their request. All letters, of course, are edited.