Nunavut official languages commissioner appointed

IQALUIT — The Nunavut legislative assembly has appointed its first official languages commissioner, Eva Qammaniq Arreak, a former educator, broadcaster and administrator who was most recently director of training and development for Nunavut’s Department of Human Resources.

On December 1, Arreak will begin her four-year appointment as a watchdog for the rights, privileges, obligations and spirit of the Official Languages Act.

As commissioner, Arreak will look into complaints that a person’s rights under the act have been infringed or denied, monitor language services, promote Nunavut’s official languages and consult with representatives of each official language to seek their advice on language policy in Nunavut.

She’ll work closely with the government and public to promote the use of Inuktitut and Inuinnaqtun in Nunavut and also with the francophone community to ensure that their needs are met.

“The lack of adequate funding and human resources for providing all services across Nunavut in official languages and the competition for government finances to meet many other important needs in Nunavut means that creative and resourceful solutions will be needed,” MLA Ovide Alakannuark said to the legislature in his report on Arreak’s appointment.

“As we learn that more and more Inuit are not able to speak or write fluently in the language of their fathers, particularly younger Inuit, it is clear that concerned action is needed.”

The Official Languages Act will be reviewed in the legislature’s first sitting after December, 2000. It’s likely that this law in Nunavut will be amended to reflect the fact that the two primary aboriginal language or dialects in Nunavut are Inuktitut and Inuinnaqtun.