Western Nunavut’s hub postpones vote on changing its name
“It will give us Inuinnait and non-Inuit alike … a sense of pride and identity”
Voters in Cambridge Bay, seen here shortly after sunset, with Mt. Pelly or Ovayok in the background, will be able to participate in an Oct. 28 plebiscite on whether to change the community’s official name to Iqaluktuuttiaq. (Photo by Jane George)
Updated on Oct. 16 at 4:40 p.m.
CAMBRIDGE BAY—The municipal council of Cambridge Bay decided in its last meeting before the Oct. 28 municipal elections to postpone a planned plebiscite on changing the community’s name back to its original Inuinnaqtun.
The council had earlier planned to ask voters when they headed to the polls Oct. 28 whether they’d like to change the name of their community to the traditional Inuinnaqtun word for the area.
The plebiscite would be non-binding.
But councillors decided to postpone the vote after elders suggested five different spelling variations at a meeting on Tuesday, Oct.15: Ekaloktotiak, Ekaluktutiak, Ikaluktutiak, Iqaluluqtuutiak and Iqaluqtuuttiaq.
Cambridge Bay is now named for Prince Adolphus, duke of Cambridge, who died in 1850. The traditional Inuinnaqtun name for the area means “good fishing place.”
The idea for the name change was brought up during a “Seeds for the Future” meeting on the community’s development, which was held earlier this year, said chief administrative officer Marla Limousin.
As soon as the name-change vote was announced Oct. 9, opinions began circulating in town and on social media.
“It will give us Inuinnait and non-Inuit alike some who are long time northern residents a sense of pride and identity of who we are and where our people came from,” James Panioyak said on Facebook.
The community’s original Inuit residents came from traditional camps along the Victoria Island coastline, the mainland, and from some from other communities as well, he said.
“It is very evident today that this traditional camp here was a very good fishing place, and still is today,” Panioyak said. “You can clearly see it visually today how our ancestors stocked up and cached whole char or dried fish all along the river where you can see tent rings and meat caches from the past. The rich history of our Inuinnait ancestors should be the focus of this name change.”
Another resident suggested Inuit shouldn’t need have to have a plebiscite or election to change the community’s name.
“Each community or traditional area already has a traditional name, this is traditional Inuit law that was applied before explorers came,” he said.
Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. has encouraged 14 municipalities in the territory that still use English names to consider a switch to their original Inuktut names.
“With 2019 being the International Year of Indigenous Languages, one of the things we’ve focused on is Inuktut-language rights and how to ensure that Inuit are able to receive essential public services in Inuktut,” NTI President Aluki Kotierk said earlier this year.
“I thought this would also signal to Canada and even beyond that Inuit were reclaiming and asserting their language rights.”
Under the territory’s Hamlet Act, a municipal council can make a request for a name change to the minister of community and government services.
In 2015, Repulse Bay went through the process to restore the community’s name to Naujaat.
Before Nunavut was created, Iqaluit (formerly Frobisher Bay), Kugluktuk (Coppermine), Kimmirut (Lake Harbour), Qikiqtarjuaq (Broughton Island,) Taloyoak (Spence Bay) and Kugaaruk (Pelly Bay) also changed their names.
Cape Dorset is another community considering a name-change. Cape Dorset was named by a British captain after the fourth earl of Dorset in the 1600s, but is commonly known by its Inuktut name, Kinngait.
The communities still with English names are below:
- Cambridge Bay (Iqaluktuuttiaq)
- Gjoa Haven (Uqsuqtuuq)
- Hall Beach (Sanirajak)
- Baker Lake (Qamani’tuaq)
- Chesterfield Inlet (Igluligaarjuk)
- Rankin Inlet (Kangiqliniq)
- Whale Cove (Tikirarjuaq)
- Coral Harbour (Salliq)
- Clyde River (Kangiqtugaapik)
- Pond Inlet (Mittimatalik)
- Arctic Bay (Ikpiarjuk or Tununirusiq)
- Grise Fiord (Ausuittuq)
- Resolute Bay (Qausuittuq)
- Cape Dorset (Kinngait)
My english name is Louise, my real born name is Qattuurainnuk, according to my mother……………..what’s your english name, apart from your birth name?
I love our Inuinnaqtun name but I can imagine the same conversations about where I’m from and how to say it much like my last name and I’m already dreading that tired repetitive conversation. Cambridge Bay is known now and to change the name would undo years of clout building and name recognition. I for one hope this does not pass through. Culture wise we use it locally where the language is used more frequently. But traveling wise; it’ll be a headache to have to explain things over and over again until we regain clout in the news for something like CHARS. This isn’t the capital city where everyone in Canada needs to know the name Iqaluit, this is a longer and harder name to say for the common man. My 2 cents.
This is great news, very proud to reclaim this name! Much more fitting and true to the area, great place to fish and very good fish! Beautiful area!
Six is a lot of syllables. Is there anything shorter they could use? If they choose this name, everyone will shorten it to something else in conversation, like “Ek” or “Ik” for short, like they do with Qik. Would people want that? The communities that have changed their names to long names that are difficult to pronounce in english don’t get called much by their new names, they get shortened in conversation. It might not be right, but it happens, and it will here too, especially with CB being a regional hub.
I really don’t understand the Canadian obsession with picking only one name for places and debating which language it should be in. Multilingual European countries solved this problem ages ago – Belgium, Finland and Switzerland all have cities and other places with more than one official name – one official name in each official language. So if you’re sending mail, you can use any of the official names of the place and it will get there.
So why can’t Cambridge Bay have two official names – one in English and the other in Inuinnaqtun?
Why Pick one Language, that is a great idea! Exactly what we should be doing!
We do do this some in Canada. For example, the town of Grand Falls in New Brunswick is officially Grand Falls/Grand Sault.
Um, the argument about switching “back” to “traditional” Inuit names sort of falls flat when it comes to Grise Fiord and Resolute Bay, doesn’t it? For nearly 1000 years Inuit didn’t live there, and any names would have been long lost.
Yay! Taluqjuaq is included.
It’s nice to see an effort reporting the proper place names.
However, based on the photo caption, it seems to need another little nudge.
The caption ‘…Mt. Pelly or Ovayok…’ is incorrect.
Mount Pelly officially changed to Ovayok in 2012, and spelling of Ovayok was quickly (also in 2012) changed to the current official name of Uvayuq. The word ‘or’ should not be included in the statement as the feature does not possess two official names. Something like ‘..Uvayuq (formerly Mount Pelly)…’ might be more appropriate.
One can search the Geographic Names Board of Canada’s database by ‘Rectangular Area’ (NTS mapsheet), among other ways, to find out the status of place names. Just be sure to select the ‘All’ option under Status on the search page so the ‘Previously official’ names are included in the results.
Hopefully this link works in your comments section. It links to page 1 of the official current and historic names on NTS 77D (Cambridge Bay)
http://www4.rncan.gc.ca/search-place-names/rectangular-area?lang=en&swlatdeg=&swlatmin=&swlondeg=&swlonmin=&nelatdeg=&nelatmin=&nelondeg=&nelonmin=&snrc-title=077d&snrc=077d&category=&page=1
Oh shush! You make no attempt at learning the local dialect, you live here forever and you make no effort to communicate with unilingual elders. Today, the residents want to be politically correct, Inuit or non-Inuit. Still no Inuinnaqtun service delivery at GN and other organizations!!