Our young people – and we have a very young population – have a great, powerful spirit. Not only do we want to nurture our culture but we also want to participate in the modern economy.

As we look to the past we can ask ourselves what lessons can we draw from in order to enable Inuit to achieve the benefits resource development may have to offer in the future?

We need to partner, communicate and break down the silos to address the challenges facing Inuit. We need to build up Inuit so that Inuit can regain power and control over their lives. Utilizing the community justice committees is a step toward the goal.

Education in mother tongues such as Inuktut is more important than students’ socioeconomic conditions when it comes to them succeeding in school.
The three types of “bilingual” education currently functioning in some Nunavut schools are all, at best, weak forms of bilingual education.
The education system has been used to produce many of the social effects listed in this report. It is necessary that the education system be used to redress those effects.

Canada, as a country, needs to make this commitment to recognize Inuktut as an official original founding language within the Nunavut Territory.

Strengthening Inuktut supports in Nunavut will have a lasting and positive impact on social and economic conditions on Inuit Canadians; a fitting and invaluable legacy.

I appreciate the encouraging messages and calls from fellow Nunavut Inuit to provide advice on how to fulfill this role effectively.