BY SAMANTHA WRIGHT ALLEN

Twenty years after legislators carved out Nunavut from the Northwest Territories as a new, majority-Inuit territory, advocates say Ottawa must do more to protect and enhance language and culture to live up to that vision.

One of the main objectives in forming Nunavut was to create a homeland north of 60 for Inuit— who represent 85 per cent of the 35,000 who call the territory
home—which would nurture the Inuit language and culture while providing more responsive services from the territorial government, said Conservative Senator Dennis Patterson, the territory’s sole representative in the Red Chamber.

“It was one of the main unwritten agreements for the creation of Nunavut—to protect and enhance language and culture,” said Sen. Patterson, who previously served in the Northwest Territories’ legislature for 16 years.

During his four years as premier, from 1987 to 1991, the territorial and federal governments worked on an agreement in principle. Two years after he left government, in 1993, they signed the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement, which recognized Inuit land rights and led to the official creation of the territory six years later on April 1, 1999.

At the time, Inuit envisioned that a public territorial government would be the best way to help provide services, not only in Inuktut, but also in a way that understood Inuit culture and used it as a foundation to influence how programs and services were designed and developed, said Aluki Kotierk, president of Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. (NTI), an organization that works for Inuit interests in the territory and works to ensure implementation of the land claims agreement.

“At this point I can say it’s been a failure in terms of not being in a position to provide essential services to the public majority in Inuktut,” said Ms. Kotierk, who also highlighted the gap in Inuit employment in government jobs, and the missed target for Inuktut—a term that includes all dialects spoken in Nunavut—to be taught in schools as set out when Nunavut was created. (In 2006, NTI filed a lawsuit, alleging the federal government breached its contract, which Ottawa settled in 2015 after agreeing to pay $255-million.)

While the federal government will often point to territorial jurisdiction for such matters, Ms. Kotierk said Ottawa’s historic and “very active role in diminishing Indigenous languages” through the residential school program and its stated intent to ‘kill the Indian in the child.’

“The federal government has a responsibility to invest in the school system, invest in the language, to the same extent that they invested to diminish our
language,” she said.

Successive governments have failed on that front, and both she and Sen. Patterson said they see the Liberal government’s recent Indigenous languages bill, C-91, as yet another lost opportunity.

During the Senate committee’s examination of the Indigenous Languages Act, Sen. Patterson said it became “very clear” that Inuit “had been overlooked in consultations” and the resulting bill “fell short” in dealing with the specific needs of language and preservation enhancement for Inuktut. The focus was too
much on language revitalization, he said, and while there are some Nunavut communities where that’s important, there are many communities where Inuktut is still spoken. The Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK) was also critical of the bill for lacking any Inuit-specific measures.

Though use of Inuktut as a mother tongue is declining among the territory’s population—from 72 per cent in 2001 to 65 per cent in 2016—a significant portion of the population still have it as their first language. The Liberals “missed an opportunity where they could have been bold, and committed to providing the appropriate resources,” and recognized it as an original, founding language of Nunavut so that it could be “viewed equitably” compared to French and English, said Ms. Kotierk.

As one of the few Indigenous languages “that has a chance to survive,” former Nunavut Liberal MP Nancy Karetak-Lindell said more funds should be dedicated
to its support.

“Our country has a role to play in that, the same way French is recognized as an official language,” said the four-term MP, first elected in 1997, who was the territory’s first representative in the House and the first Inuk woman to become a Member of Parliament.

Nunavut’s government has said it will take 20 more years to fulfill language targets for its school system, which were set out when Nunavut was created, Nunatsiaq News reported last month.

The territorial government has had a tough time getting enough qualified, bilingual teachers, said Premier Joe Savikataaq, and it can’t force people to speak the
language and become teachers.

“We have obligations we have to meet, but when you don’t have control on one part of the equation, then it’s very hard to get to the sum,” he said in an interview, while also stressing the government is committed to keeping the language “alive and thriving.”

Part of the solution, he said, “starts at home,” long before a child enters the school system:“Parents have to take responsibility, too.”

A voice in Ottawa
Having territorial representation at the federal level has made a measurable difference for Inuit living north of 60, said Sen. Patterson.

“Without having our own territory and our own government, I think it would have been more difficult to draw attention to the unique issues impacting the people of Nunavut,” he said.

Before the change, the Northwest Territories made up about one-third of Canada, geographically. Now, Nunavut covers onefifth. It contains 28 villages or communities—all fly-in—and all but one are coastal, noted Ms. Karetak-Lindell.

“I would like to think we’re able to speak with one voice for many issues, even though we have our regional differences,” said Ms. Karetak-Lindell, one of the three MPs to represent the young territory since it was formed.

The territory continues to fight “to be on the same level playing field” for all the services that Canadians take for granted, she said.

Mr. Savikataaq, who became premier in 2018, said he often feels his role is to “keep educating and re-educating” about the territory’s unique reality and needs, even at the federal level.

The vision of Nunavut for Inuit was to have “more control of our destiny,” said Mr. Savikataaq, and to a degree that has happened.

“But you can’t have independence without financing [coming] with it,” he said, and while the federal government has become more responsive to the unique needs over the years, he said there needs to be “a little bit more flexibility” from Ottawa.

Sometimes the requirements attached to funding “are too rigid,” he said, making it difficult to take full advantage, especially in the context of a single shipping season that can set projects back if bureaucracy gets in the way.

Nunavut is “so lacking and far behind” when it comes to infrastructure “that we’re not even at the starting line,” said Mr. Savikataaq, adding the federal government “has to do some nationbuilding.”

Independent MP Hunter Tootoo, who was elected to represent the territory as a Liberal in 2015, was not available for comment. His riding predecessor was former Conservative MP and minister Leona Aglukkaq, who is running to retake Nunavut for the Conservatives in October. Ms. Aglukkaq, who could not be
reached for comment, became the first Inuk to be sworn into cabinet in 2008 when she was named health minister; she later added on oversight of the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency and Arctic Council to her portfolio, and then served as environment minister from 2013 to 2015.

The distinction of serving as the territory’s first MP was a “great honour,” said Ms. KaretakLindell. She said at the time of Nunavut’s creation, most involved didn’t realize the significance of changing Canada’s map.

While most countries see their borders redrawn in the face of conflict, “we did this peacefully, with negotiations,” said Ms. Karetak-Lindell.

Territory entering ‘a different phase again’: first Nunavut MP
As an MP during the transition, her role represented “an administrative phase,” building off of the work of those, including her uncle, Tagak Curley,
who fought for Inuit recognition. He was the first president of the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada, now ITK.

“Now, we’re in a different phase again, 20 years later,” she said, with important roles as lobby groups pushing the territorial and federal governments to live up to the agreement first signed 26 years ago.

While that doesn’t change, “how we achieve what we’re determined to achieve” has shifted over the years, noted Ms. Karetak-Lindell, who praised Ms.
Kotierk and Natan Obed of the ITK (who declined an interview request) for the work they do.

In October 2018, NTI’s board passed a resolution to look into models for Inuit self-government outside of the current territorial government system, amid questions raised by residents over the territorial government’s record.

Even as more Inuit are elected to the legislature, it may not be the right model if it continues to “perpetuate systems that are not based on Inuit culture,” Ms.
Kotierk said.

“We’re still a cog in that system,” she said. “It’s not any one person’s fault, it’s the governance system.”

But Sen. Patterson said he worries some of the spirit from two decades before has been lost, and he hopes he can help revive it.

“That unity and common purpose seems to have eroded somewhat in more recent years,” said Sen. Patterson, and while he understands the frustration, he
hopes the issues can be addressed through co-operation.

“It was that unity of purpose that gave us Nunavut and I think it needs to be revived,” he said, and as “one of the few people around today who were involved in that era” it’s his job to respectfully remind today’s leaders “that there is strength in unity.”

There’s always more that can be done, said Ms. Karetak-Lindell. She said she places great trust in the younger generation, who are “more aggressive and more aware of our rights.” People need to remember the territory is only 20 years old, she added.

“All these things take time. We need to be allowed to make mistakes because this has never been done before,” she said, recalling the 1995 commission report looking at establishing the territory, titled Footprints in New Snow.

“That really says it all. We’re blazing a trail that no one has done before,” she said.

swallen@hilltimes.com
The Hill Times