Complaints, low availability and jokes: Nunavut committee discusses Inuktut

Nearly every concern received by the Office of the Languages Commissioner of Nunavut (OLC) since April 1, 2021 were related to Inuktut.

That's according to the OLC's consolidated annual reports for the last three fiscal years, which showed a combined 95.3 per cent of complaints were about Inuktut. 

In the 2022-23 fiscal year, 13 out of 16 concerns had to do with Inuktut alone, with the remaining three dealing with Inuktut and French.

The next year, 13 out of 19 concerns were Inuktut-related, with a further five having to do with Inuktut and French. Only one had to do only with French.

Receiving concerns from the public is one of the duties of the OLC. That way, they can launch investigations into language rights infringements. As of 2019, it also applies to out-of-territory companies that have signed contracts with the Nunavut government to deliver services elsewhere in Canada.

But occasionally, the OLC still faced barriers.

In response to a question posed by Aivilik MLA Solomon Malliki, Languages Commissioner Karliin Aariak gave an example during this week's televised hearings of the Legislative Assembly's standing committee on oversight of government operations and public accounts.

She said in 2021, they looked into a lack of Inuktut services at Embassy West, a senior's living centre in Ottawa where Inuit from Nunavut are sent. 

"I requested information, in particular, to provide me with a copy of the contract between the Department of Health and the company that has that contract," Aariak said. 

But the response from the deputy minister at the time not what she was hoping for.

"Contracts are not normally released as many contain proprietary business information," Aariak quoted from the response. "However, I have a request into the Department of Justice to seek advice whether the contract can be released to your office."

So, she wrote back, this time including the then-minister of health. 

"I quoted that section in the Inuit Language Protection Act where it clearly indicates that if there is any information that I or my office needs in order to investigate a concern, I have the right to that information and privacy issues don't apply," Aariak stated.

She said she even obtained a letter from the information and privacy commissioner stating this and would pull it out when government departments would resist handing over information.

Now, Aariak says she's been noticing departments being much more co-operative.

Other MLAs weigh in

The use and availability of Inuktitut translators in health care settings was also brought up. This time, Uqqummiut MLA Mary Killiktee shared her thoughts on the lack of translators in the evenings and nights.

"Usually, when we have public meetings, there's people out there listening who have excellent ideas on how we can improve the system," she said in Inuktitut.

But she decided to bring forward her own suggestion.

"There are individuals who have no employment in their communities," she said. "Is it possible to hire interpreters that will be on call on a 24-hour basis?"

Killiktee says such a service would make a big impact, as it did for her mother before she passed away in April.

Aariak said census data from 2016 and 2021 shows that 3,230 fewer Nunavummiut identified Inuktut as their mother tongue.

"The decrease is alarming for Inuktut speakers," she said in Inuktitut. "We have to consider it a valuable language."

Another MLA gave a reason why the use of Inuktitut specifically might be decreasing, saying the drop in use is everyone's problem.

"We sometimes make jokes about the different dialects and we make fun of people who are trying to speak Inuktitut and are not quite proficient in the usage," said Tununiq MLA Karen Nutarak. "If we want the language to be strong; to be used properly, we have to make sure that we don't make fun of people who don't use it properly."

Nutarak elaborated, saying people who are constantly made fun of sometimes abandon their efforts to learn Inuktitut.

The committee will prepare a report on all its televised hearings to present to the government during the fall sitting next month.