Ottawa underfunds Inuktitut, minister says (fwd)

[phil cash cash]

Ottawa underfunds Inuktitut, minister says

WebPosted Feb 22 2005 05:00 PM MST
CBC News
http://north.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=inuktitut-funding-02222005

IQALUIT - The minister responsible for languages in Nunavut says Inuit
are being shortchanged by the federal government.

Louis Taparjuk, the head of the Department of Culture, Language, Elders
and Youth, says the majority language in Nunavut is Inuktitut or
Inuinaqtun.

But, he says money provided by the federal government does not reflect
that.

He says there's a big difference between federal funding for French or
English and that provided for Inuktitut.

"The federal government provides $3,571 for 410 francophones and $48.50
for 22,680 Inuit," Taparjuk says of Ottawa's per capita expenditures in
Nunavut.

"Obviously the resources made available to the Nunavut government isn't
there for us to provide the services in Inuktitut."

Taparjuk says the Nunavut government alone spends $5 million a year just
on translation.

He says the federal government should be spending more on Inuktitut in
Nunavut.