Inuit need national language centre: Simon (fwd)

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Nunatsiaq News
October 5, 2007

Inuit need national language centre: Simon

“You need to preserve the old language and come up with new terminology to
keep up.”

JANE GEORGE
http://www.nunatsiaq.com/news/nunavut/71005_575.html

Inuit need a nation-wide language and culture resource centre to preserve
and promote Inuktitut throughout Canada, says Mary Simon, the president of
Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami.

"It would be important for us as Inuit to have this kind of centre where you
can work on the language, as in the Faroes," Simon said, following a meeting
of the National Inuit Language Committtee in Ottawa.

In the Faroe Islands, the Faroese Language Committee is an advisory
institute, founded in 1985.

[photo inset - The National Inuit Language Committee, with members from
Nunatsiavut, Nunavik, Nunavut and the Inuvialuit region, met in Ottawa to
discuss how to strengthen Inuktitut. (PHOTO COURTESY OF ITK)]

Its mandate is to preserve, promote and develop the Faroese language. It
provides individuals, businesses and government institutions with advice
and information about the Faroese language, and helps come up with new
words and expressions. It also answers questions about personal names,
place names and other names.

Simon suggested a similar Canadian Inuktitut centre might be able to develop
a unified written language, without changing the various regional dialects.
This, she said, could open the door for the regions to share more
educational material.

Inuktitut, along with Cree and Ojibway, is one of three aboriginal languages
in Canada that experts say has a chance of surviving, but Simon said it
needs more resources to continue developing.

"You need to preserve the old language and come up with new terminology to
keep up with what's happening in the Inuit world," she said.

With the support of ITK, the National Inuit Language Committee, with members
from Nunatsiavut, Nunavik, Nunavut and the Inuvialuit region, met last week
in Ottawa to discuss what Inuktitut needs - more language teachers, more
language learning materials, more books and more collaboration between the
regions.

Simon admits it will be challenging to help urban Inuit or Inuit in
Nunatsiavut and the Inuvialuit region learn or retain Inuktitut.

But Simon suggested a language and culture centre could support these
efforts over the long term, providing the school system with common
Inuktitut learning materials.

"It's not an easy thing to do, but a lot of things happen that aren't easy
to do. If the will is there, you can make it happen," she said.

Simon plans to promote the idea of the Inuktitut language and culture
resource centre during her cross-Canada speaking tour, which starts later
this month.