Inuktut language decline in Nunavut spiralling into free fall: report – Nunatsiaq Online

by ahnationtalk on March 9, 2017361 Views

“The vested interests of non-Inuit teachers and administrators trumped the land claim-mandated rights of Inuit”

The decline of Inuktut language use in Nunavut is spiralling into an ever-quickening free fall and the Nunavut government’s education system, dominated by non-Inuit teachers and administrators, carries a big share of the blame, Ian Martin, a Toronto-based academic said in a report March 7.

“My personal belief is that the vested interests of non-Inuit teachers and administrators trumped the land claim-mandated rights of Inuit,” Martin said in his report.

The impending demise of the Inuit language in Nunavut is a “personal and collective tragedy” and “younger Inuit are being denied their birthright: an education in their mother tongue,” Martin said.

“Difficult as it may be for outside observers to believe, there has been no increase in the presence of Inuktut in the schools since before Nunavut was created,” he said.

Read More: http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674inuit_language_use_in_nunavut_is_plumetting_researcher_says/

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