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Web site unites scattered hamlet workers

SARA MINOGUE

It’s hard to find bilingual instructors for all of the 10 courses that make up the Municipal Government Certificate Program, but the Municipal Training Organization’s new web site offers service in both English and Inuktitut to hamlet workers.

Visitors to www.mto.web.ca will see everything in both languages, sometimes in the same paragraph, without having to download any special fonts.

In addition to the training schedules and municipal news, the site also allows hamlet workers to chat with one another online. A password-protected section is reserved for SAOs only, so they can talk amongst themselves about issues such as employees or staff housing.

“We’re getting at least the half the senior administrative officers every month and some of those people several times — daily or weekly,” said Chuck Gilhuly, MTO’s executive director.

Aseena Allurut, manager of community development for the Government of Nunavut and the program officer for the Municipal Training Organization, is also responsible for translating the information on the site. She explains that mixing up both languages is fair for everybody.

“Especially the mayors, if they wanted to go into it, they have to be able to speak or read English and that’s not always fair,” Alllurut said. “If they can’t read it, then they can’t go into it. But this way, everybody can see it in both languages.

Getting signed up to use the site is easy, Allurut said.

“Whoever wants to have access, they will call us, but usually it’s the hamlet staff. They can get on to our website at any time. If they want to get a password and user name, they just contact us and we’ll set them up.”

Allurut’s main concern now is studying Inuktitut terminology, and finding the right words to translate more technical terms.

For hamlet workers, her hard work pays off.

One of the core courses to the Municipal Government Certificate Program is “Intro to Computers,” which includes information on the world wide web.

“People who have never had Internet access their entire life are slowly starting to get a feel for it,” Gilhuly said.

Hamlets across Nunavut have internet access with the exception of Hall Beach and Baker Lake.

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