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Non-Inuttitut speakers can’t run in Makivik elections

Bylaw change passed with little fanfare at AGM in Tasiujaq

JANE GEORGE

Makivik Corporation has decided fluency in Inuttitut is a requirement to run for any elected position in the birthright organization.

At its recent annual general meeting in Tasiujaq, Makivik delegates approved a change in qualifications for any aspiring candidates: a candidate for a board of directors position must now produce 10 written attestations of their fluency in Inuttitut, while potential executive members must supply a 13 attestations to their fluency and proficiency in Inuttitut.

Nominators are called on to sign these documents, except for nominees running for executive position. Then, three board members must also provide a written attestation "confirming this nominee is proficient in Inuktitut."

More than 85 per cent of Nunavik’s population speaks only Inuttitut — Nunavik’s dialect of Inuktitut — at home. About 30 per cent of Nunavimmiut are unilingual Inuttitut speakers.

Makivik president Pita Aatami said the change in Makivik’s bylaws shows that Nunavik is serious about preserving and promoting its language.

"In order keep your culture, your heritage, you have to do something to protect it and we’re doing it," Aatami said.

Aatami defended the new rule but said it didn’t lessen non-Inuttitut speakers’ rights as beneficiaries: it just defines who will represent their interests.

"You’re not losing your rights as a beneficiary, you’ll still get all the benefits," Aatami said. "But if you’re serious and you want to work for the benefit of the Inuit — what’s their language?"

Aatami’s young daughter Rose, who is growing up in Montreal, doesn’t speak much Inuttitut, but Aatami said he accepts that she’ll have to learn Inuttitut if she ever wants to run for an elected Makivik position.

Charlie Arngak, the president of Avataq, Nunavik’s cultural institute, is another staunch defender of the new bylaw, calling it a "first step" in keeping Inuttitut intact.

Makivik’s executives justified the change, saying beneficiaries raised the issue during their field trip to communities earlier this year.

The resolution to change the bylaw, which was passed with little fanfare or discussion on the last day of Makivik’s AGM, came as a surprise to some Inuit beneficiaries who don’t speak Inuttitut.

Raymond Menarik who lives in the majority-Cree community of Chisasibi, home to about 110 Inuit, is fluent in English and Cree, but he said only a handful of elders in his community speak fluent Inuttitut.

Menarik, who hadn’t heard anything about new bylaw until contacted by Nunatsiaq News, said he was concerned by its implications.

"I was thinking of running for office," Menarik said.

Parents of children with a mixed Inuit-Qallunaat background also have varied responses to the bylaw.

"It shouldn’t really matter as long as you can be of service to Inuit," said one woman who works for an Inuk organization in Montreal.

Three of her children speak Inuttitut, in addition to English and French, but four others don’t.

"We eat Inuit food. We’re all Inuit," she said.

However, another mother, whose children also speak Inuttitut with different degrees of fluency, felt strongly that it’s important to have elected representatives who are able to speak Inuttitut, particularly since many other Inuit in the circumpolar world have already lost their language.

"Part of our identity is related to language," she said. "As a distinct people, we have to preserve our language."

Many underscored the need for Inuttitut courses in Nunavik and in Montreal for adults who want to learn the language .

Peter Bentley, the principal of Kuujjuaq’s Jaanimmarik School, said nearly all students at his school have come through the Kativik School Board’s K-Grade 3 program in Inuttitut, and, as a result, most have some degree of fluency in Inuttitut, even when one parent is a non-Inuk.

Bentley suggested Makivik’s new position on Inuttitut could encourage students to learn the language by putting an added value on its mastery.

"If you really were a political beast, I assume you would struggle to learn Inuttitut," Bentley said.

But Harvey Mesher of Kuujjuaq, who has run twice for the position of vice-president of economic development at Makivik, said he’s frustrated that the bylaw prevents him from running for any Makivik office in the near future.

"I’ve got a lot to offer," Mesher said. "It took away my opportunity to campaign and put forth my concerns."

Mesher spent much of his youth in Labrador. Although he said he has a basic understanding of Inuttitut, he said he is a long way from being able to demonstrate the fluency that Makivik now wants.

Mesher said the voters in Makivik elections should be allowed to decide who they want to represent them and whether language is the deciding factor, or just one among many issues.

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