Inuktitut still has a vital role to play in Inuit culture, says a vocal advocate of the Inuit language. Pujjuut Kusugak said Inuit have been looking for different types of recognition and acknowledgement for years, so when they have things like Inuit Language Month going on in Nunavut and internationally, it’s something they need to take advantage of. He said Inuit need to help encourage others to continue speaking or learning Inuktitut. “We just had Elisapie Isacc win a Juno award and it’s all from her Inuktitut-speaking album, which is really something for us celebrate,” said Kusugak. “And we have quite a few young people who have formed bands that use Inuit classics and some are writing their own music. There’s also multiple Inuit authors now who are using Inuktitut for children’s books, so that’s something important. “Even Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. recently had a book-writing contest and that was pretty amazing to see. So, there are multiple organizations and others trying to do as much as possible to keep promoting Inuktitut and we need that.” There’s no doubt Inuktitut seems to be slightly on the decline, Kusugak acknowledged. He said there’s definitely a lot that needs to be done right now to strengthen the language again. “We need our Inuktitut speakers who are parents and grandparents to pass that on to their children and grandchildren. We need it done within the household and within the family. That’s where it all starts and that’s where we spend most of our time. “That’s one we had in my generation. We still spoke a lot of Inuktitut and, if you look at our age group, there’s still many of us who are very fluent, but the younger you go, the less fluency there is. “It pains me to see the decline and I don’t know what the major reason for it is, but English is a beast that’s really difficult to beat.” Kusugak agrees that the internet has played a role in the decline of Inuktitut. He said when cable TV arrived, it brought with it Much Music and numerous channels from the south where Inuit were able to see all these different trends, fashions and music from the south for the first time. “We got Much Music when I was just about to become a teenager and that was mind-blowing, where we were learning different things about the south that we never got to see regularly. “That had a big influence on us but, in the end, we need people who know Inuktitut to teach their children and grandchildren. We have so many people now, for whatever reason, don’t teach it, or it’s only a few words or phrases or slang. “That just not enough to save our language and strengthen it. We need fluency and the right grammar. And we’re at a point now where we can’t be fighting over dialects of which Inuktitut to teach. We just need to teach the language, whichever dialect it is.” He said he’s aware that some people are very protective of their dialects, but while fighting over that, “we’re losing generations.” “A lot of youth don’t bother with Inuktitut, probably because they weren’t taught our language at an early age, and many people still feeling the affects of colonialism and residential schooling. There’s so many grandparents who weren’t allowed to speak Inuktitut and, even now, they’re still feeling the affects of it. “And I know some people don’t like hearing it, thinking it’s just another excuse, but it’s a real thing. We have people who are still affected by that and have a hard time teaching Inuktitut because, for so long, they were told it was a language that they need to forget,” Kusugak added. “I absolutely feel for people who went through that because something that is such a part of our culture was taken away from them and they still feel those affects today. So, people like myself, Inuktitut teachers and language champions who are in our Inuit communities; I hope they absolutely keep trying to teach Inuktitut wherever they can because it’s very much part of our identity.”
Preserving the language
