Kent Driscoll
Northern News Services
Friday, February 19, 2007

CAMBRIDGE BAY - Nunavut's Literacy Council had planned to celebrate Inuktitut Language Week in style.

They had a new Inuktitut board game ready to mark the week. Those plans have all but died, due to the funding cuts passed by the federal government in September 2006.

"There has been a delay with trying to get out the Inuktitut board games, and we couldn't get them out for Language Week. Since we had to lay off half of our staff, we aren't in a position to do much," said council president Kim Crockatt.

"We managed to survive by laying off two staff members, and by cutting back on basic programming," she said.

Her group has been receiving some help from Government of Nunavut sources, and the private sector, but it is still in jeopardy.

"(The Department of) Education has been supportive with in-kind support, I know they have very few resources to work with. Community, Language, Elders and Youth (CLEY) has been very helpful, funding short-term projects, but CLEY isn't focused on literacy. We have received some big donations, First Air gave us $30,000 from their Christmas ball," said Crockatt.

You need money to get money, and that is where the biggest shortfalls lay.

Most literacy funding that her group is eligible for requires a split in costs.

Without cash, they can't cover their end of the funding.

"The big problem is that there is no funder providing 100 per cent funding. Around 25 per cent has to come from another resource," said Crockatt.

Literacy council officials will be on hand when the federal senate committee on social affairs, science and technology meets to discuss the Conservative's programming cuts, later this year.

"We are going to tell them it has had a devastating impact. We didn't have that much money before the cuts," said Crockatt.