by Glen Korstrom
Northern News Services

NNSL (Apr 06/98) - "There is a lot of suicide because people do not know their identity," said Rankin Inlet elder Rhoda Karetak, speaking in Inuktitut.

"We really have to do something about it today."

Karetak linked suicide to loss of culture suffered by Inuit in many communities through the onslaught of English and Western traditions filtering into Rankin Inlet through visitors and television.

She voiced concerns to a panel including Education, Culture and Employment Minister Charles Dent at a culture-based education symposium April 1 and 2 in Yellowknife.

Karetak stressed the need for people to teach Inuit traditions and Inuit social values.

"When the education system came, we gave up our children," Karetak said through her daughter Nellie Kusugak.

"Today is our opportunity for input of how our children are educated."

To give an example of Inuit culture, Karetak said if she wore a sealskin tunic or a caribou parka, people would immediately recognize her as an Inuk.

The more Inuit wear non-traditional clothing, the more the culture erodes and alienation forms.

Hunting, including the preparation for it, is also part of the knowledge of the Inuit -- and it is not in the school curriculum.