Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

IQALUIT (May 24/99) - The issue of naming children and communities is not something that Inuit have ever taken lightly.

In the centuries leading up to contact with European cultures and in the decades that have since followed, naming has always been treated quite seriously and with reverence.

"Our name that is given to us is very, very special, every name that we have," said George Qulaut, the assistant deputy minister of the Department of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth.

He explained that people were often named for loved ones who had passed on and that a special relationship always existed between that family and the newborn.

"I would give them presents or if I caught my first seal and they were around, I would give the meat to them. It's something very special."

As an example, Qulaut cited the way in which his own grand-daughter had recently come to be named.

"From the time when my youngest son was born, there were so many people who passed away until my grand-daughter was born, we decided to give her 27 names because each one of those people were very special to us.

"My daughter had dreamt of many people and wanted to name her for a certain young man who had committed suicide by shooting himself in the stomach. The only big wound was in the back. When our grand-daughter was born, there was a large birthmark in the back, almost like a wound. We knew that child had to be named after that person," said Qulaut.

Dog tags

While such strong traditions are still firmly rooted in Inuit culture, they took a nearly fatal hit five decades ago when the federal government decided they needed to have a better system of keeping track of Inuit.

Nicknamed 'dog tags' by some Inuit who were forced to wear them, the new system of naming included requiring Inuit to wear a disc around their necks that was firmly labelled with the letter "E" symbolizing the Eastern Arctic. The "E" was followed by a number that represented the community and then each Inuk was given an individual number.

"In the early '40s and '50s and '60s, Inuit were identified by numbers by the Government of Canada. My number was E3-546 and that's how they identified me, as Peter E3-546. My father was E3-457 and my mother was E3-456," said Peter Irniq (Ernerk), the deputy minister of CLEY.

He said the words "Eskimo Identification" appeared over the number and Qulaut added that a crown of the King of England appeared on the back, reminding Inuit that they were the property of the King. He also heard stories that the government flirted with the idea of tattooing the Inuit with the numbers before they developed the disc idea.

Project Surname

In 1970, as part of the Centennial of the NWT, the federal government decided they wanted to get rid of the discs and give Inuit what they considered to be proper surnames. They produced a pamphlet and explained to Inuit the benefits of acquiring a last name.

"They said in the pamphlet every Canadian family has a surname. This allows them to be a member of the mainstream in the Canadian society and allows for proper identification," said Irniq (Ernerk).

Missionaries, government officials and Hudson Bay Company workers were in charge of visiting each family in each community and recording the surnames that were chosen by the Inuit.

But because the names were spelled by the workers themselves and not the families, many of them have been misspelled and the culture and the language are in real trouble because of it. Irniq (Ernerk) -- who is in the process of changing his own name to reflect its correct spelling -- explained that the simple change of one or two letters can completely alter the meaning and the intent of the original name.

"I take the view that the spelling using the new orthography will pretty much save the language. Some people take the idea that it doesn't matter how you spell your name or the community name. But what about 10 years from now when we no longer know the traditional meaning of the Inuit community names or our personal names?" asked Irniq (Ernerk).

Surname Spellright

In keeping with the strong movement to reclaim their culture, Irniq (Ernerk) said momentum is building to start up some kind of program that will allow Inuit to change the spelling of their names to reflect their traditional meanings.

"Nunavut is taking back my culture and language and that's what I want to do. We are here to promote culture, protect culture and preserve culture and the Inuit language and Inuinnaqtun," said Irniq (Ernerk).

To that end, preliminary discussions have taken place with other Nunavut government departments and steps are being taken to correct the past.

Nora Sanders, the deputy minister of the Department of Justice, said the issue was being considered and that the process, when it was finally developed, would hopefully be quite simple.

"We're looking at how to make it easier for people to correctly spell their names. We're going to take the lead," said Sanders.

Her counterpart in the Department of Health and Social Services, Ken MacRury, has also thrown his commitment behind Surname Spellright.

"We're reviewing the legislation. We're trying to determine a simplified, less expensive process to allow people to change the spelling of their names to the new orthography," said MacRury.

For Irniq (Ernerk), this support is excellent and long-awaited news.

"Surname Spellright, I'm doing it for me and I'm doing it for my parents. I'm doing it for my ancestors as well. I want to make sure their culture is alive."