Iqaluit (Apr 20/05) - As a teacher, Johnny Kusugak laid down the law.

"No hats, no hoodies. And respect one another," recalled Kusugak.

"When I was growing up if I went to a stranger's house, one of the things I had to do was take my hat off to show respect to them," said Kusugak.

"I'm in their home. When I have a classroom, the way I looked at it was, we're going to apply the same rules. The first class I had I had 23 students. I looked at them and I said 'Take your hats off.' They said "What?' I said 'This is my class now. I have you for 80 minutes, and you're going to learn something in 80 minutes.'"

Kusugak is about to start applying that no-nonsense attitude he has a teacher to his new job as Languages Commissioner of Nunavut.

Already there's been a ruckus over a dog food called "Qimmik," the Inuktitut word for "dog" that was somehow used by a Southern dog food manufacturer without Inuit feedback.

In his four-year term as commissioner, he hopes to be a good watchdog for the languages of Nunavut, with a firm eye on getting more unilingual Inuit into the workforce.

"I really think it's important that we have uni-lingual lnuit teaching Inuktitut," he said. "It has to be recognized. We see lots of uni-lingual Qallunaats working. But if you look at unilingual Inuit, I don't know."

Kusugak was born in Repulse Bay, and moved with his family to Rankin Inlet when he was eight months old because his dad got a job at the mine.

He attended Federal Day Public School in Rankin where all the boys sat in one row of desks.

"Sitting there we couldn't speak Inuktitut. We had to learn the Qallunaat language."

He stayed there until Grade 9, and for 10, 11 and 12 he attended Sir John Franklin in Yellowknife. Education was stressed at home.

Times changing

"My mother really pushed us to finish high school," said Kusugak. "She said 'Look, times are changing. I won't be here forever. I want to make sure you're prepared.'"

His first job out of high school was in economic development and tourism in Rankin Inlet. Eventually he helped unilingual Inuit who worked as journeymen get certification as journeymen/ mechanics.

But the call of the classroom was strong.

"Ever since I was a little boy I always wanted to become a teacher," he said.

He talks a lot about his best friend Simon Ford, who shared his teaching dream, and eventually became a principal at the first school Kusugak ever taught in. Sadly, Ford, who was the best man at Kusugak's wedding, died in his mid-30s of cancer.

Kusugak continued on his teaching path, and stayed there, becoming an Inuktitut teacher at the high school in Rankin Inlet.

He knows more than 200 Inuit that were in the school system but moved from the classroom to higher paying jobs in the government.

A big job

Kusugak recognizes he is now one of those people too. The languages commissioner role is a big job, with travel involved, a move to Iqaluit in the cards, and lots of visits to schools and public events.

Kusugak is still trying to get used to his job, his new office in Iqaluit, and all the issues the commissioner's office must deal with. But the teaching experience, he hopes, will stand him in good stead.

"To me there is no such word as 'you can't'," he said, sitting back in his chair and looking out his new office window for a moment.

"I just don't use that. When I'm told you can't do this, I always say, why not? Growing up that's just how I was. When someone told me I couldn't do it I just went out and did it."