IQALUIT - Nunavut's languages commissioner says the territorial government is in serious violation of its own language laws, as most basic information is available in English but not in other languages.

Representatives from the office of the languages commissioner of Nunavut listen to questions asked by members of the legislative assembly during a public hearing on language use in the territory on Sept. 29. From left are Sandra Inutiq, director of policy and language commissioner Alexina Kublu. - Emily Ridlington/NNSL photo Who speaks the official languages? Nunavut's population is over 83 per cent Inuit: two-thirds of the population has Inuktitut or Inuinnaqtun as their mother tongue, 77 per cent of the Inuit population can speak an Inuit language to some degree 420 Nunavummiut speak French as their mother tongue 1,200 Nunavummiut can speak French 26.5 per cent of the population has English as their mother tongue 88.1 per cent of the territory's population speaks English

"There must be stronger leadership shown both by ministers and senior management in the territorial institutions to comply with the Languages Act. Urgent action is needed to have these services available," said languages commissioner Alexina Kublu.

She appeared before the standing committee on oversight of government operations and public accounts at a public hearing at the legislative assembly on Sept. 29.

Under the Official Languages Act and the Inuit Language Protection Act, the commissioner is mandated to protect the language rights of Nunavummiut in any of the four official languages of Inuktitut, Inuinnaqtun, English and French.

"The Inuit language is the most rapidly declining language," said Kublu, who was appointed to the position is January 2009.

From her office's annual report for 2009-2010 presented to members, Kublu told them out of 101 calls made to government departments and agencies, only 37 offices could be reached. When looking at department and agency websites, 100 per cent of sites were in English, 46 per cent in Inuktitut, 18 per cent in Inuinnaqtun and 19 per cent in French. Out of 120 press releases issued by the government, 100 per cent were in English, 85 per cent in Inuktitut, 66 per cent in Inuinnaqtun and 60 per cent in French.

She said during the swine flu (H1NI) crisis during the summer of 2009, press releases issued during the first two weeks were "not consistently provided in the official languages". This goes against the government's language service guidelines, which are supposed to ensure all Nunavummiut should be able to receive information in an emergency situation regarding their health and safety.

When it comes to health, MLA for Akulliq John Ningark spoke of improving translation services available for unilingual Inuit. He said when residents are sent to Winnipeg or Edmonton for medical reasons, many times there is a gap in communication.

"A lot of the times the escorts have no choice to try and interpret," he said adding many times the escorts are family members.

Kublu said her office has heard of these situations before. Under her office's mandate, this year they will conduct two investigations of language rights abuses. She said the Department of Health and Social Services and the Department of Human Resources were chosen because of the number of complaints received.

MLAs voiced their concerns as to the decline of Inuit language which, for Johnny Ningeongan, MLA for Nanulik, also means a decline in Inuit culture.

"The Inuktitut language is eroding and we're losing it," he said.

Kublu said part of the answer is encouraging having Inuit languages spoken to children at home and before they enter the school system at pre-schools and in daycares.

"This is, I believe, is key to the survival of the language," Kublu said.

Presently, there are two writing systems – syllabics and Roman orthography. MLA for Quttiktuq Ron Elliott asked if the commissioner's office was looking at standardization.

Kublu said the issue is not about a standardized dialect for the territory.

"It is to help strengthen the Inuit language by having standardized terminology," she said.

MLA for Iqaluit West Paul Okalik said he believes there needs to be one standardized writing system as he said he feels the territory "needs to look at the future".

Kublu said young people are using Roman orthography on the Internet when on sites such as Facebook.

Next month, languages minister Louis Tapardjuk will table his plan for implementation of the Inuit Language Protection Act and the Official Languages Act when the session of the Legislative Assembly resumes Oct. 19.

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