Making It Work: Implementing Nunavut's Historic Language Acts

Last Wednesday Nunavut's Minister of Culture, Language, Elders, and Youth (CLEY), the Honourable James Arreak, tabled a detailed implementation plan for Nunavut’s new Language Legislation.

The goals of the language acts were ambitious. They represent an attempt to make the Inuktitut language into a language of everyday life in Nunavut - in homes, schools, workplaces and government offices - while protecting the language rights of French and English speakers. If that's the destination, the proposed Uqausivut Comprehensive Plan is the roadmap - a comprehensive schedule that sets out in detail the actions required by government, educators, the private sector, organizations and the public to achieve those goals, and achieve substantive equality between the Inuit, French, and English languages in Nunavut.

The proposed Plan summarizes two years of intense and extensive consultation and research. Over the summer Nunavummiut are invited to provide their comments on the Plan, which can be viewed in its entirety here.  There are several different ways to provide your comments:

Email your comments directly to uqausivut@gov.nu.ca

Mail your comments to:

Uqausivut Comprehensive Plan
Department of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth
Government of Nunavut
Box 1000, Station 800
Iqaluit, Nunavut, X0A 0H0

Or fax your comments to (867) 975-5504.

Aarluk is proud of the support we provided to this important effort, and we congratulate the Minister and his committed staff for their untiring efforts and historic achievement.