My name is Aluki Kotierk. I’m currently living in Iqaluit.

On a word in Inuktut and why it’s meaningful

Inunnguiniq. Inunnguiniq is often in English referred to as child rearing, or parenting. But I like the word in Inuktut because I think it conveys an Inuit worldview. If English speakers could understand the depth of what it meant, they would have a better appreciation of how important kinship is to Inuit, and they would have a better understanding of how there are many people that are related to us [that] have a role to help us be good human beings, and correct us in our life’s journey. 

Although it’s often thought of as child rearing, I think it’s a process of learning to become a capable human being. And so, I chose it for this purpose about language, because I know that there’s been experiences where Indigenous Peoples have been taken away to schools, and that creates a gap in terms of parenting skills. The ability to regain that is something that the word conjures up for me. 

On hopes for the International Decade of International Languages 

Nunavut is a jurisdiction in Canada that is quite unique in the sense that 85 per cent of the population are Inuit, and the public majority of the population speak Inuktut. So, I see the International Decade of Indigenous Languages as a vehicle for us to continue to advocate to have Inukut recognized as a Canadian official language in Nunavut. The reason I’m being so specific about this is because I think it’s important that Inuit who have never left their homelands, who are the public majority in their homelands, can expect to receive essential public services in Inuktut.