Nunavut Tunngavik wants more federal funding for Inuktitut
A Nunavut land claims organization is not satisfied with the recent language program funding received from the federal government.
The territory received $1.1 million for Inuktitut and $1.6 million for French. The funding supports areas like health, early childhood programs and communications.
"We have to be concerned," said James Eetoolook, vice-president of Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. "Why is the Inuktitut language taken with very limited funding? Smaller than any other language?"
He said it's not fair because more Inuit live in Nunavut than French speakers and Inuktitut is in danger because more kids are speaking English.
"We all know that English and French are the official languages of Canada" he said. "Don't forget the Inuktitut language is one of the official languages recognized in our area."
Nunavut Languages Commissioner Sandra Inutiq shares Eetoolook's concerns. She said federal funding for Inuktitut language programs has been the same for 10 years.
She said there needs to be more equitable funding for Inuit language programs because language loss is accelerating.
