Case study on the first Inuktitut daycare in Iqaluit

CASE STUDY ON THE FIRST INUKTITUT DAYCARE IN IQALUIT: TUMIKULUIT SAIPAAQIVIK The contents of this publication are entirely the responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect the view or opinions of the Walter and Duncan Gordon Foundation. [...] The current strong state of Inuktitut in Nunavut is thanks to the use of the language in the home and amongst families. [...] Other research needs that this paper does not cover include: the need for more Inuktitut and Inuinnaqtun-speaking teachers, the individual parental choice not to speak Inuktitut to their children, the effects of enrolling unilingual English-speaking children into Inuktitut classes on the child’s quality of learning in the early years and the rest of the class. [...] Inuit in Nunavut have demanded increased Inuktitut and Inuinnaqtun instruction in the education system for the past 30 years from the time the national Inuit organization, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK) obtained funding to create the Inuit Language Commission in 1974,12 including the time the Nunavut Implementation Commission held their Language Policy Conference in Iqaluit March 1998. [...] When factoring in the Inuit and Francophone population in Nunavut, the language accord translates to $4,000 per French person and $40 per Inuk.14 Social validity of our language is important to the health of our language and the loss of language rates tell us that the health of our language cannot be safeguarded by families in the homes alone.