Avataq's blog

Bill C-311 and the Inuit of Nunavik

Mon, 22 Nov 2010 18:15:48 GMT

Bill C-311 is (or rather, was) the Climate Change Accountability Act. The bill would force the Government of Canada to take affirmative action in cutting Greenhouse Gas Emissions in accordance to the Kyoto Protocol [http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/convkp/kpeng.pdf].

This Bill was essential for Canada to actually put into practice policies that could help mitigate dangerous climate change[i]. Nunavik has already felt the adverse effects of climate change as the arctic is the proverbial canary in the coal mine. Sea Ice is noticeably thinner, new species of birds and insects are making their way into northern ecosystems and permafrost is causing tangible damage to infrastructure. Inuit are feeling the crunch, no doubt.

So, back to bill C-311… the bill had been passed by the House of Commons, the publically elected body in Canada, and then sent to the senate for its next reading. It took years for the House to finally pass the bill, thousands upon thousands of Canadians wrote letters, made phone calls and protested and demonstrated before the House took heed. So, once the majority of MPs finally passed the bill, there certainly was cause for celebration. But once it was in the hands of the Senate, the so called Sober Second Thought, democracy in Canada was crushed like it had never been before.

The Senate has a Conservative Majority, many of those Senators were appointed by Stephen Harper in the last few years. This Conservative Senate brought C-311 to the table in a surprise vote on November 16th, 2010 while 17 Liberal Senators were absent. The vote was won 43-32. If all of the Liberal Senators had been present, this would probably have ended differently. There’s no guarantee that every Liberal Senator would have voted for the bill, but every Liberal Senator present voted to have it passed.

In the last Seventy Years, the Senate has only rejected bills passed by the House Four Times. Each of those times, a debate and discussion was called and there was time to properly deliberate the discussion. Each Senator had notice for when the votes and debates would take place and had enough time to attend if the issue was significant enough for them. Had there been prior notice for the bill, many more senators would have chosen to be present for the vote. This surprise vote without debate is almost unprecedented and incredibly undemocratic. Conservative Senators have undermined democracy in Canada, they have undermined the will of the Canadian people and the democratically elected house of Commons. This, on all levels is completely wrong.

This act directly affects the Inuit of Nunavik. This act means that the Canadian Government has no respect for Inuit’s rights to their own homeland. This act will cause further destruction to arctic climates and arctic people. Next time you go caribou hunting and find that the herds are starving because they can’t feed off lichen under layers of ice, think of the Senate’s undemocratic slaughter of C-311. Next time you or someone you know falls through the sea ice hunting, think of Stephen Harper and his Conservative Policy.

Please, write a letter or make a call to Mr. Yvon Lévesque asking him to introduce a bill similar to C-311 immediately.

Phone numbers: 819 824-2942 or 1-888-824-2942
Fax: 819 824-2958
Email: levesy1@parl.gc.ca

I already have.

JCG

[i] A global temperature rise of 2°C and more; note that a rise in 2°C in global temperatures means a rise of 5°C in Arctic temperatures.

Standardize or bust!

Thu, 18 Nov 2010 14:45:22 GMT

The idea of Standardizing Inuttitut has been tossed around for quite a few years now, even decades through the ICC. That’s just in Canada however. Greenland has had a standard dialect for decades now, which has been incredibly successful, and has not, as many would have suspected eroded local dialects. ICC Greenland had tried in the past to introduce the idea to ICC in general, but many people regarded it with caution, a lot of people thought it was a way for Greenland to push their dialects on the rest of the Inuit population. I know that Jose Kusugak had tried to introduce it in the Government of Nunavut, but so far I haven’t heard much else on that particular subject. (honestly, I tried to get more info from more people, but a lot of people jut never got back to me)

The first time I heard about the idea, I was immediately dismissive. I didn’t like the idea of potentially losing my dialect to a ‘standard form’… but the more i thought about it, the more i discussed it with my peers and others involved in language preservation in places like Greenland, the more it seemed like a good idea; not only a good idea, but the only real solution to maintaining Inuttitut as a language in the world. [this many languages disappear each year] and I heard somewhere (forgive my looseness of facts here, but the general principal is the same) languages with under 50,000 speakers are doomed to disappear in the next 100 years.

Inuttitut is already being pushed into the margins as conventional education, television, internet and globalization creep into the north and become more and more embedded into daily life.

How many Nunavimmiut have kids who watch TreeHouse and CBC Kids? Now, how many watch Takuginai? See? Children are being exposed to more English, French and even Spanish through mediums that are increasingly unavoidable. And that, ladies and Gentlemen is where the death of a language begins. Your children. Your children are absolute sponges, especially of language and communication systems. If most of what they are given, television, movies, books, music is in English, and Inuttitut forms of media remain unavailable, they will not pick up Inuttitut to the same extent. Sure, you can say you speak it at home, but that’s not enough… I’m sorry to say, but that’s the bitter truth. The reason I write in English and not inuttitut? Because my English speaking father read me English books, taught me the English alphabet, bought me English movies… not because he was trying to eradicate Inuttitut in his daughter. Because that’s all he knew how to do, he’s an English speaker. He would rather have me reading books than playing Barbies. And then there’s concepts in English that simply don’t exists in Inuttitut, or vary from region to region, community to community or household to household even. Like DVD? How the [bleep] do you say that in Inuttitut? Gigabyte? Yea. We need a standard language, and to complement that, a language commission. A body that watches for new words, changes in dialects, new concepts and Creates words in Inuttitut that would be mutually intelligible to all Inuit. Not specific to any region.

Anyway, Language commission is a whole ‘nother story. I’m talking about standardization here. Like, in Greenland, they’ve standardized the West-Greenlandic dialect so that formal education, public broadcasts and government documents are intelligible to the entire population. I was in Greenland last year and you could buy a carton of milk with Greenlandic labels. You could use a bank machine and read Harry Potter in Greenlandic, even Algebra textbooks were in Greenlandic. But I met people from all over, from east, west, north and south Greenland. Each region had their own dialect, and each person could communicate through the standard form. That has unified the nation of Greenland like nothing else could. In Canada, of course there’s that solidarity in all being Inuit. But if a young person from Mittimattaliq and a young person from Puvirnituq and a young person from Nain all had to communicate, they would speak English because they can’t understand each other. I remember filming a Public Service Announcement with Inuit Youth from Nunavut and we all struggled to honour our own dialect, while maintaining a conversation that Inuit from all over could understand.

But then there are those examples of standardization eroding other dialects, like in the recent (1920’s ish) standardization of Italian. Over 1500 dialects were practically lost on younger generations as Television, education and recently, Internet were all presented in the Northern Italian standard. The mistake was that they never documented regional dialects in dictionaries, books or other forms. The only things you could really get were Bibles.

Anyway, back to Inuttitut… I love my ability to speak Inuttitut. I wish more than anything that I could read and write Inuttitut to the same extant as I do English. But I cannot. I am unable. But I believe in the future being bright for the Inuit language and the Inuit people. I believe that this is the way to go. This is the saving grace. Let’s talk about it? JCG

Exceptional Governance in Exceptional Regions

Thu, 18 Nov 2010 14:43:12 GMT

The first time I’d ever heard the concept of Participatory Budgeting (PB), was from a very knowledgeable Public Administration professor I once had. His expertise is in Northern Public Admin, and my god, does he know what he’s talking about. He asked me to write an essay (which, of course was handed in late… like every single blog post I’ve ever done… sorry!) comparing the City of Porto Alegre, Brazil with my region in the north. Porto Alegre is the birthplace of the Participatory Budget, where in 1989 they undertook an unprecedented experiment in public governance, which turned out to be incredibly successful. Their blueprint is now being used in many other cities in South America, Africa, Europe, Canada and even the United States. I think, if people are informed enough on how it works, the population in Nunavik might warm up to it enough to give it a try.

The PB is a purely democratic system where citizens actually have tangible control over public budgets. There are four key elements in the PB process 1) diagnosis, citizens identify problems or issues that they feel need to be resolved. 2) Deliberation, they then discuss how these issues could be addressed 3) Decision making, decisions are made about how public monies will be spent, considering the two preceding steps and 4) follow up, the control mechanism, where the community ensures that there are tangible results from the PB.

When, in 1989 the city of Porto Alegre first implemented the participatory budget, the economic and social circumstances were very similar to the rest of the country. The large gap between rich and poor was maintained through superficial democratic institutions. The majority, that is… the poor, had very little access to health care, childcare, clean water and wastewater services among other things. Today, the residents of Porto Alegre boast some of the highest standards of living in Brazil and South America. I know people don’t like to hear this, but it’s true and must be acknowledged… Nunavik as a region has very, very similar characteristics to developing countries. There’s a large gap between higher and lower classes, education is not up to the same levels in the rest of Canada, low rates of literacy and lack of access to a lot of basic services. It’s true, ok. Let’s not hide from the issues here. And yes, there are some really great politicians who are making really great decisions, there’s a lot of innovation in the region. But then there are politicians who are not necessarily acting in the best interest of the people. This is also true and must also be acknowledged. Very few people in the region vote, which contributes significantly to the democratic deficit that we suffer from. This is at all levels, Federal, provincial, regional and organizational elections. This is especially true of young people. I think (and this is totally my own opinion here) that a lot of people continue to feel powerless when they vote. They continue to feel unheard, unheeded and unsupported.

A very small, elite group of people have access to the region’s money. That’s both public funds and personal salaries. I mean, that’s not to say the educational deficit is not a factor here, it certainly is. But that doesn’t make it fair. People have very little control or even say in how the local budget should be spent. I think the most control people have in most communities is the opportunity to call for the water truck if it doesn’t come. That’s not democracy.

The introduction of participatory budgeting in Nunavik has the potential to revitalize democracy. People could have ownership of the decisions made, because these decisions would no longer be made on behalf of them, but by them. Of course, it can become very overwhelming if people just come to the meetings with list, upon list of demands; different PB communities have handled this problem in a variety of ways, example, in one community in Brazil, citizens were all given surveys on what they think the priorities in the area are. In other places, people meet, discuss and negotiate together. In some places, it would be easier to identify immediate issues, for example, if a region does not have adequate access to clean water, water sanitation would unanimously be the top priority. No more waiting around for city officials stuck up in their offices to fix the problems.

For a Participatory Budget to really, really be effective, a lot of time and work needs to be put into it from all levels of civil and political society. There must be a time, or ‘season’ for budgetary meetings, involving everyone in the community (or, everyone who wishes to have a say in their local budget). So, at the beginning of each fiscal year, people meet periodically to diagnose, discuss, make decisions and ensure that it’s all being implemented. This could take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months. Citizens need to form assemblies based on where in the city or community they reside in. For example, in Kuujjuaq, Downtown would have an assembly of citizens (everyone interested), Heli-Quebec would have an assembly, Nuvuk bay and so on. Then in turn, each of those assemblies would have a representative to the PB board of the city, or ‘The Council for Participatory Budget’.

There is the inevitability that people would not agree on how monies should be spent, but healthy debate is necessary in every society. Each person would have one vote, no one would be worth any more than the next, which is essentially democracy in its purest form.

There’s no such thing as perfection in any system where large groups of people involved. And Participatory Budget is not perfect, but it’s one of the most effective systems in public governance. Politicians need to have the will to sustain it, the people need absolutely to be present in meetings and debates. The first few years will be hard, there’s no doubt about it… but as long as there’s the political and social will to see it succeed, communities can get past that and the rest should be smooth and effective.

We live in an exceptional part of the world. Conventional solutions to issues that affect people across he globe –housing, healthcare, childcare, etc.- have not, and probably will not be effective in Nunavik.

Link for more information:

http://www.dpwg-lgd.org/cms/upload/pdf/participatory_budgeting.pdf

http://fcis.oise.utoronto.ca/~daniel_sc/lclp/PB_DS_talk_04-04.pdf

JCG

Where do we need to be? Part 1

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 17:54:13 GMT

A very intelligent friend of mine asked me the other day, “What kind of future do I want to see for Inuit?” which is a really big question. It really got me thinking. In my mind, I narrowed it down a little to what I want for Nunavik. I have just been elected as the vice president of Saputiit Youth Association, first person on the executive committee from Aupaluk! (gotta say ;))

Anyway, with that new title, I actually have the means to accomplish what I think Nunavik needs for a brighter future. Think about everything wrong first, all the things we need to change for the better before we can start figuring out how we can fix problems.

Overcrowding
Poverty, lack of valuable and meaningful employment
Low educational standards
Malnutrition
Abuse of substances like alcohol, drugs and cigarettes

In my mind, these are the basic, fundamental ills in our society. We need urgently to fix these issues before anything else can really be accomplished.

The Housing crisis may well be one of the most pressing things on this list. That one issue breeds many of the others on and those that haven’t made it to this list. For example, the more people you have in one house, the more difficult it is to be secure in any way, it’s as simple as being able to lock the door when you go to sleep at night. If you cant lock the door because a third of the people you live with stay out late, than who knows what risks you’re inviting into your home. If you live with four generations in one house (which culturally may be perfectly fine and even preferable, but in some cases may cause serious hardships in families), considering the statistics on alcohol and drug abuse, there’s bound to be a family member or many who have serious issues with substances and anger, which opens the door for physical, emotional and sexual abuse, which feeds the vicious cycle of substance abuse and trauma. If only a few people in a household are earning an income, than there will not be enough money for enough food to go around.

Poverty is a cycle that has this ability to feed itself. If you grew up in poverty, the less likely you are to have a good education, the less likely you are to have had a healthy upbringing in terms of your physical wellbeing. If a family can only afford microwavable meals and powdered juices, than the likelihood of diabetes and high cholesterol are through the roof. If you are poor, you are less likely to be able to have housing, if it’s even available in your community. If you are poor, and you have a low level of education, you will most likely have a low paying job. And the jobs available in the communities are not all that promising anyway. Sure, we NEED water and sewage truck drivers, we need janitors and cashiers, but not everyone can be or even wants to do those kinds of jobs. Raglan mine? Do you really think all the young men want to spend 3 weeks of every month underground or cleaning rooms for migrant miners? You think women want to be in an environment where they’re the minority, in a place that dosent even have it’s own local government? Raglan dosent have the same standards as other communities when it comes to governmental rights. Youth in Raglan couldn’t vote in Sautiit elections. People in Raglan are not included in democratic processes, sure, you could argue that that they have their home communities, but if you spend the better part of a year there, you need your services to be available there.

Low standard of Education is also one of the biggest challenges we face today. If you think about the history of education in the north, it’s honestly, no surprise. Only in the mid 19th century did Inuit start having formal, western education, or education that was separate from life. Before that, Inuit learned by observing, by doing, by intuition and experience. Through living life day to day, you were participating in the process of traditional education. You were learning the tools you need to survive in the world in which you existed. Then, all of a sudden, education meant spending a large portion of the day in a building with white people, who told you everything you knew already, your language, your customs, were wrong; that you need to be like them. Education meant being shipped away to a foreign land, without your parents or siblings and being mistreated. Abused, and made to feel shame in yourself as you were before; punished for speaking your language or wanting your parents. So it’s no surprise that people these days have trouble accepting the education system as it is. It’s no wonder parents don’t trust teachers with their children or take value in having a diploma. It’s not like there are meaningful jobs in the community anyway.

Malnutrition is also a huge problem up north. Considering most people don’t have the means to go hunting and feed their families anymore, and the cost of living is so high, with unemployment rates through the roof, it’s hard to see where this could be fixed. It’s really upsetting though, looking at the affordable options for food in the stores. Real meat and vegetables are SO expensive. Real juice is out of the question for most people. Fruit? Ha!... The things people buy to put food in their stomachs include crap like Mr. Noodles, Hungry Man microwavable dinners, greasy Blue Ribbon fish n’ chips and Tang powder juice. Not to mention the sheer volume of pop that is consumed daily in Nunavik. The water in most communities is not even safe to drink without being boiled and filtered.

Substance Abuse is an issue that stems from deeper issues, including the ones mentioned above. When reality sucks, people want an escape from it. When there are no other alternatives, people drink. People sniff gas and heavily abuse marijuana. They smoke cigarettes. These things give you instant gratification; they increase serotonin (the happy chemical) in your brain when you can’t produce it yourself. It’s sad because the youth are seeing this in their role models and they start young. It’s become a normal part of everyday life to get so drunk that you don’t remember what you did. It’s funny to be able to ask “what did I do last night?” That’s not cool man! I have to be perfectly honest here too, I have been known to have a good drink with good friends and spark up the occasional joint. I’m not saying it’s wrong to drink or smoke pot (although it’s pretty wrong to be sniffing gas and glue), but to drink to get drunk and escape from reality, or to smoke so much you just don’t go to work or do anything... there’s a pretty fine line between recreational use dependence. It’s a hard issue to tackle because that line is different for everyone. But it’s a conversation we need start having openly.

These issues, to me are the ones that need urgent, intensive action.

Overcrowding feeds the cycle of abuse and poverty, which feed the cycle of substance abuse and low education standards, which again feed the cycle of poverty, which also feeds the cycle of malnutrition and low health, which feed the cycle of (once again) poverty which feeds the cycle of overcrowding. Somewhere in there, we need to start breaking the cycles.

So what are potential solutions for these social ills?

Relocation

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 17:46:13 GMT

Canadian history is scared by injustices against all indigenous people of this land, there is no doubt about that. But Injustices against Canadian Inuit, though no less or no more than those performed on other groups, are very unique. Over half a decade ago, Inukjuammiut were relocated from the Sub-arctic region of Nunavik to the high arctic island of Ellesmere, where they would form the communities of Grise Fjord and Resolute Bay. These people were taken away from a place where they knew the land, they knew the patterns of the animals and the seasons, the sun was never gone for long and extended family was near. They were deceived, mistreated and abandoned. They were left hungry and shelterless in a new land, literally just dropped off a boat in the bitter cold with nothing but the packs on their shoulders and the promise of prosperity.

The legacy of this lives on today in all Inuit, relocated or not; it gives the sense of worthlessness as human beings, the sense that we are not equal citizens of Canada, but pawns on the sovereignty board game. Can you imagine being taken away to a place you couldn’t even picture in your wildest dreams? A place so barren, you had to eat your seal skin boots to survive? A place where darkness reigns supreme for months at a time? I personally find it odd that the Minister used the words “Dark Chapter in our history” in the recent apology… an apology that’s been long overdue.

Though I have never been to Grise or Resolute, I have friends from both of these communities and I have strong connections to the community of Inukjuak. I love the kindness and energy these communities have, regardless of all that’s been done to them. If Inuit are good at anything, it’s finding the good in the bad. It’s laughing, even in the midst of famine and hardship. These vibrant, beautiful places just go to show that Inuit are strong, able and determined to survive through anything.

Educate me please...

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 14:51:25 GMT

There are very few opportunities for higher education in the north. Other than a few vocational programs, institutions like Nunavut Arctic College and Nunavimmi Pigiursavik, there are virtually no academic opportunities for people who want to pursue non-vocational education in their home regions. This is especially true of Nunavik. There are a bunch of reasons why this is, be it low graduation rate, isolation from the rest of the country and some would say lack of human resources.

The programs we have now have been fairly successful. I think if it were going to be even more successful, a university in the arctic would need to be on an arctic clock, rather than a conventional western clock. By that, I mean follow seasons in a way that Inuit would follow the seasons. Build semesters around a cultural schedule, like for example, a conventional winter semester starts in mid January, then there’s a break around March before ending in early may. Inuit in post secondary get a break to go home in the coldest month where there aren’t a lot of hunting opportunities, but they miss the goose hunting season in April/May. What if the winter semester started in late October, then instead of spring break, it’s Christmas break, after Christmas, people would finish around March and be free just in time for ice fishing and goose hunting. I don’t know, maybe it’s not possible, but something tells me conventional semesters in the north wouldn’t work all that well in the long run (I mean, unless loss of traditional activities and intense assimilation was a long term goal)...

Then there’s concept of intensive semesters. You know, instead of four months of study, make it two. People in the north are most successful when they don’t have to waste so much time in the process. Most people have children; most people suffer from high cost of living. Working for four months while doing full time studies and raising children at the same time in the midst of a housing crisis isn’t very appealing to a lot of Inuit (Or anyone for that matter).

Or maybe something like shift work, shift work has been proven one of the best ways to have employee efficiency among Inuit staff. People work for two or three solid weeks then go hunting for the next two solid weeks. It’s perfect for people that would rather be on the land, but still have bills to pay. A lot of Inuit don’t go to school because that’s too much time not being on the land. Two weeks on, two weeks off might be difficult administratively, but that’s something that can be dealt with. Just to make it even clearer, imagine having two sections of a class in a four month intensive semester. The first section would do 2 weeks, then they would get their break while the next section did their two weeks. It’s repetitive for teachers but hey, they could be on shifts too, just so that they can keep some continuity and flow with their class. Students could use this time to work, go hunting, even sit in on the other sections classes if they miss anything or want to understand more deeply.

There are a whole bunch of other ways this could be done, these are just some things i was thinking of.. We have the chance to create something completely new and different from systems that have been proven ineffective up north. Why don’t we try to be more innovative? We’re starting from scratch here.. let’s not F**k up like they have in the past. JCG

The month of June started off really bad in Nunavik.

Fri, 09 Jul 2010 14:25:13 GMT

The month of June started off really bad in Nunavik. We lost a handful of youth to drowning and suicide, and a few more of our elders passed away, all in the first 2 weeks of the month. This year is unusual in the sense that a lot of people have actually drowned, it does and has happened in the past, but for a span of 3 or 4 days, we lost four very bright young men. This was a huge blow to the youth of Nunavik, we lost some of our own.. each of those boys was someone’s brother, someone’s uncle, father, boyfriend, cousin, namesake and most of all, friend. One of our young women committed suicide this month as well.. I know, it’s hard to read this or believe it.. but that’s so normal –not because it’s ok, but because it’s a fact of life. Suicide is woven into the fabric of Nunavik whether we want to hear it or not; it’s true. It’s like a predator in the shadows, always, always there.. you can feel it breathing on your neck, but you never know when it’s going to strike –but you know it will. We live life always braced for that news.. it’s something we expect to hear when we do hear it.. it’s not unusual. The loss of our elders is not something we can easily cope with either. We lost a lot of knowledge, experience and love when they passed. Not only are elders valuable for knowledge, but grandparents and great grandparents are a vital part of a family.. the loss of an elder is a devastating hit to an entire community, as well as the region as a whole and the general Inuit population.

I know, tragedy is part of life and life is what we’re here for.. but this is the kind of thing that makes people wonder if it’s all worth it, or what it’s all for. These were traumatic events in our history.. but i don’t want to dwell on that too much, I just wanted to give some context –this post will actually end on a very happy note.

The first ever Qanak conference was held in Inukjuak at the end of June. Qanak was an initiative by Nunalituqait Ikajuqaitigiitut and Saputiit Youth Association, I was on the Steering Committee of this conference. The steering committee has been working since September to get this moving (although i only joined in February). So when someone suggested we cancel due to the current circumstances, there was no question. There was no way we were going to cancel. We felt that in light of everything that happened, we needed more than ever to make this happen.. So we did. We wanted to give a breath of new life to the young people. The workshops we had included topics like Cultural Oppression, Complex Trauma, Parenting, Finances, Leadership, and others. It feels like sometimes, Inuit Youth in Nunavik are very isolated from things, basic things like services and even information. Qanak was meant to bridge that gap of knowledge, to give people what they wanted to know or to show them who they could ask. We very successfully accomplished that last month. Not to mention the fact that it was organized, entirely by Inuit youth with an overwhelming majority of Inuit staff and support (truly, truly, truly by Inuit youth, for Inuit youth). Many young people are already hoping to sign up for next year! This was something to be proud of. //new paragraph//I think with all the drama, all the pain and trauma we still face, Qanak was able to give light to the end of the tunnel; still a very long tunnel, but one now where we can see relief. I have hope for the future, knowing people are not being denied basic knowledge like financial support, parenting and social services (or at least that people are more aware of all these things), and that youth are rising up, taking their places and standing on their own. We get through so much together, Qanak will only help us be stronger. JCG.

**As anonymous as i’m trying to keep myself, i think it’s pretty much impossible considering my experiences to keep my identity very secret, just don’t tell any creepy internet stalkers who i am, k?

Thoughts on CBC NewsNorth

Wed, 16 Jun 2010 18:38:04 GMT

I watched CBC News North for the first time in a long time yesterday. I saw a lot of things that bothered me, not in terms of actual content, like headlines and stories, but things like: the reporters, the people they chose to interview and also the fact that it was all in English. I know! I know! We have CBC News Igalaaq, but that’s entirely in Inuktitut. A lot of Inuit, younger Inuit especially do not speak Inuktitut well enough to really understand the program and it delivers news from a purely inuit point of view –not that there is anything wrong with that, but CBC News North is more rounded in the kinds of stories it tells, it’s like, a more holistic approach to informing northerners. I know, translating CBC News North into Inuktitut would mean having to translate it into other northern indigenous languages.. I am fairly ethnocentric though, I mean.. I can only write from my own perspective right? I’ve only known life as an Inuk. But that’s not the point of the post. Just a little tidbit that I thought should be mentioned.. Anyway.. back to main points.

One of the reporters they have in Iqaluit, says IKALUIT. That, to me, is unacceptable. People say it wrong already, we don’t need the media to be pushing the wrong pronunciation just because it’s easier. Way not cool CBC. Enough people in Canada (and probably within your staff) are able to say it properly, get someone who does.

And the last thing: CBC News North did the story on the changes to the Food Mail Program. Northern retailers can now benefit from the program directly, rather than going through Canada Post. Yes! Hooray! I’m all about eliminating the unnecessary middle-man, but that does give an unfair advantage to larger retailers. Smaller, locally owned business do not order the same kinds of quantities as larger chain retailers do, giving them the shorter end of the food mail stick. It’s going to cost them more to compete with NorthMart and Coops and such. They interviewed three Iqaluit business owners who would be hit hardest by this change in policy. Now here’s what i really wanted to talk about.. the three people they interviewed were *drum roll please* all Qallunaaq. They painted a media picture of Iqaluit as a place where the only shop owners are Qallunaat; as if Inuit were not going to benefit or not from this policy change. I mean, I know Iqaluit has a LOT of Qallunaat, but seriously. If you look at the media attention that Inuit get, it’s usually because they are outstanding at something or complete failures. An amazing artist, for example get’s a lot of media. The statistics on suicide and infant mortality get a lot of media. The regular person, the shop owner, the beneficiary of the food mail program does not get any media attention.

There’s no such thing as neutral Inuit in the broader Canadian context. We’re either exotic and mysterious or disgusting and unworthy. It’s all people want to hear. We’re like the pride and joy of Canada because of our beautiful mysterious cultural differences, but at the same time it’s like, Inuit are still wards of the state and no one will let us forget that. What about regular people? You know, your cousin that works at Quickstop, or your ex-boyfriend’s sister in law with the really cute kid. People can’t comprehend the notion that we are just people, living our lives. I know this seems pretty far removed from the food mail program, but CBC’s interpretation of it ties it all together perfectly. Does Canada want regular Inuit? Or does Canada feed on the age old image of smiling exotic Eskimos? (and what can we do to change that?)....

Avataq is pleased to welcome J.C. Grey to its website.

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 15:13:22 GMT

J.C. will be blogging twice a month on all things North. We are happy to offer her this space as an independent writer, to express her ideas, and to engage our visitors in discussion about Inuit and the North.

Avataq is pleased to welcome J.C. Grey to its website. J.C. will be blogging twice a month on all things North. We are happy to offer her this space as an independent writer, to express her ideas, and to engage our visitors in discussion about Inuit and the North.

J.C. is a talented writer, and as a young Inuk from a small town in Nunavik, her work communicates a fresh perspective on Inuit and the arctic.

Part of Avataq’s mandate in publications is to encourage young Inuit to create and publish new works, and to express their ideas through writing. This blog is offered as a forum for young Nunavimmiut in particular to participate in thoughtful discussion on topics that concern them.

Please take a moment to read J.C.’s latest blog post. Comments and questions about J.C.’s postings can be submitted in the ‘comments’ section following each article. Please check back for future postings, and let your friends know about the blog with this link: http://www.avataq.qc.ca/en/Blog

Nakurmiik!

Taqralik Partridge
Communications and Publications
Avataq Cultural Institute

Just a quick Intro...

Wed, 02 Jun 2010 19:56:04 GMT

Hi, welcome to my blog. I was asked to be part of the Avataq team as a blogger because I’m a passionate writer. I believe that knowledge is power and I believe that my purpose is to help others gain knowledge. It seems as though the people of Nunavik have very few resources in terms of dependable, unbiased media. I want to give you my promise as a writer that I will only speak the truth and I will not be intimidated by anyone. That is one of our biggest problems in Nunavik… people don’t always say what they think because there’s always someone to shut them down; always. But I promise you, my reader, that I will not be shut down. I will say what I think should be said.

Do not take it personally if I disagree with you or your opinions. Just know that I have a voice and I am well prepared to use it. I will be the voice of reason in a region where people sometimes feel censored. We live in a democracy; it’s the least I can do to do my part.

Anyway, enough about that. I’ll just introduce myself quickly:

I’m a young person who grew up in one of the smallest communities. I’ve seen and known more than people might think. I’ve lived up north and down south, in small, medium and large communities, I’ve lived in cities and near farms. I’ve attended university and travelled the world. I still have lots of schooling to do and lots of traveling to do as well. I take pride in who I am and where I come from. This amazing place in Arctic Canada that nobody knows about is my home, you are my people and I want nothing more than a secure future for all of us. I want us to keep Inuktitut alive, not just the language but the culture. Inuuvugut, uqausivullu ilurrusivullu kamatsiarialivut. Without us, it could all disappear. That’s an unacceptable fate for such a strong, beautiful, unique culture. We were born survivors, we were born to withstand hardships, we have the capacity to successfully create a better world for ourselves. We’re rich with the knowledge of our elders and the energy of our youth. We are lucky to have this place to ourselves! This virtually untouched, pristine arctic paradise is our home. We are the keepers of this land and we hold the keys to our future. I want you to understand that and be proud of it!

So that, ladies and gentlemen is my introductory blog post. Please stay tuned for more. I welcome criticism and debate, please let me know what you think and how you feel about my thoughts, questions and big ideas!

Nakurmiik.

Inuit mothers are amazing.

Wed, 02 Jun 2010 19:51:20 GMT

Inuit mothers are amazing. These days, it seems like so many Inuit women and girls are raising children completely on their own. Traditionally, this was very rare, but in this day and age, it’s all too common. What went wrong here? Why is it that so many Inuit men are just not taking responsibility for their own children? Often, they’ll go as far as recognizing that a child is theirs, but it ends there. No financial, parental or even emotional support is given to the mothers who struggle to maintain their sanity and financial wellbeing. Although Inuit women do generally get support from extended family -parents, siblings, aunts or cousins- that doesn’t equal the presence of a father in a child’s life.

Too many of the women I’m close to are in this very situation, which has prompted me to start asking these questions.

A lot of the time, people are simply separated by distance. The communities are spread so far apart that the cost of travel can be financially crippling to say the least, especially from one coast to the other. When a couple does choose to stay together for the sake of the child, it’s usually (not always!) but usually the mother who moves away from home, which makes her more vulnerable to abuse and mistreatment from her boyfriend/husband and even in a few cases, his family. The prospect of being abused and socially unaccepted in an unfamiliar community is more daunting than singlehandedly raising children.

In cases where people want to stay in their home communities, child support is an option, but (surprise!) many men just don’t pay. I mean, it is difficult to survive up here with such an incredibly high cost of living, but that’s absolutely no excuse to make a woman shoulder the entire burden of financially supporting a child or children. Take into account the cost of daycare (which I believe is subsidized in Nunavik, as we are part of Quebec. . but still, 7$ a day could buy –what? a litre of milk? Real orange juice? Maybe some broccoli?), diapers, milk, food, clothing and everything else it requires to raise a child, a woman is left with a HUGE responsibility. Many women are unable to work because they either cannot find or afford babysitters when daycares are full or not functional (which is the case in some communities).

In a culture where family values are of utmost importance, what does it mean to have almost an entire generation of kids who grew up without the presence of a father? All of those Inuit sons with no one to teach them to hunt, to build igloos and butcher meat.. no one to show them what it means to be an Inuk man; all of those beautiful Inuit daughters with no male presence to show them that they are valuable and worthy of love and respect.

Not only does it take a community to raise a child, it takes a father.