Inuvialuktun: There is Light in the Darkness

Consider yourself unique if you speak Inuvialuktun. It is classified as an endangered language according to statistics Canada. The 2006 a boriginal people s urvey show that less than 800 Inuvialuit can speak Inuvialuktun. a Canadian Cenus study conducted in 2001 stated that only 10% of the Inuvialuit population are able to speak any form of Inuvialuktun; of that 10%, only 4% are able use the language at home. The numbers remained similar in 2006. Language experts are pessimistic about the survival of Inuvialuktun, but the research does not take into account the passion of the Inuvialuit to reclaim the language as their own.

Many individuals are taking up the fight to keep the language alive and well, and their efforts are the light in the darkness, shining through the communities. Enrollments in language classes are on the rise, with people wanting to regain their heritage. s andra Ipana teaches an Inuvialuktun immersion kindergarten class at s ir a lexander Mackenzie s chool in Inuvik during the day and dedicates time in her evenings to teaching the language to adults. “There are many ways we are trying to keep the language going. Evening classes with adults, parents…” she said. “When they come in we ask them for a commitment. Why do they want to join the class? We explore identity and a sense of belonging in our classes. o nce they get into these areas, you can see their pride in the culture is there. you can almost see a transformation within one or two evening classes. At first some people are angry or confused as to why they don’t know their language. a fter they start to get it, they start to learn the tricks, and then it is like they are the smartest Inuvialuit in the world.”

“We are really trying [to revive the language],” she continues. “In the past, even when we were raising our own kids, no one really told us anything. We thought that English was so important, that they needed it to get high grades and graduate. s o it was the way we raised our kids. Maybe they heard Alli, or Alapaa, just those common expressions, but any other language wasn’t really spoken. n ow that we are in the system and we are educated with what is happening with the language overall, it has become a concern for both of us."

“That is why we have stuck it out this long. We are really trying to make other Inuvialuit aware of where we are right now. This year we have a full class of twenty students,” said s andra. “at the kindergarten level, I can’t take on anymore students, because they need that oneon-one time at that age.” s andra has been teaching her kindergarten classes for twenty years. “When I was growing up in the residential schools, everyone spoke English. But when we were in the bush, we didn’t speak English at all. When I went to school I had to learn how to say my name, I couldn’t speak English at all,” said s andra. “They only taught us English so we could communicate. It is funny now though because I was trying to learn English like hell when I went to school here, and now look at me trying to teach Inuvialuktun. fourty years later… funny how time totally switches things.”

Like s andra, Clara Day has been teaching Inuvialuktun classes at s ir a lexander Mackenzie s chool for the past eleven years. Together, they work as a team to reach the students and find new ways to teach the language. “ s o much integration! a nytime we can teach language in a lesson, we try to find a way to fit it in there. We try to integrate it in all our health, math and socials classes,” said Clara.

The language teachers of the Beaufort-Delta region, as well as some elders and language experts attended a language seminar last year. “a lot of new words were added to Inuvialuktun. We are still getting them approved from the elders so we are not using all the words right now, but we are using some of them,” said s andra, “We have new words for many different things, like computer and Ipod. We even went as far to come up with words for when people go to court or the legislative assembly.”

“We were all placed in a room and asked to sit in groups with our dialect. When we were sitting in those groups it was so neat,” recalled a nna pingo, the Inuvialuktun teacher at s amuel h earne s econdary School. “In a snap of your fingers, they were coming up with words for microwave or photocopier. a s soon as someone explained to the elders what the machine did, they would just say ‘ohhhh’, and come up

Language experts are pessimistic about the survival of Inuvialuktun, but the research does not take into account the passion of the Inuvialuit to reclaim the language as their own.

Inuit / Inuvialuit with Inuit language as mother tongue, Inuvialuit region (including Inuvik), 2006 Census

with a word. Even with the word 'computer', they were told it is like a small brain so the name reflects that. It was so cool.”

“ you’d be surprised to hear how many people understand the language, but they are too shy to speak it. This is because of residential school, because we were told there that we were not allowed to speak our language. That makes us afraid to speak it,” said a nna. “It’s so exciting when I find out my friends know the language but they didn’t want others to know this.” a ll languages go through periods of evolution as circumstances change, and Inuvialuktun is no different. The Inuvialuit have been through some hard times when it comes to language preservation. “There is always language being lost because times change and language evolves,” said s andra.

“When the language was taken away from my grandparents through residential schools and they couldn’t go back to their homeland, they ended up making their home around Tuk,” recalled a nna. “They picked up their language and then we were all surrounded by the s iglit dialect. Trying to change a dialect is like trying to change your

Total population eye-colour. If people say we should wipe out all the dialects and just choose one, I say to them, you can’t change your eye-colour. you can’t make a person change the language they grew up with.”

Note: Mother tongue is the first language learned in childhood and still understood at the time of the 2006 Census.

Inuit language includes all dialects such as Inuktitut, Inuvialuktun, Innuinaqtun, etc.

“Throughout the years when people speak the language, it changes. Eventually, there are only a few people left that have the old language. You hear people saying things like, ‘Oh yeah, I remember that word. My dad used to use that word.’ s o, you see, it changes over the years,” said a nna.

“We hear so much about our language dying. I told Clara, ‘No more hearing about language dying, we only want to hear about language growing.’ We want to put our focus there, especially for us because we’ve been at this for so long,” added s andra.

“I am really starting to pay more attention to the language. To focus, I worked on my mindset,” said a nna. “I think of all the ways it will help me and my family. Even with my granddaughter, I try to use the language more when I talk to her. It’s really interesting: to say I want to do this, I want to learn the language. If we all just change our views [things will get better]. We need to make the effort and say yes, we really want to learn. o nce we change our mindset, we will start learning.”

words and photos by Maia Lepage

Turtle Concepts, a youth empowerment organization, and Samuel Hearne Secondary School invited students from Inuvik to take part in a photoshoot.

Students signed up to publicly state their confidence, to say, “I am proud of myself and my positive choices.”

They took a big step, aware of the risks - of others trying to pull them down when they are in the limelight.

“There is something magical in Inuvik. I think you have all got confidence, I just do not think you have the place to show it yet,” said Dave Jones, founder of Turtle Concepts. he was speaking to students of s amuel h earne s econdary s chool. Dave is a member of the o bjibway nation. h is organization was back in Inuvik for the third time since December 2007, to deliver an empowerment seminar to youth in Inuvik while on a tour of the n orthwest Territories. The goal of Turtle Concepts is to change attitudes towards everyday life. In these seminars, bullying, racism, abuse and other taboo topics are discussed with youth in an open and culturally sensitive environment.

Dave believes that adults do not understand the pressures faced by youth today. h e said, “We think that they are where you and I were, but they are not. The youth today are dealing with so many issues and situations that were just not as common even 5 or 10 years ago.” The powerful messages Turtle Concepts bring to youth are simply stated. Be the best person you can be. Be Confident. Be yourself. The message seemed to reach its audience in Inuvik, as Dave had the ability to communicate that he understood where they were coming from.

Turtle Concepts empowerment seminar was delivered with a “no holds barred” attitude that kept the audience captivated. “When I open my mouth, everyone thinks ‘Oh my God, he just said what no one talks about’,” said Dave, “o ver the past 15 years, the trend has been for ceremonial and spiritual based research to be the only cures. I don’t have to come in and smudge to get respect. I don’t have to come with ponytails or a ribbon shirt. I just come in and I speak from the heart, which is what our culture is supposed to be about.” a story Dave told is of a man who sees a bucket of crabs. a ll the crabs are trying desperately to get out, but in their anxiety, they pull each other back into the bucket. The man thought to himself: wait a minute, if the crabs worked as a team, they can all escape from the bucket. The story of the crabs reflects the struggles of being a student in school. a s Dave tells the story, students identify with the crabs, and the forces pulling them down as they try to escape and succeed: bullying, name calling, and fighting.

The Turtles created a very high-energy atmosphere that kept everyone guessing what was going to happen next. “It is important to keep kids engaged. You need to find a connection and then you have to reach out to them. If your connection is a popular song, then use it,” said Dave. “In my sessions, I tell the kids that if they need to take a break, then go for a walk and come back in. I talk about some pretty heavy stuff and sometimes it is their story as well. I can’t assume that just because a student walked out, he or she is being disrespectful. In a math class, it might be a bit different, but in my sessions, I talk about hard life stuff and it hits home.” a long with tough issues, the Turtles bring in some fun and zany antics; demonstrating their confidence by performing dance routines and lipsyncing concerts for the students. students also involve themselves in the shows. It takes a lot of confidence for these youth to get up in front of their peers, but the more they practice expressing themselves in front of others, the more confident they will become.

“We are born with confidence. You need confidence to get selfesteem. Somewhere along the lines we lose both and we need to find a way to get it back,” said Dave.

Cullen McLeod, age 13, came to the seminar to reclaim his pride. h e said, “When I was growing up, I never really had confidence. I was always really shy. I came out so I could build up more confidence and show the real me. I do not want to care what other people think.”

Another participant, Mary Aviugana said, “I came here to try and find something in me that I haven’t found yet.” Crista rogers seemed to have found what she was looking for. s he said, “I came because I never thought I was good enough. I had the worst self-confidence. After Dave Jones came, I had second thoughts and now I am feeling good about myself.”

These students were part of a group of thirty who participated in the Samuel Hearne Secondary School-Turtle Concepts confidence photo shoot. “I’ve used photography all my life. I got my first camera when I was five because I wanted to show the real side of people,” said Dave. “ you see all these photographs of celebrities, and they are all made up, but on the inside they are just like you and I. They still eat, they still burp, and they are just like us. s o I thought, let’s take pictures of confident students and show the world who they really are.”

Students signed up to publicly state their confidence, to say, “I am proud of myself and my positive choices.” They took a big step, aware of the risks - of others trying to pull them down when they are in the limelight. h owever, they feel empowered and are ready to make a statement. Both Turtle Concepts and shss will use the photos in a poster campaign to show how confidence can change lives. Violet Cheena, who is working for Turtle Concepts as conference coordinator for the first time, was glad she took the risk of being in front of a camera.

“I was a really shy person,” she said. “This week, I am leading the runway and doing the posing, dancing around for everyone and speaking out about my story. That is what confidence has done for me. Confidence makes life fun, and it gives you opportunities.”

Dave Jones is proud of the youth who took on the challenge of modeling. He said it took confidence, patience and time, and all the participants should be very proud of their achievements. “The poster is going to make an impact on both the young people, and the elders as well. people are going to see a bercrombie and Gap style imaging, and they are going to ask ‘Who are these kids?’ Well, those kids are from here. Your kids are that confident. People should celebrate what they are confident at. It may be math, it may be muskrat hunting, and it may even be just getting up,” said Dave. “I love Inuvik. The kids are stepping up big time. They are great kids and people need to celebrate that.”

For more information on Turtles Concepts, please log on to www.turtleconcepts.com we have found what we were looking for.

Our Youth are strong, beautiful, kind, talented, confident.

Our boys are strong, reliable, assertive and innovatiive.

Our girls are creative, grounded, intelligent and astute.