Posted by Elaine on April 04, 1999 at 13:19:34:
In Reply to: Re: Nunavut Festivities posted by Rachel on April 04, 1999 at 09:39:18:
: >> I'm not actually Inuit, myself, but I have lived and worked in Nunavut for about 5 years. Both my children were born here, and are true Northerners!!
: I love this Region, I appreciate the tolerant and forgiving culture, and the way in which the people here have managed to maintain major aspects of their traditional way of life, whilst incorporating the unavoidable influences of southern Canada into the lifestyle.
: The Nunavut Territory is comprised of 3 Regions, Baffin (where I live), Keewatin and Kitikmeot. The Territory basically follows the tree-line, where it ends the territory begins. The Baffin is probably the most traditional of the three regions, the language, Inuktitut, is very prevalent here, even amomgst the young people. There is a clear generational indication of who was around when the language was supressed, as the majority of people between 25 -55 speak English very well, this is not the case with younger people, who speak Inuktitut first, and english second.
: Some areas of the Territory are exremely remote, Grise fiord, a town of about 150, is about 4hours by plane away from Iqaluit, never mind the rest of Canada.
: There is tremendous political savvy amongst the Inuit, so I know that this territory will do just fine. I feel very priviledged to be living in this part of the world, I attended the Innaugural ceremonies on April 1st, and it was a moving experience, which I will remember for a long time. There is a lot of hope up here, I hope that it will be reproduced in other areas of land-claim negotiation in the near future.
Hi Rachel,
Thank you so much for the background & update on Nunavut. This is really amazing if you think about it. I'm curious to see what other changes may come as a result of this first step.
Glad you found & like our site. Stick around ... we've a critical shortage of Canadians!
Happy Easter to all!
Elaine