Language policy in Nunavut

Language policy in Nunavut is defined by two principal Acts of the Legislative Assembly: the Official Languages Act (2008 c. 10) and the Inuit Language Protection Act (2008 c. 17), two laws enacted in 2008 which mean that Nunavut has three official languages.^[1] The Acts establish that the official languages of Nunavut are: Inuit Language (Inuinnaqtun, Inuktitut^[2]), English and French.^[3] Inuktitut and Inuinnaqtun are frequently grouped together as "Inuit Language" or "Inuktut".^[4][5]

Official Languages Act
Legislative Assembly of Nunavut
Citation	2008 c. 10
Assented to	4 June 2008
Status: In force (amended)

Inuit Language Protection Act
Legislative Assembly of Nunavut
Citation	2008 c. 17
Assented to	17 September 2008
Status: In force (amended)

History

French was made an official language in 1877 by the then-territorial government of the North-West Territories. After a lengthy and bitter debate resulting from a speech from the throne in 1888 by Lieutenant Governor Joseph Royal, the members of the time voted on more than one occasion to nullify this and make English the only language used in the assembly. After some conflict with the Confederation Government in Ottawa, and a decisive vote on 19 January 1892, the assembly members voted for an English-only territory.

Nunavut separated from the Northwest Territories and became its own territory on 1 April 1999.^[6] According to Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated, the federal government blocked language protections from being included in the formal land claim agreement in 1990 under which Nunavut was established.^[7] Nunavut inherited the Official Languages Act of the Northwest Territories, which was enacted in 1984.^[7]

Provisions

The Official Languages Act gives speakers to have the right to use any of the official languages.^[1][8]

The Inuit Language Protection Act requires that all private businesses and government offices across Nunavut must offer services and communication in either Inuktitut or Inuinnaqtun.^[9]

The Acts establishes the Language Commissioner of Nunavut.^[10]

Implementation

Parts of the Official Languages Act first came into force on 1 April 2013, and the Inuit Language Protection Act came into stages.^[8] Both Acts came into full force on 9 July 2017.^[9]

The Nunavut government published an implementation planned titled "Uqausivut 2.0" in 2018.^[11]

In 2023, Nunavut reviewed the Act for the first time in 15 years - the legislation states a requirement to hold a review after 5 years.^[12]

The federal government has been criticized by the Languages Commissioner of Nunavut for not for not following the rules.^[13]

Criticism

In a 2019, a United Nations meeting on indigenous languages the president of Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated, Aluki Kotierk described the situation as "cultural genocide" due to a lack of Inuit language provision in education at the time.^[14] In 2020, the Inuit Language Protection Act was amended so that it fit together with the territory's Education Act.^[15]

The Act has been criticized for Inuit languages being less accessible than other languages.^[16]