2010.. year of the Inuit?

ITK announced last November that 2010 will be the 'Year of the Inuit'. President Mary Simon announced that this initiative is meant to bring more attention, not only to Inuit issues but Inuit culture as well.. The idea of this is great. I love it.. i do. but to make it one year where we're the center of attention is a little bit.. i dunno. I just can't really see how that will improve the lives of Inuit. I think it's meant, on some level, to create a sense of pride in Inuit people, but do Inuit really know it's the year of the Inuit? What will this initiative achieve at a community level?..

Since I moved back up north, a lot of things are starting to become clearer to me. Like, all these things you hear about in the south.. all the programs being developed (in the south), all these great initiatives aimed at improving the lives of Inuit (all being developed in the south).. As much emphasis they put on inuit involvement in the creation of programs.. none of this is tangible in the communities.

Sure, it's a great idea to want to show Canada and the world how awesome we are! we have an amazing, rich, beautiful culture, we do!.. but before we start selling ourselves to the world, we should probably improve ourselves first. The fact is, as much positive things we have going on here, the negative still exists. Yes, I know I was talking about how 'the single story bla bla bla' not long ago, about how the Media and the world can only see the bad.. but let's not forget that, in the spirit of telling the full story, things still need improvement. We still need language initiatives implemented, we still need healing from past traumas, we still need housing and we need affordable food. We need these things and we need to stop expecting them on a silver platter.

Let's make our own year of the Inuit.. let's start a movement. The year of the Inuit, for the Inuit, by the Inuit. Let's pick up a hammer and build houses. Let's pick up a rifle, go hunting and feed the community, let's open greenhouses in each community. Let's start talking about our problems. Let's start using Inuttitut in the workplace. Let's hire local people. Let's do it! Atii! go!

That is what the year of the Inuit should be about. Building an effective Inuit society. Not flaunting our awesomeness to the world.. most of it will probably fall on deaf ears anyway..

the single story..

I wrote this blog on facebook not too long ago.. It was inspired by a video i saw on TED by an african writer, and a similar post by my dear friend Karen
the video is here: http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story.html



You read about me in the news papers, I'm on tv, even on the radio and the internet.. I'm pretty much everywhere.

But when you read about me, you read about how my chances of committing suicide are six times higher than yours; about how young i was when i started smoking. I probably wont graduate, let alone do post-secondary. That's what they tell you on the news right? that i wont graduate.

The statistics say that i will probably have kids before I'm 20, maybe my 50 year old grandmother will adopt them.

Oh, let's not forget what PETA says about me! Boy! do they ever hate me! I dont truely understand why tho, I mean.. I'm just trying to feed my family. My grandfather taught me to hunt seals. I remember how proud he was when i caught my first one. It was early June when we were out in my father's canoe. We spotted this huge ujjuk in the water! He handed me the harpoon, he said "rifles are too easy, try this". Next thing I know he and my father are pulling it to the boat. I wasnt strong enough yet to do it myself. We pulled it onto an ice floe to butcher it, I was so proud to be eating the liver of a seal that i caught myself. It was the most delicious thing i've ever tasted. I gave the skin to my sanajik and she made me the most beautiful mitten's ive ever seen. They were so warm. I miss those mitts. I always wondered why people in the south would look at me like i was a bad person after seeing them. They sure were beautiful, no doubt about that. Now i do understand why they gave me dirty looks. the really think that do it for pleasure? Because I want to make money off the fur? Really? I still cant understand why they're so ignorant, and so gloriously proud of their ignorance too! They should all taste seal meat, none of their food can hold a candle to the amount of energy i have when i eat seal. Not to mention how warm it keeps you in the intense cold of winter. Anyway, seal is sometimes all we have, considering how expensive food from the store is, and i dont like to feed my family those instant meals or whatever they're called! the ones you can just pop in the oven or microwave. It cant possibly be good for my health! I challenge PETA to live here with me, move your headquarters north, THEN see if YOU can afford to eat anything but seal and caribou. Unless you like those microwave things..

Anyway, enough about what PETA has to say about me. They're just silly..

I actually really look forward to my future.. I mean, I know you think that i wont graduate, or go to University.. but you've never met all of my lovely colleagues who have graduated and gone to University. I know people who have become politicians, photographers, doctors, nurses, even psychologists.. These people, the youth, they give me hope. They give me hope that one day, that story you read about how much it sucks to be me, will change. You'll be reading about how I am advancing in medicine, in commerce, in arts, in life! But wait.. I am advancing in all of these things, today.. even yesterday. But the pages and airwaves are filled with those stories of my failures and my misfortunes..

It's hard enough trying to find my place in the world, considering my past.. I have suffered a lot. I remember when life was simple, when i lived my life according to the seasons. That's back before the land and the weather started changing so much. I was once able to predict what conditions we would be facing day to day. Now Even the southern meteorologists hardly know. It's gotten to the point where I'm not really sure what to do anymore. Do i teach future generations what i know? Will it even be of use to them?

But.. not only has the weather changed! My whole life has completely changed.. I remember when i lived in Igloos, and tents.. now I live in a big wooden house, the nice thing is that that it stays warm, and the water runs right from the tap. But still.. I wish i had been given a choice, I think at that time i would have chosen to stay in my igloo, on the land. I was able to support myself and my family sustainably then. When i still had dogs.. my poor dogs! I was so confused when they were shot. The RCMP officer just came around and shot them -all of them. I couldnt go hunting after that. I remember being hungry. It was like that time they stopped buying furs from me. First they come and tell me that they'll give me all these things in exchange for furs, so i changed my lifestyle a bit to accommodate them and their desires.. Then they tell me that It's worthless. How do they expect me to buy bullets? They said rifles are better than harpoons, so i switched. Now i realize the beauty of a harpoon was that it was self sustaining. I didnt need bullets. I didnt need to barter in order to get sustenance. Now I do. Life in the modern world. Maybe I wasnt meant for this.. Maybe they're right when they talk about me being a failure, a ward of the state. No! I was just fine before they came along! I didnt need their tools and their schools!

You would be horrified if you only knew what they did to me at their schools. I dont even want to go into detail.. They did apologize a few years back tho.. I do appreciate the compensation they gave me.. but does a check really compensate for a lost generation? for all of my hardships, all my suffering at the hands of foreigners.. They told me what to do and i did it.. I was too scared not to. They told me not to speak my language.. They made me feel shame in myself, my way of life.. It's something you cant really understand unless you've been through it. To be told that you're inferior, that you need to change, especially if you expect to go to heaven. God dosent approve of my world view, I started thinking maybe they're right about me. Maybe I'm not good enough, maybe I'm not worthy.

I try to stop myself when i start thinking like that. But it's hard.. especially since people always ask me why i kill baby seals, why do i wear their fur? Why don't I just get a job? They say I dont need to live the way I do. But they dont know how i live. I'm just fine. I keep my family fed, they have warm clothes. But people -other people- they dont know anything about me. They just see these things they're told as facts, that because the statistics say so, my life must be horrible. I dont think they realize that someone lives behind those statistics.. And they wonder why I'm six times more likely to commit suicide than they are!

Have they ever considered what life must be like to live in the shadow of such a story? They dont see me. I'm totally invisible. They see the news, they think they see me. They read the papers as if they're reading about me. And then, here's the best part! They think they know me! they think they know why i am the way i am. They think they can save me from my miserable life. They come with their scientists and their researchers, they analyze my life, my habits and then they go try to find solutions with our data. We dont usually hear back from them. I did hear something not long ago about the researcher that was here last. She ended up getting some huge prize for her study, they had a conference about it in Paris. Paris is so far away.. I wonder what interest they have in me there?

Anyway..

That's my story.. thanks for reading it..


**Always be critical of what you read and hear, especially in the media. "who wrote the article? who are they to be saying these things?".. Remember that there's always, always more than one side to every story. Look at all sides before passing judgment.

a language in peril..

My mother just asked me if i know the word for "Hammer" in Inuttitut. She does that sometimes. She teaches teachers how to be teachers who teach Inuttitut language. So, she's kind of an expert. She's always quizzing me and correcting me. "it's 'ga', not 'ra'".. But whenever she quizzes me, she always asks what the simplest things are, like Hammer is a good example. She asked me what it was and you know what i said? I said Axe. I. said. axe.

Now, I like to think of myself as a fluent Inuttitut speaker, but this.. this one little mistake just completely humbled me and affected me more than i thought it could.

After 3 years of living in the south, I guess I could say I do have an excuse to forget words like 'Hammer', but really.. there is no excuse. I should have known, I should have remembered. I should have been speaking Inuttitut regardless of my southern surroundings. Most of my friends in school were Inuit anyway. What is it about being down south that makes Inuit speak in English, even to each other?

I should probably give you a little bit of background on the Inuttitut Language. I think, (if i am not mistaken) Inuttitut is the strongest indigenous language in the world. In my region, Nunaivk, 95% of people still speak it. Most people prefer to speak it in their daily lives. People are always talking about how proud they are of their language. But then there's the flip side, cause there's always a flip side, right? The same people who speak Inuttitut day to day, the ones who boast about the strength of their mother tongue, go to work and speak English. Right now, I am working for the municipal government while i take a break from school. Every memo, fax, email..everything i get is in English even though the person sending it is an Inuk. The mayor of my community dosent speak english. Everything he receives has to go through me for translation (and I'm not proud to say that my translation skills are not the best).

People worked hard to ensure Inuttitut has a place in business, schools and government. They sacrificed their lives, their families, everything. In every Inuit region of Canada, people fought for the right to keep their language and culture, to save it from being swallowed up by the continued colonization of their people. And now, we are the ones sabotaging it. We are ruining ourselves from the inside out.

There's no doubt that part of this problem stems from residential schooling, people were punished for speaking their language. They were physically coerced into believing that the language of their ancestors was the devil's tongue. But those people, the residential school generation still speak Inuttitut. They still know the old language... Because there is a distinction between the 'old' language and contemporary inuttitut that youth (including myself) speak today. We have simplified it, we've made it easier for us because we live in an english dominated world. Every form of media that is accessible to us is in English. Every movie, every book, every magazine and tv show. It's all in English.

We, the youth need to step up. We have to own our ignorance before we can begin to learn. We need to remember that this language, this ancient, complex, beautiful language survived hundreds of years of gradual colonization and 60 years of intense cultural genocide. One of the very few in the world that has done so and we are the ones to bring about its demise.

In the year of the Inuit, let's stop feeling sorry for ourselves, let's stop asking for help from others. We have the capacity to solve our problems and maintain our identity while simultaneously creating a place for Inuit Culture in the modern wold. We are that generation. We have no choice.

Inuttituuqattalaurta.

p.s. Hammer is ujaratsiaq and axe is ulimautik...