Am I allowed to say yes to that?
Yes and no. We said when we signed the land claims agreement in 1993 that this showed respect to the Inuit people and along the way at times it was lost. That's why we had a hard time trying to re-entertain the need for the language to be retrieved on many occasions. Because the change of the language was so advanced in English, many of the communities were way behind in trying to get their language back on the front burner. The farther west you go, the more the language is not there, and there's been a lot of interference. But today we are trying to retrieve that on many occasions where the language has to come back to the community and to make sure we fully entertain that aspect of Nunavut where the working language is Inuktitut.
My example to you could be--I don't know where you're from--it would be like me trying to change Ottawa to a new name. If I tried that, everybody would go crazy, and it's the same thing no matter where you live. I will not change the backyard. I will not put a new name to it without your permission, and it's the same thing in this case. We ask that this motion be referred and more work be done before it happens. That's what we're asking for today, as we speak.
Also when we, the younger generation, want to find out about our traditions, the most appropriate way is we use what we call IQ, which is Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, which means Inuit knowledge. We speak to the elders about the land formations and the customs they have so we can keep that before us and keep it within us and help educate people with it.
Thank you.