Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Nakurmiik, Madam Chair. Ulaakut. Good morning, everyone. It's good to be here. Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami is the national representative organization for the 65,000 Inuit who live in Canada, the majority of whom live in Inuit Nunangat, our homeland. About 65% of our population still live in our homeland, and 35% now live outside of Inuit Nunangat.

Canadian Heritage committee  We have challenges with this legislation and C-91 specifically, based on the codevelopment that was promised to us by the Government of Canada and our expectation of an Inuktut-specific section within the bill. What happens with first nations or Métis is not within our purview or jurisdiction.

Canadian Heritage committee  Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami is working with various federal departments to work on improvements to our education system writ large. We have a national strategy that we're trying to implement, from early learning and child care to K to 12 to post-secondary.

Canadian Heritage committee  I'd love to have a longer conversation with you on that. I cannot do that in 15 seconds. I will say that the ability to implement a piece of legislation is a very different thing from the rights and the implementation of rights that we are looking for.

Canadian Heritage committee  I'm trying to understand the question, but I don't think it is a case that this bill does something for first nations or Métis that it does not do for Inuit. That is not the conversation that we're having here. I think what we are looking for are fundamentally Inuit-specific provisions of a different nature than what first nations and Métis are saying they are comfortable with.

Canadian Heritage committee  Under section 35 of the Constitution, there are three indigenous peoples in this country: first nations, Inuit and Métis. What you're running into here is the idea that we are not homogeneous. We have different societies and different needs. I think Ontario has a very different outlook on the world, sometimes, than Alberta, but Ontario and Alberta are both Canadian jurisdictions.

Canadian Heritage committee  I will start and then hand the floor to Will. I was in the room in New York City when Minister Bennett forcefully stated that Canada was in full support, without qualification, of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. In that declaration, there are specific sections on rights related to indigenous languages.

Canadian Heritage committee  Within the definition of Inuit Nunangat, it is the sum total of the four land claim settlement regions. So within that space, it is a dominant Inuit population. There may be individuals who are not Inuit who do speak an indigenous language and live in our communities, but as far as the way in which, say, minority francophone rights exist within the jurisdiction of Nunavut, there are no such indigenous peoples who exist within Inuit Nunangat who would make up a majority population in that way.

Canadian Heritage committee  I would expect that first nations and Métis would constructively work with the government on the distinctions-based needs of their populations. I can only speak for the Inuit-specific considerations within this piece of legislation. That being said, if you look at the legislation now, you see there are two main components.

Canadian Heritage committee  Your last witness, Duane Smith, talked about the way in which jurisdictions with multiple indigenous languages have historically underfunded indigenous languages and how fundamental change is necessary. This is the reason we're talking about an Inuit Nunangat approach within this legislation that would see our needs met through specific policy and legislative provisions and regulatory processes that fall under it to ensure that our 51 communities are serviced in exactly the same way and that our rights will be upheld on a consistent basis, no matter where you are in Inuit Nunangat.

Canadian Heritage committee  We've had a number of different opportunities to speak with Minister Rodriguez and, previously, we had regular meetings with Minister Joly for the entirety of the initiative. Our access to the minister and to provide advice to the minister is not the challenge. Some of the senior technical processes that we have engaged in have not been as constructive when you look at them as a whole.

Canadian Heritage committee  We still remain optimistic that the codevelopment process is not over and that the provisions that Inuit have put forward can somehow find their way into an annex of the legislation or be incorporated in further readings of the bill. We're not willing to give up on this yet.

Canadian Heritage committee  Our language rights exist today. This legislation is an attempt to allow Canada to respect its own obligations under international law, under the Constitution. That is not necessarily the same as having a conversation about capacity. The ability to exercise our rights versus the ability for us to fill all positions needed to do that are two completely different concepts.

Canadian Heritage committee  I'll reference again the June 15, 2017 joint statement made in the foyer at Centre Block, where we all pledged to work collaboratively, transparently and on a distinctions basis to codevelop legislation. We had a list of different things within the legislation, including distinct geographic, political, legislative and cultural contexts impacting language revitalization, maintenance and promotion.

Canadian Heritage committee  I don't have specific documentation about the numbers, but I will give a general sense of the education system as it stands. In a number of our 51 communities, Inuktut is the primary language of instruction between kindergarten and grade 4. It fluctuates in that in some communities there isn't that opportunity.