Inuit Language Milestones

Kudo's to Microsoft for including support for the Inuit language in their "Windows", "Office", and "Visual Studio" operating system and software packages - this is indeed a boon for our language.

While the Inuit Language is currently one of the strongest Aboriginal languages in Canada we cannot forget that all are labouring under the stress of primarily English based education, media, TV, radio, music, and literature, systems.

That said we have experienced considerable success in the promotion of our language over the last little while, indeed over the last year we have marked a number of very important milestones

• Inuktitut was spoken and translated in the Senate of Canada,
• Inuktitut was spoken in the Canadian House of Commons,
• a National Hockey League game was broadcast for the first time in Inuktitut on Hockey Day In Canada,
• the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver were broadcast in Inuktitut,
• at least two 2010 Winter Olympic Team Canada hockey games will be broadcast in Inuktitut,
• The Nunavut language Summit “Our language brings us together” was held February 9-12 in Iqaluit,
• more books and educational materials are being published in the Inuit Language every year,
• more movies and videos are being created in the Inuit language every year; and
• a musical group that melds traditional throat singing and modern music was nominated in multiple categories at the Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards last fall

As we move into 2010 we are looking forward to even more progress with the Inuit Education Accord the resulting development of a national strategy on Inuit education to further prompt our unique language and our culture.

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