Eva Aariak comes to this office with a life-long love of languages. Over the years, she’s been a teacher, educator and, for four years, was the Inuktitut book publishing co-coordinator for the Baffin Divisional Education Council. The goal was to ensure that stories written by Inuit throughout the North found their way into children's school books, giving Nunavut students an appreciation and understanding of the rich Inuit culture. She has also worked for the CBC as a radio and TV reporter, headed public affairs for the Office of the Interim Commissioner of Nunavut and, for a short period, was the Director of Training and Development Division with the Government of Nunavut's Department of Human Resources.

In December 1999, she was appointed Languages Commissioner of Nunavut by a vote of the Legislative Assembly. As the first person to hold this office, she is looking for new ways to protect and promote our official languages. The creation of the new territory provides a unique opportunity to strengthen the Inuktitut language. Through my work and with the active participation of the public, I hope Nunavut will serve as a model to the world of how three different languages can successfully co-exist.
Her approach is to work together with people who, like herself, care passionately about language issues in Nunavut. In particular, she will strive to seek out the thoughts of Elders. She will need to hold the respect and confidence of people, young and old, from different cultures within Nunavut, and she will make sure that the wisdom of all will be reflected in her work as Languages Commissioner.

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