Eva Aariak
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.
