Maligarnit Qimirrujiit Nunavut Law Review Commission
First Report to the Premier Maligarnit Qimirrujiit
Nunavut Law Review Commission
First Report to the Premier
Introductory Remarks from the Chair
Mr. Premier,
On behalf of the other Nunavut Law Review Commissioners I am pleased to submit our first report on the results of consultations and deliberations to date. Maligarnit Qimirrujiit has now been in place for almost one year. During that time we have been organizing our approach and traveling to as many communities as possible. We have been listening carefully to what Nunavummiut have been telling us about certain legislation that was automatically inherited from the Government of the Northwest Territories. We have also been closely following your advice to work with the elders and listen to their advice. We are including in this report as Annex 1 your statement to the Legislative Assembly last year, shortly before the Commissioners were chosen. This statement clearly sets out our mandate and also provides your vision of what our work should entail.
Early in our Commission meetings we decided to allocate various communities to each Commissioner. In order to ensure a fair distribution (primarily from a population perspective) it has become necessary for most Commissioners to cover communities that fall outside of their own particular region of Nunavut.
Annex 2 includes a table that shows which Commissioners have taken responsibility for various Nunavut communities for consultation purposes.
The Commissioners want to take this opportunity of thanking you for assigning a knowledgeable and helpful public servant to work with us to ensure that there is an adequate liaison between key government departments and ourselves. Rebecca Williams, Assistant Deputy Minister of Justice was given this role and as Commissioners we have found her guidance and advice most helpful.
Through Rebecca, the Commission has been advised to place our main attention on those particular acts inherited by the Nunavut Government under the themes of “names and identity” and also under “family”.
MALIGARNIT QIMIRRUJIIT First Report Final – October 30, 2000 1 In particular the following specific acts have been identified:
Child and Family Services Act Family Law Act Children’s Law Act Change of Name Act Business License Act Wildlife Act
The Commission decided in June that we would not be reviewing a number of acts that are currently under examination by various GN Departments. The following are the various acts that we do not intend to focus on at this time: Wildlife Act; Cities, Town and Villages Act; Hamlets Act; Local Authorities Act; Housing Corporation Act; Elections Act; Coroner’s Act; Child Day Care Act; Education Act; Social Assistance Act; and Student Financial Act unless the government directs us otherwise. The Maligarnit Qimirrujiit will work the Department of Justice to consult further on family issues.
Nevertheless, we have been approached by the Justice Department to become part of a consultative process that would lead to a Nunavut Human Rights Act. The MQ Commissioners are also seeking specific direction from you, members of the Cabinet and Members of the Legislative Assembly regarding areas on which the Commission might focus.
In discussions with your office it was also agreed that the Commission would review the Vital Statistics Act since it is part of our “naming” theme. As well we have received a number of comments and concerns regarding the Official Languages Act and decided to include this in our consultations.
To date the Commission has held three face-to-face meetings; the first in November of 1999 was very brief and was primarily for introductory purposes. The second meeting in March focused on training. A third was held in September in Rankin Inlet to begin compiling our first report.
This report examines three acts that have naturally assumed a priority position in our consultations based on what we have been hearing from people at the community level: Official Languages Act, Vital Statistics Act and Change of Name Act. Perhaps it is not unusual that language and identity should be at the top of people’s list of concerns. The Maligarnit Qimirrujiit Commissioners are making a number of recommendations in each of these three areas. We believe, in particular, that the recommendations being made with regard to the Change of Name Act build positively on the excellent start that has been made by the Nunavut Court of Justice. The Court has been offering assistance to Nunavummuit who are concerned about correcting inaccuracies in the common spelling of their surnames. As you know, since June 2, 2000 the Nunavut Court of Justice have waived the costs associated with making corrections to surnames. A number of people have come forward and are taking advantage of the new system. We are advised that from June 2nd to October 26, there were 45 applications processed with approximately another 20 applications remaining active. This is a remarkable achievement in less than four months as the Court processed only 41 files in the fourteen-month period prior to the official launch of the special initiative. Nevertheless, we believe this is only a
MALIGARNIT QIMIRRUJIIT First Report Final – October 30, 2000 2 beginning and that a more proactive and streamlined process on a temporary basis is required now. We are proposing a special initiative tentatively referred to as “Project Correction”. Furthermore, the current initiative only addresses the surname issues and not those with regard to the errors made in the recording and registration of dates of births and other information. Our report also describes this issue in some detail with a separate set of recommendations. We have also heard many concerns regarding the difficulties people are encountering in trying to get their birth certificates from other jurisdictions. There are many such cases and we expect to be making some separate recommendations in our subsequent reports in this regard.
There was also the issue, raised by a number of people in different communities, regarding the practice of naming certain buildings after persons who have died without the family providing consent. Furthermore, people pointed out to us that this custom is really not consistent with traditional Inuit culture, but more of a non-Inuit practice. This problem is really not covered by any existing or proposed territorial legislation, but it is an issue of obvious concern that the Commissioners wish to bring to your attention. Annex 3 describes some of the current and past naming customs practiced by Inuit.
Consistent with the Bathurst Mandate, we are impressed with the progress that has been made by the Department of Culture, Language Elders and Youth and other departments in promoting the use of the Inuktitut and Inuinnaqtun languages by government departments, but much remains to be done in this area. Based on our consultations we believe that the existing legislation must be strengthened and again extraordinary steps taken to ensure that ultimately the traditional languages of Nunavut are given equal status with English and French. We have included some preliminary recommendations regarding the act in this report. Preliminary Aboriginal Custom Adoption Act recommendations are also included in this report with respect to the birth registration process, but we expect additional recommendations will be made in subsequent reports.
Mr. Premier, thank you again for your support. In our next report, which we will prepare in time for our appearance before the Standing Committee in early December, we expect to be making recommendations in other areas including the Aboriginal Custom Adoption Act, the Labour Standards Act and the Apprenticeship, Trade and Occupations Certification Act. Based on suggestions that have been made during our consultations, we may also include recommendations for new legislation in areas such as Inuit Property and Copyrights, Public Trustee and Labour Standards.
Sandra Omik Chief Commissioner
MALIGARNIT QIMIRRUJIIT First Report Final – October 30, 2000 3 Maligarnit Qimirrujiit
Nunavut Law Review Commission
Recommendations -- Part 1 – Surnames – Change of Name Act – Vital Statistics Act
Summary of Issue
The Change of Name Act requires that individuals who wish to make corrections to their surname make application to the Nunavut Court of Justice. Section 2(1) of the Name of Change of Name Act states that no person shall change his name except under this Act. This section prevents a person from simply correcting a birth registration surname under the provisions of the Vital Statistics Act.
Therefore all surname corrections must go through the Court process at the expense of the applicant, and is considered a “change”, not simply a correction. Considerable information and documentation is required including the name on the birth registration, marital status, employment position, consent of spouse etc. The court process is lengthy and the Commissioners consider this unnecessary for straightforward corrections.
Once a surname has been corrected through the court process described above, a person must then go through an entirely different process under the Vital Statistics Act to correct other information on the same birth registration such as date of birth, gender, place of birth, and marriage name spellings.
The intent of the Name of Change Act is to make it difficult for individuals to arbitrarily change their surname in order to take on a “new identity” in some cases for fraudulent purposes. This is not to suggest that all or even most changes of surnames be for fraudulent reasons. In many cases it may simply be a matter of an individual wishing to make pronunciation of his or her name easier. The dilemma is that in Nunavut there are many good reasons why individuals are wishing to make corrections to their names that vary considerably from the standard reasons that might be found in southern Canada. In most cases these reasons are based on the inaccurate recording and spelling of names by Hudson Bay Company managers or government officials many years ago and in particular on errors made in the Project Surname process that took place primarily in what is now Nunavut in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s.
Consultation Results
During their consultations it became evident to Commissioners that there are many residents who have surnames that are incorrectly spelled. In other cases, surnames that varied entirely from the
MALIGARNIT QIMIRRUJIIT First Report Final – October 30, 2000 4 original may have been imposed on them. For example, surnames were often taken from the father even though, prior to Project Surname, Inuit had their own surnames not obtained from the father or the family. In other cases it might be the surname of the spouse, either husband or wife (a woman does not need to legally change her birth name to her marriage name), or a surname derived from a mispronunciation.
Many of these mistakes occurred during Project Surname undertaken by the Government of the Northwest Territories in 19969-70). The intent of the project was to replace the insensitive “E and W Disc Numbers” that prior to 1969 federal government authorities assigned to Inuit. Project Surname was undertaken by Abraham Okpik who was kind enough to initiate the project on behalf of the government and who visited virtually every Inuit community in order to assign “proper” surnames to each Inuit family. In many cases the correct names were registered and Inuit have benefited over the past thirty years by no longer being referred to by their Disc Numbers. But, because of the great haste in completing the project in time for the Queen’s visit to the Northwest Territories during the 1970 Centennial Year celebrations, there were also many mistakes. Once Project Surname was complete, Inuit could only add, delete, amend or correct their surnames through the court system. Other information then had to be corrected through the birth registrations maintained under the authority of the Vital Statistics Act. Commissioners were told of many examples where this has made it difficult for residents to obtain correct birth certificates.
Following are many examples of errors that been made in the recording of surnames in all three regions and which were reported to Commissioners:
Actual Cases - An elderly Pond Inlet man‘s date of birth is registered as December 1940, but he was actually born in March 1940. He did not learn of this until he had become an adult and was so advised by his natural father. The natural father believed that the error came about because he was adopted and his adoptive parents did not know the exact dates when the RCMP registered the birth sometime later. At the time of his baptism in the 1960’s he believed that he was born in December 1940 and therefore is not able to use the baptismal record to correct his birth certificate. Even if the baptismal certificate were accurate it could not be used, as it did not take place within ten years of his birth.
An older man in his community is prepared to submit an affidavit to say that the other man was born in March, because he remembers hearing of the birth at the “time when the sun was going higher” and remembers this well since the adoptive parents were barren and were quite happy in the expectation of adopting the child. Nevertheless, because the older man did not actually witness the birth, and because he was not of majority age at the time, his affidavit would not be accepted. In this particular case the result of an incorrect birth certificate is that he does not receive disability cheques.
MALIGARNIT QIMIRRUJIIT First Report Final – October 30, 2000 5 A Baby girl was born July 1965, but registered as having been born in May 1965. When she went looking for baptism records she found that they had been lost from the Church records. Her original certificate had been altered so she was unable to use it either.
“Innuarak” should be “Inuaraq”, “Singeorie” should be “Singuuriq”, (this person was told during Project Surname that she had to drop one of her names because she had too many –. She dropped her marriage name, but apparently she didn’t need to. She was given the wrong information.
Actual stories from Arctic Bay: A woman who states that many names are not spelled correctly, including hers “Kilabuk” which should be Qilavvaq”. (It is difficult to understand where the “B” comes from since the North Baffin dialect does not include a “B” in their alphabet, although it appears that the South Baffin dialect does include a “B” sound in their alphabet). Another example of misspelling: “Oingonn” should be “Uirngu”. Another Woman’s date of birth is registered as “November 1946” although it should have been “October 1946”. One lady still has an “E disc number” on her birth certificate and would like it removed before applying for a passport.
From Resolute Bay: A man had a given name “George” imposed on him for no other reason than non-Inuit registrars could not pronounce his real name- “Jaali” Saumik.
In Clyde River, a woman is incorrectly registered as “male”. Another man’s date of birth is off by seven days, but he has always been a little insulted by this error.
Qikiqtarjuaq: A husband and wife’s dates of birth on their birth certificates were switched. Another woman was registered with her husband’s surname, although she wanted to keep her father’s original name, and has always been hurt by this lack of discretion. One man believes his date of birth was incorrectly registered as “March 1927” when it should be “April 1927”.
Hall Beach: A resident in this community has an incorrect date shown on his birth certificate. It is off by a few months and this resulted in delays in receipt of his superannuation benefits. In his case all Church records have been lost and an older sister cannot submit an affidavit because she can’t quite remember due to a separation from her brother. In another case a woman is registered with a man’s name – because non-Inuktitut-speaking registrars spelled according to the Inuktitut pronunciation of “Eunice”.
MALIGARNIT QIMIRRUJIIT First Report Final – October 30, 2000 6
In Iglulik: A young woman said the name “Tiglik” was imposed on her family, as she was told there were too many people with “Tikivik”already, which was their original name.
Iqaluit: A man was born in 1957, but incorrectly registered as 1958. In another case members of the same family were given different names—“Atagoyuk” and “Attaguyok”. A young woman who has worked at helping people file their income tax returns states that she has always wished that there was a place that people could go to correct their birth certificates. She reports that she has seen far too many errors in the process of dealing with tax returns.
Sanikiluaq: One man commented that all of his identification cards show a variety of different dates of birth, including his birth certificate. Another man’s surname was registered as “Takatak”, but doesn’t understand why it was not originally registered under his father’s surname of “Kinuaruak”. There were suggestions from some elders that the younger generation should offer assistance in correcting names to the older people who do understand English letters.
Coral Harbour: The name “Narrulaaq” was incorrectly misspelled as “Nakulak”. This was also the case with “Pallaq” to “Paliak”. A man named “Johnny” was termed as “Johnnykallak” in Inuktitut meaning “LttleJohnny”. Nevertheless, during Project Surname he was given the surname “Kallak”, when in fact his original Inuktitut surname was “Arnatuu”. Another man commented that in many cases names were imposed on people without consultation and back then Inuit were afraid to speak up. He regrets now not having spoken up as he “accepted” a name that was not his own. Because he knows better now and can speak up he is happy that Inuit are being consulted.
Rankin Inlet: A husband and wife had their dates of birth switched. When the husband tried correcting his birth certificate he was issued with another birth certificate with an entirely different date of birth from either of the original dates for his wife or himself. (This is an example of duplicate registrations—He was registered at birth and then “re-registered” during Project Surname, except with a different date of birth!) Another woman is happy that the Law Review Commissioners are proposing a “Project Correction”, as she would like to correct the spelling of her surname from “Towtongie “to” Tautungi”. There is no letter “W” in the Inuktitut alphabet and she has always been a little insulted with “Towtongie”.
MALIGARNIT QIMIRRUJIIT First Report Final – October 30, 2000 7 Baker Lake: A family was given the name “Iyago” during Project Surname, when it should be “Ajagaq”. Another name in this community that was misspelled is “Aksawnee”, which should be “Aqsarniq”. Barnabus Pirjuaq (whose own birth certificate is misspelled as “Peryoak”), Law Review Commissioner for the Kivalliq, knows of one elderly person who could not get Old Age Pension cheques due to incorrect date of birth.
Kugluktuk – The Kitikmeot Region has a different dialect and a different way of spelling names. Lena Pedersen, Commissioner for this region, reported that one person stated she was insulted when a letter “U” was imposed on her name, when in her dialect it should be an “O”.
Taloyoak – Jonah Kelly, A Commissioner for South Baffin who visited Taloyoak in May of this year on other business, reported that many people in this community had concerns over how their names were recorded.
From the examples that are described above it can be readily seen why there is such urgency required in taking steps to correct the many errors made in registering and recording surnames.
Considerations
The Commissioners feel that special steps must be taken on a territory-wide basis to enable people to correct birth registration names that were imposed on them either during Project Surname or by government officials or agents acting on behalf of government officials prior to Project Surname. The route of requiring individuals to undertake the “correction process” on their own is both cumbersome and expensive. There is considerable concern across Nunavut about the way that many birth registrations have been incorrectly registered and recorded. Someone, originally from southern Canada might wonder about this as there have also been many errors made in correctly recording surnames of people who emigrated from another country where a language other than English or French was spoken. To draw a comparison of this sort is unacceptable. Inuit were the first inhabitants of Nunavut and it should be of the highest importance to ensure that Inuktitut/Inuinnaqtun surnames used throughout the territory have been accurately recorded according to the various dialects. The urgency for this also stems from the fact that many of the people who had their birth registrations incorrectly recorded are getting older, and some have already passed away. Birth Registrations should be corrected now while memories are still relatively fresh.
It is recognized that there will be some costs associated with taking the special measures that are being recommended by the Commission. Nevertheless, a special project of a fixed time of at least one year and preferably longer, will help restore pride in the correct usage of Inuktitut/Inuinnaqtun and encourage both Inuit and non-Inuit to become more comfortable in the use of accurate surnames. This will be particularly true with a process that will inevitably lead to some standardized recognition of the way many Inuktitut/Inuinnaqtun surnames are correctly spelled using the Roman orthography.
MALIGARNIT QIMIRRUJIIT First Report Final – October 30, 2000 8 Recommendations
The Commission recommends that necessary amendments to the Change of Name Act and Nunavut Vital Statistics Act (and/or related Regulations) be enacted as soon as possible in order to accommodate procedures that would allow for a period of corrections. This could become known as “Project Correction” as outlined below:
1. Create an amnesty period during which there would be a partial moratorium (or temporary reprieve) on some of the key provisions of the Change of Name Act permitting Nunavut residents to make corrections in the spelling of their surnames without following the prescribed court procedures and without any administrative charges. The procedures initiated by the government during this amnesty period would also be designed to bridge changes normally required by both the Change of Name Act and the Vital Statistics Act. This the entire process would be streamlined to the maximum extent possible and the end result would be the issuance of Birth Certificates with the correct spelling of names and birth dates etc. The following individuals and subsequent children would be covered by the provision of the amnesty process:
(a) Those who had their birth registered and names selected during the Government of Northwest Territories Project Surname. (b) For those people who had surnames registered prior to Project Surname and where this process was undertaken by a government agent such as a RCMP Officer or Hudson Bay Company Manager, and where phonetic misspelling errors occurred. (c) Those with misprints on Birth Certificates issued after Project Surname, except where subsequent children born up to March 31, 1999, also inherited the incorrect name; (d) Individuals with duplicate registrations – one completed prior to Project Surname and another during Project Surname. There are often no matches between the two and both given and surnames may differ as well as date of birth. These individuals have a harder time trying to correct a birth registration or date of birth and receive a correct Birth Certificate.
2. The amnesty period should not apply to individuals wishing to adopt an entirely different surname that is not simply the result of a spelling error, unless the intent is to return to a previously used surname. The public and the government should be protected from fraudulent activity taking place by establishing the amnesty process with as many safeguards as possible and without unduly compressing the time period. This would help eliminate the kind of the errors that occurred during Project Surname due to time pressures.
3. Amend the existing Change of Name and Vital Statistics Act to accommodate relatively simple errors in spelling of both given names and surnames for individuals born after Project Surname.
4. Ensure that the amnesty period is properly publicized in order to:
- make sure that comprehensive and easily understood information about the process is provided;
MALIGARNIT QIMIRRUJIIT First Report Final – October 30, 2000 9 - inform Inuit that they can change to their original surname if they wish to do so that they can replace the one that was arbitrarily imposed on them without their wishes; - inform the public that can register their Inuktitut/Inuinnaqtun given names if they wish to do so; - ensure that Inuit are informed that they may phonetically correct their surnames as part of the Project Correction if they should choose to do so; - to inform the public that the amnesty only applies to the correction of errors that occurred prior to or as a result of Project Surname; - inform the public that women do not need to change their maiden names - inform the public of the impact and effect of correcting and finalizing registrations, since once a registration has been corrected, all of their other identification would also have to be corrected –health cards, bank records, Social Insurance Numbers and Enrollment cards; (this process could be temporarily aided by the establishment of a help desk) - avoid possible intimidation resulting from previous attempts to make corrections and having to go through the Court system.
5. The forms used by the Registrar(s) should be as straightforward as possible using a minimal number of pages with provisions for the following:
- each person would register the name uses and by which he is known; - there should be an option on the form for the person and subsequent children to revert to their original name(s) and replace the one that was imposed on him/her without permission; - there should be an option for the person to correct their name(s) phonetically; - each family member’s surname should align with the parents’ names (including extended family such as grandchildren; - ensuring that the maiden name is intact, if not it should also be corrected; - confirmation that the husband’s and wife’s names on marriage certificates are consistent with birth names; - space to correct a date of birth indicating on the form why the person thinks the birth date is incorrect and which date he or she believes is the correct date of birth; - space to enter correct information such as gender and place of birth; and - measures to ensure that people with encumbrances or criminal charges do not abuse the Project.
6. New registrations are recommended to correct the original registrations because some residents may be deceased and also because this will save time and energy by not having to correct original registrations with every piece of information on all birth, marriage, death certificates and children’s registrations.
7. There should be a careful check made of all new registrations against the current registrations to ensure that there are no abuses of the system. The check should verify that other information is not changed such as original address, date of registration, physician’s name, marital status etc.
MALIGARNIT QIMIRRUJIIT First Report Final – October 30, 2000 10 8. To avoid future mistakes the new registration should be in one file along with the old registrations and maintained by the Vital Statistics office in Rankin Inlet. (Currently the Vital Statistics Office in Inuvik files their records according to date of birth – which means, for example, that duplicate registrations with different dates of birth are not kept in the same file).
9. Appropriate arrangements should be made between the Government of Nunavut and the Government of the Northwest Territories for the transfer of all Birth Registration records from the Vital Statistics office in Inuvik to the Vital Statistics office in Rankin Inlet for individuals born prior to April 1, 1999 in what is now Nunavut.
10. Once the Project Correction is deemed to be complete there should also be provisions to keep the process open for any remaining unfiled registrations which for some reason may have been missed, for example by individuals living outside of the Territory.
11. A minor’s given name and surname should not be changed to anything other than what he/she is currently registered under, except if it is to be phonetically corrected or is changed to how the mother or father, (under which he/she is currently registered) is known.
12. All agencies that issue identification cards or related documents should be notified of the Project and asked to provide assistance in amending other identification documents in accordance with the new Birth Certificates. This would include, for example: Nunavut Tunngavik Enrollment Office, Health Care Plan, Motor Vehicle Branch, Human Resources Development Canada for Social Insurance Number Cards and Chartered Banks.
13. There should also be an undertaking by the Government of Nunavut and the Government of the Northwest Territories to ensure that the Vital Statistics office in Inuvik no longer use their original registration records to issue Birth Certificates, once the copies are filed in Rankin Inlet.
MALIGARNIT QIMIRRUJIIT First Report Final – October 30, 2000 11 Maligarnit Qimirrujiit
Nunavut Law Review Commission
Recommendations --Part 2 - Names – Vital Statistics Act
Summary of Issue
Most newborn babies are correctly registered, but there are cases where hospital and health care staff members have incorrectly recorded information on a live birth form. Birth Certificates are then issued by Vital Statistics Division in Rankin Inlet, for births after March 31, 1999 and in Inuvik for births prior to April 1, 1999 with the incorrect information. In addition to an incorrect given name or given name not spelled according to the wishes of the parent, there are also other problems with the registration process and the use of the current forms that do not fully take into consideration traditional Inuit practices.
For example, it is not necessarily well understood by all parents that they may register a child with an Inuktitut/Inuinnaqtun name(s) as one or more names of the newborn. The current process also does not take into consideration traditional naming or renaming practices used by Inuit.
There is often difficulty and confusion with respect to either initially identifying the surname of a newborn or giving the child a new surname following the subsequent marriage of the parents. Finally, correcting or making official given name changes later in the years following birth is often dependant on searching for old church or school records or getting permission from a deceased parent to amend a surname which can become cumbersome or even impossible.
The recommendations included in this report focus on the registration of births after March 31, 1999. Births within the area now comprising Nunavut prior to April 1, 1999 were registered under the Vital Statistics Act of the Northwest Territories and the records of those births continue to be maintained by the NWT Vital Statistics Office, which is located in Inuvik. Nunavut residents who were born in what is now Nunavut prior to April 1, 1999 and who wish to add or correct a given name must go through the NWT Vital Statistics laws and regulations. If the recommendations of the Commissioners included in this report result in amendments to the Nunavut Vital Statistics Act they will only apply to the records of births that have taken place within Nunavut after implementation. Nevertheless, the recommendations are being advanced so that difficulties experienced by people under the current act won’t continue to occur.
MALIGARNIT QIMIRRUJIIT First Report Final – October 30, 2000 12
Consultation Results
There were many examples provided to Commissioners during their consultations of misunderstandings and inaccuracies related to the naming of children as part of the registration process proscribed under the Vital Statistics Act. The most common were inaccuracies by hospital and health centre staff in the recording of names on the birth registration form.
Following are some actual cases where health centre or hospital staff incorrectly registered names:
Correct Incorrect
Becky Peggy Jeremiah Jerrymiah Jasmine Jasamin Jasper Jasipa Rhoda Rhonda
Such inaccuracies as illustrated above occur because the staff does not take the time to ask the parents of the newborn if the information being recorded is correct. Most parents also assume that that what the staff members at the hospital or health centre fill in is correct and do not ask if the name is correctly spelled. The same thing often happens with respect to other information such as the mother’s date of birth. In some cases the registration is handled over the telephone and the information is not clearly communicated or understood. Such an example is the case with Becky/Peggy shown above since the newborn’s name was misheard over the telephone.
One young mother reported that she was just too tired from giving birth and was not in the right frame of mind to see if her newborn was correctly registered. If she had known better, she would have taken the time to verify the accuracy of the recorded information. Years later, when she ordered a copy of her teenage son’s birth certificate so that he could apply for a Social Insurance card, she had difficulty in obtaining and then correcting the birth certificate. She ended up having to pay money and spending time searching for hard to find records in order to correct the information on the birth certificate.
Many parents have decided what to name their child once born and the child is registered accordingly. Nevertheless, others do not make up their minds in advance or even immediately following the birth of their child and for many of these the newborn is registered as “Unnamed” or “Baby Girl” right at birth. Some hospital and health centre staff also put in “Mary” or “John
MALIGARNIT QIMIRRUJIIT First Report Final – October 30, 2000 13 Doe”. In some cases, parents may change their mind following the birth registration and simply give the newborn some other name. Because newborns are immediately registered, parents must then pay $10 and look for hard-to-find records in order to add or change a given name.
A young Inuk woman who could not speak up for herself had not yet named her daughter and hospital staff imposed a given name for the child “Jessica”. At baptism, two weeks later, the mother named her daughter “Karen”, which subsequently became the name still used to today. When the mother tried to order a birth certificate, she was informed that her daughter was registered as “Jessica” and she then ended up with the hassle of looking up and supplying records to make the correction, as well as paying the administrative fees.
The first thing many Inuit stated, when asked about naming practises (be it Kugluktuk, Baker Lake or Grise Fiord) was about the practise of re-naming a newborn according to what the newborn prefers. Different names would be sought until the baby was satisfied with one that he or she preferred. This was determined by the constant crying of the baby. When the crying stopped it was realized that was the preferred name. The process of immediate registration does not honour this practise or make it feasible. Most Inuit do not give a specific date as to when a newborn is re-named, but during consultations some elders agreed that the thirty-day waiting period would enable this practise to be honoured if parents were informed of this option. There are other aspects of traditional Inuit naming practises that could be better maintained with a longer registration period. This would require not only clarification of the act itself, but also encouragement through better publicity and understanding of how the naming and registration process could actually work.
A further illustration of the re-naming process was the practise of the mother or father or another close relative choosing an Inuktitut/Inuinnaqtun name usually after the death of someone close to the family. This often does not happen until after the birth registration process has expired.
In another actual case of re-naming, a newborn was registered at birth under a Christian/English name. The boy was subsequently re-named with an Inuktitut name after a recently deceased person and since then used the Inuktitut name even though the registered name was not changed and the new Inuktitut name not documented. Later as a young man he was sent to hospital for treatment. When it was time for him to return home the airline company did not believe he used his Inuktitut name because it was not documented and was not readily willing to allow him to board the plane and return to his home community.
Currently the registration process does not actively encourage the use of Inuktitut/Inuinnaqtun names and the names that are used on a day-to-day basis by members of the family are not
MALIGARNIT QIMIRRUJIIT First Report Final – October 30, 2000 14 necessarily known by others due to lack of documentation. In such cases, the person is generally known by their Christian/English name by non-Inuit or other Inuit.
Some children who are known by their Inuktitut/Inuinnaqtun name at home decide to start using their Christian/English name when they start school or later on as teenagers. This sometimes happen because they become ashamed of their Inuktitut/Inuinnaqtun name which does not appear on any official school or church records. Elders feel that if Inuktitut/Inuinnaqtun names were used more often by other people it would give a sense of pride rather than embarrassment.
During the consultations many elders commented that they never call a person by their Christian/English name because for them, they are unpronounceable and many expressed a desire that young people would more often name their children with pronounceable Inuktitut/Inuinnaqtun names. If more of these names were properly documented, this would help in part for the younger generation of Inuit to have more pride in giving their newborns Inuktitut/Inuinnaqtun names as part of the formal birth registration process. A provision to have an Inuktitut/Inuinnaqtun name on a live birth form should be included as an option for the parent. If a provision on the live birth registration form providing a specific space and clearly indicating: “Inuktitut/Inuinnaqtun given name optional” on the form itself instead of just seeing “given names”, Inuit would be more likely to think of including Inuktitut/Inuinnaqtun names at that time rather than realizing this later on after the registration period was over. Sufficient space to include two Inuktitut/Inuinnaqtun names after the Christian on the Birth Certificate makes it possible if a parent wishes to add more than one name, as some were concerned only one would be given precedence as Inuit practises permit giving more than one Inuktitut/Inuinnaqtun name.
In earlier times, before the missionaries came to the arctic, marriage was recognized according to customary practises. Today, custom marriages have no legal status and birth registration documents do not respect such marriages. The form that recognizes common-law relationships or marriage after a natural child is born is somewhat embarrassing because the term used is “Legitimizing” the child. This is the form that must be completed in order for a child to be recognized as the “natural child” of the father, even if the natural parents have been a common- law relationship for some time. Clearly the provisions of the Vital Statistics Act are out of date compared with other government documents that recognize common-law status such as Income Tax Returns.
Actual Case: A newborn, who was given his father’s surname even though his parents were not married, tried to obtain a birth certificate 20 years later. He could not get the certificate because he was registered under his mother’s maiden name. Although he had never used this name as children of unmarried parents are always registered under the mother’s maiden name. He attempted to correct this information through Vital Statistics, but could not as a signature was required from his father, who by this time was deceased.
Many people in Nunavut who marry following the birth of a natural child assume that their child’s surname has automatically been changed to the father’s surname, but in reality this does
MALIGARNIT QIMIRRUJIIT First Report Final – October 30, 2000 15 not happen automatically. Instead, the parents must initiate the surname amendment themselves. Upon making a request to the Vital Statistics Division they have an option to change the child’s name to its father’s surname, to keep the mother’s maiden name or use a combination of both names. The problem is that this information is not made readily available and most parents do not find out about the process until they order a birth certificate and discover that the child is still registered under the mother’s maiden name.
At present, the Vital Statistics Act has provisions for people who would like to correct information to submit either a baptismal registration entry (the original page from a Parish book), a health record (usually and immunization card) or a school record (usually a kindergarten registration entry) as long as the document submitted was recorded within 10 years of the child’s birth. In most cases, however, these records are not easy to find. Furthermore, church, health and education personnel are generally not aware of the process required to obtain and certify those records and are sometimes too busy to assist a person to obtain and certify their records. In addition, the names written on these records have also been misspelled etc.
Actual Case: A newborn baby girl was not named right at birth and was registered as
“Unnamed”. When the mother looked for records to add the given name “Lorraine”, she obtained three documents from the church, health centre and school and all had various spellings of the name—“Lorrain”, Lorrian”, and “Lurain”, none of which could be used to correctly add the given name “Lorraine”.
Considerations
Currently the Vital Statistics Act provides for the submission of the newborn registration form within 30 days of birth. As described in the results of the consultation process, even this fact is not well known and there has been little or no general information made available to the public about birth registrations – particularly to the parents of newborn children. Many children in Nunavut are often born away from their home community and some traditional naming practises are dependent on the participation of other family members who may not be readily available to the mother. It is important therefore that there should be an extension to the registration period to at least 45 days and perhaps even up to 60 or 90 days. It may also be possible for the Government to consider an optional two-step process that would still require the registration of all newborns within the 30-day period, but with an option for parents to make changes within an additional 60-day period. Changes could include new or different given names including correcting any spelling errors that might have occurred with the initial registration or adding additional names with particular emphasis on Inuktitut/Inuinnaqtun names. This additional step could be undertaken without additional charges or any requirement to produce additional documents.
MALIGARNIT QIMIRRUJIIT First Report Final – October 30, 2000 16
Recommendations
The Commission recommends that the following amendments to the Nunavut Vital Statistics Act be enacted as soon as possible:
1. A legal requirement that hospital and heath centre staff in all Nunavut communities with responsibility for registering newborns be required to obtain verification from the parents regarding the accurate spelling of the given name of the newborn being registered. It is further suggested that a procedure form for Health Care staff to use be attached to every birth registration.
2. An amendment to the registration period to a minimum of 45 days (and preferably 60 or 90 days), without any additional charges or a requirement to provide additional documents, in the event that parents wish to add or amend given names to the previously registered name(s). Alternatively consideration of a “two-step” registration process that would still require the registration of all newborns within the 30 day period, but with an option for parents to make changes within an additional 60 day period without additional charges or submission of additional documents.
3. An addition directly on the birth registration form that clearly states “Inuktitut/Inuinnaqtun given names optional” for every form.
4. A provision in the registration form to recognize common-law marriage status which would permit natural parents to choose the surname under which the child would be known without additional charges or necessary documentation (as is the case in the Province of Quebec). 5. Notwithstanding recommendation 4, the following provisions in the birth registration process should be made with the understanding that these provisions would apply only to the natural children of both parents:
(a) When parents, who may or may not have been living common-law at the time of the birth of their natural child, subsequently marry and have their marriage registered with Vital Statistics in Rankin Inlet, will be permitted to make changes in the surname of any natural children. (Since this may involve more than child, consideration should be given to having a “family package fee” rather a ten-dollar charge for each child and another ten dollars for each birth certificate.)
(b) All couples registering their marriage will be provided with full information in all of the Official Languages describing clearly their rights and obligations with respect to any changes they may wish to make to the surname of any natural children born to them prior to their marriage.
MALIGARNIT QIMIRRUJIIT First Report Final – October 30, 2000 17
(c) Following receipt of this information the parents will have an option, through the use of a statutory declaration, to automatically amend the surname of any children born to them prior to marriage choosing either the mother’s maiden name, the father’s surname or a combination of the father’s surname and the mother’s maiden name, the same process that is currently in place.
6. Documents other than baptismal registration entries from Churches, Health records or School records should also be permitted for use in the process of correcting information on birth certificates. Such documents could include an affidavit or a statutory declaration.
7. If parents submit original baptismal certificates and/or other registration documents to the Vital Statistics Office for the purpose of adding to or correcting given names such documents should be returned to the parents.
8. Appropriate information pamphlets should be developed and distributed by Vital Statistics for the purpose of clearly informing people of their rights and obligations and the purposes of the Vital Statistics Act.
MALIGARNIT QIMIRRUJIIT First Report Final – October 30, 2000 18
Maligarnit Qimirrujiit
Nunavut Law Review Commission
Recommendations -- Part 3–Names-Custom Adoption Recognition Act
Summary of Issue
The Aboriginal Custom Adoption Recognition Act enacted in 1996 in the Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly, became law in Nunavut on April 1, 1999. The intent of this act was to make it possible for people to apply for and obtain birth certificates for adopted persons in an easier and timely manner. But the Commission has also had a large number of comments from frustrated residents with requests that there be some reconsideration of how the act is applied.
One of the principle features of the act was the appointment of Custom Adoption Commissioners. There is a provision in the act for a Commissioner to be appointed in each Nunavut Community, although not all positions are currently filled. Prior to 1996, Custom Adoptions were recognized only as part of the normal adoption process and it was therefore a very lengthy and complex process. Nevertheless, the consultations have revealed some inconsistencies in the way the act is being implemented from community to community. It would seem that not all Commissioners have received adequate training, or do not fully understand their responsibilities and obligations to the public.
Consultation Results
North Baffin
There has been no Custom Adoption Commissioner in Hall Beach for quite some time and this has resulted in custom adoption birth certificates not being issued for residents there.
One example given was from a father of a 15 year old who wished to be able to work but cannot, as he can’t get a Social Insurance Number (S.I.N). He has been denied a Social Insurance Card because his birth certificate is still in his natural mother’s name. In another case a young adopted mother in Hall Beach has been unable to get Child Tax Benefits for her child for over a year since she cannot get a S.I.N. for herself in order to be able to file an Income Tax Return.
It was the same with a teenager in Qikiqtarjuaq, although his adopted mother tried various means to get him an S.I.N.
In another community residents called during one of two radio shows hosted by the Law Review Commissioner and stated off air that they thought Custom Adoption Commissioners were not properly trained to finish up a case. But when one of the Custom Adoption Commissioners called she stated that most cases usually became backlogged at birth registration offices, especially out of the Territory, as well as at court offices.
MALIGARNIT QIMIRRUJIIT First Report Final – October 30, 2000 19
Similar frustrations were expressed by residents from Clyde River, Arctic Bay and Iglulik.
South Baffin
The Law Review Commissioner in this area, Mr. Kelly, has received quite a bit of feedback on the topic of birth certificates for adopted children from residents, in Pangniqtuuq, Kimmirut, Cape Dorset and Arviat.
Since the introduction of the Aboriginal Custom Adoption Recognition Act in 1996, there have been significant changes to how a person can apply for a birth certificate and this has made it a whole lot easier for people to get one. Nevertheless, there have been so many cases cited to the Commission that indicates there is a systematic problem with the process.
Mr. Kelly also heard from Arviat residents (almost one full day) about how they wished to be able to obtain birth certificates for adopted children. When he informed these residents that there are Custom Adoption Commissioners they could go to they were quite surprised, as they had never heard of one in their community.
Mr. Kelly interviewed a Custom Adoption Commissioner in South Baffin and found that she ends up paying postage and telephone long distance calls to birth registration offices and court offices whenever a case is being backlogged. Another Custom Adoption Commissioner commented that she received an Income Tax balance owing since tax is not collected from their $100-per-case income from the government. These types of scenarios discourage some Custom Adoption Commissioners from starting and finishing up a case.
In one instance a resident reported that she thinks there should be a law that states Custom Adoption Commissioners should be friendly and approachable for every case. She indicated that she had seen quite a few people go to another Custom Adoption Commissioner because the one was unfriendly and unwelcoming.
Kivalliq
A frustrated caller at a radio show hosted by Commissioners Barnabus Pirjuaq and Sandra Omik in Rankin Inlet explained how she wasn’t allowed to adopt a child simply because the names registered on her and her husband’s birth certificates were different from what they used. Another caller thought we were there to correct names and asked if we could do her child’s adoption case. She was informed that there were Custom Adoption Commissioners to do that but she replied she didn’t know they existed and didn’t know who to go to in Rankin Inlet.
Considerations
The new Custom Adoption Act introduced in the NWT in 1996, and now in force in Nunavut, has many advantages over the previous cumbersome process. Apart from the obvious amendment to replace the word “Aboriginal” with “Inuit”, the main difficulties of the act seem to
MALIGARNIT QIMIRRUJIIT First Report Final – October 30, 2000 20 stem from the application of the act and not the act itself. There needs to be more consistency from community to community as to how Commissioners carry out their work. This suggests better training and also wider publication at the community level regarding who the Commissioners are, where they can be reached and how the process works.
There are also some administrative changes required in how Commissioners are paid and some of their expenses reimbursed as well as ensuring that they have adequate support systems in place to help them complete cases.
Recommendations
The Commission recommends that the following amendment to the Custom Adoption Act be enacted and that the procedural changes recommended here be adopted by the appropriate government department(s) as soon as possible:
1. Replace the title “Aboriginal” Custom Adoption Recognition Act to “Inuit” Custom Adoption Act, as Nunavut residents are no longer sharing the law with other Aboriginal people;
2. Re-train all Custom Adoption Commissioners in each community;
3. Ensure there is always a Custom Adoption Commissioner in each community, preferably two;
4. Have all Custom Adoption Commissioners follow prescribed procedures when taking on a new case, including making sure the Commissioner understands he or she must be unbiased, friendly and approachable for every case;
5. If a case cannot be resolved, a client should be informed of another process to finish up a case, for instance, contacting regional supervisors;
6. Contact the birth registration record offices in provinces outside of the Territories where quite a number of Inuit are born at, especially where the Department of Health have contracts with southern provinces to administer health services and inform the birth registration record offices of this Act and the process of Inuit custom adoption, possibly through an official agreement of understanding and cooperation;
7. Review the amount of pay a Custom Adoption Commissioner receives ($100 per case), and whether a Custom Adoption Commissioner should be paid on a wage basis, not on a case basis (to be able to have their income taxed in a more efficient and fair manner). (Note: The Dept. of Justice in the Government of Nunavut recorded approximately 800 cases. This means approximately $80,000 for one year.);
8. Supply support for the Custom Adoption Commissioners, such as a business telephone, contact numbers and postage stamps;
MALIGARNIT QIMIRRUJIIT First Report Final – October 30, 2000 21
9. Ensure that there is availability of regional administrative support to every Commissioner in the event that there is difficulty with the completion of cases;
10. Have Custom Adoption Commissioners become aware of other processes that impact birth registrations such as Vital Statistics Act, Change of Name Act etc. so that they will be able to know why a case is backlogged;
11. Ensure information is always visibly available to the public of the process, as well as the names and contact information of the Custom Adoption Commissioners in each community;
MALIGARNIT QIMIRRUJIIT First Report Final – October 30, 2000 22 Maligarnit Qimirrujiit Nunavut Law Review Commission
Recommendations -- Official Languages Act
Summary of Issue
Prior to April 1, 1999 there was a high public expectation that the Inuktitut and Inuinnaqtun languages, both written and oral, would be quickly introduced into the day-to-day activities of the Government of Nunavut under the provisions of the Official Languages Act. As shown in the examples gathered by Commissioners in their consultations and outlined below, this has not yet happened to a sufficient degree and it is clear that the act must be amended as soon as possible to ensure that the Inuktitut and Inuinnaqtun languages are being applied on a universal, fair and consistent fashion across Nunavut. Nunavummuit must be able to relate to the government in all aspects of their lives using the Official Language of their choice.
Consultation Results
The Government of Nunavut Public Servant assigned to the Maligarnit Qimirrujit Commission, Rebecca Williams has advised the Commission that the government is working towards applying the Inuktitut and Inuinnaqtun languages on written forms. Nevertheless, this has been come a source of concern in many of the consultations held at the community level. Elders and others continue to stress the importance of government forms and correspondence being more accessible to unilingual Inuktitut or Inuinnaqtun individuals. Following are examples of key government forms that are currently unavailable in either Inuktitut or Inuinnaqtun:
- birth certificate applications - name amendment statutory declaration/ live birth registration forms - custom adoption forms - change of name application - health care and facility consent forms - health care application forms - income support assessment forms - legal aid application forms - lotteries application forms - societies registration and procedure form
The examples that follow point to the kind of difficulties that can arise from forms being unavailable in Inuktitut and Inuinnaqtun, but the lack of multi-lingual forms is only a part of the overall problem. In the examples that have emerged through the consultation process we can
MALIGARNIT QIMIRRUJIIT First Report Final – October 30, 2000 23 readily see how problems could be easily avoided if the accompanying government correspondence had also been made available in Inuktitut or Inuinnaqtun.
Examples where Inuktitut/Inuinnaqtun unilingual clients received correspondence written in English only:
A letter from the Public Trustee’s Office (in Yellowknife) explaining the distribution of a deceased estate and why $200 was taken from the settlement of the estate to cover the administrative costs of the Public Trustee’s Office. If correspondence and forms had been available to the individual in question, it may have been possible for the estate to have been settled without the Public Trustee’s Office, thus avoiding the additional administrative fees. A letter from the Firearms Chief Officer (in Yellowknife) explaining what the applicant must do once he has received his Firearms Acquisition Certificate; e.g. that he must apply for other licenses to be able to purchase ammunition etc. A letter from a Yellowknife lawyer (with Nunavut Bar Status) asking a client to sign a complex English-only mortgage agreement that required witnessing by a Notary Public.
Simply leaving it up to government departments to translate forms and ensure that correspondence is written in the appropriate language is not sufficient. At least one discussion with a Vital Statistics clerk illustrates the importance of strengthening the Official Languages Act. In this exchange the clerk was asked if they had ever thought of translating the birth registration forms. The clerk advised that this had been considered, but they found that there was insufficient space to accomplish this with a computer. This was clearly an inadequate response and fails to take into account the significant benefits that could be realized with Inuktitut/Inuinnaqtun forms enabling unilingual parents to write down the names of their newborns thus avoiding spelling and other errors.
In the example of the Yellowknife lawyer (with Nunavut Bar Status) who failed to correspond with his unilingual client in Inuktitut there was a clear expectation on his part that this was somehow the responsibility of legal aid workers rather than his own office. An amendment to the Official Languages Act could make such correspondence in the Official Language of the client compulsory when being undertaken by a member of the Nunavut Law Society (with no additional administrative charges to the client). Thus the “reach” of the Official Languages Act should extend beyond Government of Nunavut Departments and include other government agencies and arms of the government – including those undertaking work based on other government acts such as members of the Nunavut Law Society. This also suggests that the act require that attention be paid to the translation of all appropriate court documents, most of which are now available solely in English.
MALIGARNIT QIMIRRUJIIT First Report Final – October 30, 2000 24 Consideration should also be given to requiring federal agencies to take appropriate steps to communicate with individual Nunavummuit or groups within Nunavut in the Official Languages of Nunavut as appropriate. This would avoid problems such as those arising from the example of the English-only correspondence from the Chief Fire Arms Officer.
Considerations
The Commissioners have become aware of weaknesses in the implementation of the current act, which does not, through policy directives or regulations, require government departments to ensure that Inuktitut and Inuinnaqtun become working languages. The community consultations revealed that most unilingual Inuktitut and Inuinnaqtun speakers do not realize or understand their right to deal with government public servants and their agents in their own language. The requirement for change here goes beyond simply translating government documents, forms and correspondence. There is also a need to publicize how forms can be used and in some cases educational or public information tools are also required.
The recommendations included below are preliminary and reflect the consultations undertaken by Commissioners to date. We expect to be receiving more feedback on this important act and will be making further recommendations in a future report.
Recommendations
Notwithstanding assurances from the Department of Justice that steps are being taken to ensure that Inuktitut/Inuinnaqtun is included in government forms the Commission recommends that the following amendments to the Official Languages Act be considered as soon as possible:
1. Make appropriate amendments to the act to apply the use of Official Languages to its full extent on written documents issued by the government, not only on a service-need basis as follows:
(a) provisions in the act for all government forms to be written in each of the Official Languages of Nunavut; and
(b) Provisions in the act for all government correspondence to clients and other members of the public to be written in the appropriate Official Language of Nunavut.
(c) English and French versions of all documents should clearly state in both Inuktitut and Inuinnaqtun that they are also available in those languages as well.
2. Provisions in the act to apply the use of Nunavut’s Official Languages to their full extent for all oral communications, not only on a service-need basis. There should be appropriate signage in all government public points of service to this effect.
MALIGARNIT QIMIRRUJIIT First Report Final – October 30, 2000 25 3. Provisions in the act to ensure that all Government of Nunavut bodies, including departments, agencies and other arms are required by law to have copies of the Official Languages Act available to staff and members of the public. There is similar the requirement under the law for Hamlet Offices to have copies of the Hamlet Act on hand.
MALIGARNIT QIMIRRUJIIT First Report Final – October 30, 2000 26 Annex 1 October 25th – Legislative Assembly – Extract from Hansard
Minister's Statement 11 - 1(3): Maligarnik Qimirrujiit Hon. Paul Okalik (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to inform the members and bring them up to date on the progress made on the establishment of Maligarnik Qimirrujiit, Nunavut's Law Review Commission. The establishment of the commission was announced at the Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit workshop held last month in Apex, where government staff and Elders gathered to discuss ways in which the Government of Nunavut can include a cultural component within operations through Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit. Later today, I will table the terms of reference for the commission. All members of this assembly are committed to promoting Inuit values, and I believe that Maligarnik Qimirrujiit reflects the commitment in a definitive and tangible way: a way in which Nunavummiut across the territory can recognize and relate to. One of the premises of Nunavut was that we would be able to make our law in areas that we have authority. In order to do this, we have to review the laws that we have inherited. Maligarnik Qimirrujiit has important work to accomplish and we have looked to the members of this assembly to assist us in identifying people to be appointed as commissioners. I would like to thank them for bringing names forward before last Friday's deadline. The commissioners need not have formal legal training. They need not speak English. Primarily, their work will be to identify Nunavut laws that are inconsistent with the vision and goals of Nunavummiut: laws that are not in keeping with Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit. The commissioners will be asked to identify those areas of law for review. The goal of Maligarnik Qimirrujiit will be to encourage public discussion and to reflect the thoughts and feelings of Nunavummiut in the recommendations made to the government. That's why some of our Elders need to play a prominent role in the work of the commissioners and I will be instructing Maligarnik Qimirrujiit to work closely with the Elders in each community throughout their work. Thank you.
MALIGARNIT QIMIRRUJIIT First Report Final – October 30, 2000 27 Annex 2 -- Allocation of Communities for Consultation Purposes
The four Commissioners, along with their home communities, and those designated for consultation purposes are shown in the following table. The table shows the allocation of communications for consultation purposes agreed to by the Commissioners at their meeting held in March 2000:
Commissioners Home Community Communities designated for consultation Sandra Omik Pond Inlet All North Baffin Communities plus Iglulik and (Chief Commissioner) MQ Base Office Hall Beach Lena Pederson Kugluktuk All Kitikmeot Communities plus Rankin Inlet Barnabas Pirjuaq Baker Lake All Kivalliq communities except Arviat and Sanikiluaq Jonah Kelly Iqaluit All South Baffin Communities plus Arviat and Sanikiluaq
MALIGARNIT QIMIRRUJIIT First Report Final – October 30, 2000 28 Annex 3
Inuit Naming Practices
1. A newborn was sometimes pre-named before birth. Parents named their unborn child during the mother’s pregnancy with a deceased person’s name. For instance, if a mother during pregnancy dreamed of a deceased person wanting to pass on his / her name, then the child when born would be given that name.
2. Names were added on top of the original name if the parents or the grandparents thought the child was seeking an “avvakuluk” or a “sauniq”, a deceased person’s soul. This was determined by trying on name after name until the parent thought the newborn was satisfied with the one it selected. The newborn stopped its constant crying or stopped being sick if it selected the new name.
3. Deceased person’s names were only given to living persons. This naming practice was hardly used on dwellings or land camps. Camps or land places were sometimes named after persons but only if the person lived in that place for quite some time. And the name given was only referenced as “Inuk’s camp”, not “Inuk Point” or “Inuk Fiord”.
The non-Inuit naming of buildings conflicts, in part, with the above Inuit practice. A building is a non-living item and thus a soul cannot be passed onto it by naming it after a deceased person.
This non-Inuit practice of naming buildings has insulted quite a number of elders. To them, if a building is named after a deceased person and the name becomes used often and referenced randomly, the name loses its purpose and its meaning.
However, the younger generation which have become more accustomed to this new practice would prefer families being consulted before having a building named after their loved one.
4. The grieving families were not told immediately their lost loved one’s name was passed on to a newborn’s name. Although a newborn was named, the families were not told until it was felt they were ready to be told of the news.
The elders would like this practice recognized in some way under law, as quite a number of the younger generation have forgotten this practice.
5. Tuq&urangniq was practiced more often than referring to a person by its name. This was the practice of referring to a person by its kinship relation. For example, a mother who named her daughter after her mother would call her “Anaanakuluk” / Affectionately “Mother”, instead of calling her as her daughter. Again, elders and older Inuit would like this custom somehow recognized under law, as quite a number of the younger generation have forgotten this practice.
MALIGARNIT QIMIRRUJIIT First Report Final – October 30, 2000 29