The Nunavut Literacy Council Board developed this definition at their May 2002 board meeting:
Literacy is a skill that enables people to interpret and effectively respond to the world around them. Based upon language development from birth, it includes the ability to learn, communicate, read and write, pass on knowledge and participate actively in society.
Participants at the Arviat Literacy Summit in September 2000 developed this vision for literacy in Nunavut:
All Nunavummiut have the right to participate fully and be included in their community. Literacy is much more than reading and writing; it also means being connected to your language and culture. Literacy involves everyone and is fundamental to the development of health and well-being. Literacy is fostering and nurturing understanding, knowledge and wisdom.
At the annual general meeting of Pauktuutit, the Inuit women’s organization, in October 2000 they discussed literacy issues:
For most of the women in the workshop, literacy is about the survival of their language and culture through their children, families and the community.
“Literacy is seeing and knowing what you see.” Elders from Gjoa Haven
Because we of the younger generation are less knowledgeable, we tend to rely on documents for references. You, as Elderly people, will not forget what you lived through; the knowledge you have gained will always stay with you. We, the younger generation, will write down what we do not understand so someday we will remember it and be able to say, “So this is how it was!” Louis Tapardjuk, at the Department of Education Elders Advisory Meeting in Arviat, in September 2000