We the Inuit, where do we come from and how did we get here? This is a big question to all of us, even in the qallunaaq’s way of thinking or learning. We are still a mystery to them, but our ancestors are the ones we give praise to for all that they have achieved – to live, to feel, to survive for centuries before the white people came. Some of the qallunaat came with good intentions to teach us a better way to live; some came to destroy our livelihood and culture. But there is one thing we must not forget, and that is how our ancestors brought us this far, in spite of severe cold, and constantly searching for food. Or are we forgetting?
Let us think back fifty years and compare our people’s living conditions then with our present living environment. We have added very little to what our forefathers have left us.
So let’s realize today that we are living without observing what we are losing, our own Inuit culture, which our grandfathers have passed on to us from generation to generation. Are we keeping our old traditions, or are we going to forget them for good? I am sorry to say that we are forgetting them now, and if we do not do something to preserve our culture it will just disappear. The songs of our fathers, our old stories which we used to hear from older people will be gone and we will never hear them again. All this will be lost, so let us wake up and restore our old methods and culture while there is still time. If we lose it, it will be a tragedy, after all our ancestors have shown us. We must remember this: where no other people could have survived, our ancestors did, with the hope that some day we would be known to the other parts of the world, not as the people of this present new day, but as the people of old who lived well-ordered lives, who had a strong culture, and who helped and cared for each other. And who kept learning what life demanded of them. Today if we can think like our ancestors and put to use what they have achieved for us and adopt the qallunaaq’s way of learning, at the same time, keep our own, we will be further ahead. We should learn as much as we can from this new culture, but we must not forget our own culture which is important to us.
So let us wake up to a new day, with new thoughts, new gifts, and new learning from the new culture. But we must remember our ancestors who had to endure the cold, with the help of their knowledge and ingenuity. We could put our learning with this new modern way of living, and only then will we have a bright future, with the white people’s learning and our own culture.
To you older people I want to say this: you are the people who can pass our culture to the younger generation. At the moment we Inuit seem to be of two different minds. First, the older people know the old way of living, know the language because their forefathers taught them well; and second, the young people are not interested in keeping their own language. They are not being taught to keep their own language. It is important to have our language. At least it will be something we have inherited from our fathers if we keep it.
We should be happy to be who we are, living and working together, keeping our culture strong. After all, we are most comfortable with our own language.
When you learn to work and live the qallunaaq’s way you lose the Inuit way. This can’t be helped. We want progress and comfort and education and security. We can have these things – and still keep our language. We need our language to keep us happy together. An Inuk who has lost his language is completely lost. He doesn’t belong anywhere.