How an Arviat woman is trying to help Inuit children build their language skills — and confidence

It's not always easy keeping up with second- or third-language skills. It can be even harder if you're not feeling confident enough to speak it.

That's how Shelby Angalik, originally from Arviat, Nunavut, felt.

She said in her experience it's not uncommon for people to feel uncomfortable speaking Inuktitut. She even experienced her own challenges going from being fluent in Inuktitut in high school to seeing some of that slip away in the years after she graduated.

"A lot of people are shy, or they feel embarrassed or ashamed. I've been trying to — or I've learned — to be able to sit with that embarrassment. And try to see that this is you actually growing, this is you doing better," she said.

"Because when you're uncomfortable, you're growing as a person … The most important thing is that you keep trying, and you keep trying and you keep practicing. And that's when you start seeing progress."

Angalik is hoping to change that uncomfortable feeling around language for some Inuit in Nunavut, starting from a young age. She said many people have some level of fluency and often just need to practice.

According to Statistics Canada, Inuktut, which includes Inuktitut, Inuinnaqtun and Inuvialuktun, has official language status in Nunavut and the Northwest Territories. And, in Canada in 2021, among the provinces and territories, Nunavut had the highest rate of bilingualism at 68 per cent, owing to the amount of Inuktitut–English bilingualism.

Angalik has recently taken up work with Connected North. It's a program with TakingITGlobal, a charitable non-governmental organization that focuses on promoting awareness and engagement of youth on issues around the world.

Through the program, she's been holding sessions called ᐅᖃᓕᒫᕐᓗ or "Let's Read Together." They're workshops specifically for teachers in Nunavut, where they can request a session with Angalik to speak to their students in Inuktitut.

Angalik said it was her high school teacher who reached out to her, remembering Angalik had once created a reading program when she was in high school.

Kimberley Dymond, who is now a Connected North education coordinator, said at the time Angalik had launched a project trying to get more kids to learn Inuktitut.

"She did it on Thursday evenings and on Sundays, which was absolutely amazing all on her own, with just a little bit of help," Dymond said.

She kept contact with Angalik over the years since she graduated high school. Because there's always a need for more Inuktitut resources for teaches in Nunavut schools, Dymond reached out to Angalik to see if she'd be willing to do some sessions.

"She was totally on board," Dymond said. "It was really just a perfect opportunity."