Nancy Karetak-Lindell calls for Inuit support in keynote speech to Kivalliq Trade Show
Sen. Nancy Karetak-Lindell opened her speech to the Kivalliq Trade Show in Rankin Inlet on Tuesday by asserting, “No one can convince me that my father and mother did not have PhD knowledge.”
Reflecting on the trade show’s theme of “Kivalliq in a changing North,” Karetak-Lindell said the difference between changes in the past and today is that Inuit must now be in the driver’s seat for such change.
“We need to be at the tables and decide what changes should be happening to us and everyone that lives in Nunavut,” she said.
And that goes well beyond ticking a consultation box.
Karetak-Lindell, appointed to the Senate in December, challenged leaders and government officials to consider what would happen if the bureaucracy and those with power believed Inuit were capable of being decision makers, influencers and leaders of change?
“I believe human resources is the most critical place to start to change the future,” she said.
She referred to complaints about Inuit who are employed in positions, aren’t supported properly, and end up leaving with the idea perpetuated that they were not capable.
“I get very disappointed when hearing how many Inuit are overlooked for positions they are capable of doing, and someone else, usually from the south, is hired,” she said.
There are so many transferrable skills among Inuit, she said — anyone who can organize a hunting expedition or parents able to manage a family budget clearly have skills that can be used in the workplace whether they have educational credentials or not.
“We have to stop messaging that only those with university and college degrees can do these jobs,” she said.
The way that Inuit have been trained for the past 70 years has not worked, she added.
“We have to start finding different ways of reaching the knowledge that people have and transferring it into a way that works in the job force,” she said, adding employers need to be flexible to incorporate this approach.
There is still a myth that Inuit get everything on a platter or that they don’t pay taxes, she said.
“What’s holding people back from applying for jobs? What’s holding people back from staying in that job and doing their best to help fellow Inuit? I sometimes feel like we need to remind public servants what that means, to be a public servant,” Karetak-Lindell said.
She recalled working as a housing manager in the 1970s and 80s. There were many Inuit housing managers at the time, she said, but there are few now.
“I think we need to do better, especially in our local organizations and committees, that we need to see more Inuit being involved,” said Karetak-Lindell. “I think part of the issue is we now have a culture where people don’t feel comfortable working for their people.”
The challenge today is to make sure young people feel they are up to the challenge, and are armed with both traditional and Western knowledge, she said.
“There are so many things that we have lost as a people, but we are able to take it back.”
