Ethnicity, Language and Immigration Thematic Series
Evolution of the language situation in Nunavut, 2001 to 2016

The analytical report “Evolution of the language situation in Nunavut, 2001 to 2016” is also available in Inuktitut and Inuinnaqtun in PDF.

Acknowledgments

This project is the result of a collaboration between the Government of Nunavut and Statistics Canada. The authors would like to thank Stéphane Cloutier, Director of the Official Languages Division at the Government of Nunavut's Department of Culture and Heritage, as well as his colleagues for their thoughtful suggestions and comments, including Louise Flaherty, Jonas Azonaha, Richard Paton and Allison Séguin.

This study was made possible thanks to the contribution of Josée Ménard, Julien Acaffou, Alejandro Paez Silva and Brigitte Chavez from Statistics Canada's Center for Ethnocultural, Language and Immigration Statistics. The authors would also like to thank the staff of the Client Service Team of the Social and Aboriginal Statistics Division of Statistics Canada for their involvement and availability

Highlights

The main objective of this report is to provide a statistical overview of the recent situation of Inuktut in Nunavut and of its speakers, based on 2016 Census data, by showing how the use of the language at home and at work has changed since 2001.

This report also aims to provide information to various stakeholders who work to support the protection, promotion and revitalization of Inuktut in communities and among population segments, where its use is more limited or is declining over time.

Population characteristics

• According to data from recent censuses, the population of Nunavut grew 12.7% between 2011 and 2016, and reached 35,944 in 2016.
• Nunavut’s population is much younger population than that of the provinces and other territories, with an average age of 27.7 years, compared with 41.0 years nationally.
• The Inuit made up 84.9% of the population of Nunavut in 2016, down slightly from 2011 (85.5%).
• The Inuit population is younger than the non-Inuit population in Nunavut. Over a third of the Inuit population is under 15 years of age (36.2%), compared with 13.3% of the non-Inuit population.
• In 2016, the non-Inuit population was mostly concentrated in Iqaluit (61.1%). A larger proportion was also found in Rankin Inlet (9.1%) and Cambridge Bay (5.7%).

Population with an Inuktut-mother-tongue

• In 2016, 23,225 Nunavut residents (65.3% of the population) reported Inuktut as their mother tongue. This proportion is down from previous censuses (71.7% in 2001).
• Nearly all people with an Inuktut-mother-tongue (99.6%) are Inuit. In 2016, 95 non-Inuit reported an Inuktut-mother-tongue, which is less than 1% of the population with an Inuktut-mother-tongue.
• Just over three-quarters of Inuit (76.6%) reported an Inuktut-mother-tongue in 2016, which means that Inuktut was not transmitted as a mother tongue to 23.4% of Inuit, or 7,075 people.
• Inuit without an Inuktut–mother-tongue are mainly located in the Kitikmeot region.
• Of the Inuit in the Kitikmeot region without an Inuktut-mother-tongue, 70.4% are under 25 years old.

Ability to conduct a conversation in Inuktut or English

• In 2016, 76.8% of the Nunavut population reported being able to conduct a conversation in Inuktut. This proportion was 79.0% in 2001. The downward trend occurred in spite of a 6,370 increase, over 15 years, in the number of people who could conduct a conversation in Inuktut, from 20,950 in 2001 to 27,320 in 2016.
• The Nunavut population with a knowledge of English has increased in both number and proportion. In 2001, 86.7% of the Nunavut population, or 23,000 people, was able to conduct a conversation in English, compared with 94.1% in 2016, or 33,485 people.
• In 2016, 89.0% of Nunavut’s Inuit population (or 26,880 people) could conduct a conversation in Inuktut, compared with 8.3% among non-Inuit (or 450 people).
• In 2016, 82.3% of Inuit were bilingual (Inuktut and English).
• Although the proportion of the Inuit population with a knowledge of Inuktut remained high in 2016 (89.0%), it had decreased since 2001, when 91.6% of Inuit in Nunavut were able to have a conversation in Inuktut.
• In 2016, knowledge of Inuktut among Inuit aged 0 to 34 was much lower in the Kitikmeot region, and it generally declined more quickly than in the other regions.

Inuktut spoken at home

• In 2016, 73.8% (26,270 people) of the Nunavut population reported speaking Inuktut at home on at least a regular basis. This proportion is slightly higher than in 2001 (73.4%), when 19,480 people reported speaking Inuktut at home.
• While Inuktut is being increasingly used in the home, it is shifting from the main language to the secondary language.
• At home, Inuktut is mainly spoken by Inuit. Across Nunavut, 98.8% of people who speak Inuktut at home have an Inuit identity.
• Most Inuit (58.4%) spoke more than one language at home in 2016. This proportion has increased since 2001, when 52.2% of Inuit spoke more than one language at home, a gain of 6.2 percentage points.

Language transfer, exogamy and transmission of Inuktut-mother-tongue

• The rates of complete language transfer are fairly low among Inuit who have Inuktut as their mother tongue, and have declined. In 2016, only 2.7% of Inuit with an Inuktut-mother-tongue no longer spoke it at least regularly at home, a lower proportion compared with the 5.1% in 2001.
• However, the rates of partial language transfer increased over the 15-year period. In 2016, 21.0% of Inuit with an Inuktut-mother-tongue spoke Inuktut at home as a secondary language and another language as their main home language. This rate of partial language transfer is higher from the 15.1% observed in 2001.
• In Nunavut, for 71.4% of couples with at least one Inuit spouse or partner, Inuktut is the mother tongue of both partners.
• For the whole Nunavut population, Inuktut is transmitted as a mother tongue to 87.4% of children aged 0 to 17 years living in a two-parent household where both parents have an Inuktut-mother-tongue, compared with 28.8% of children of linguistically exogamous couples and 1.4% of children of couples where neither parent has Inuktut as a mother tongue.
• The transmission rates of Inuktut as a mother tongue to Inuit children aged 0 to 14 years have been falling. For example, in 2001, 78.5% of Inuit children aged 0 to 4 years had Inuktut as their mother tongue, compared to 68.4% in 2016—a decline of over 10 percentage points.

Inuktut used at work

• According to 2016 Census data, 60.7% of Nunavut workers (10,315) reported using Inuktut at work. Inuktut was the main work language for 27.9% of workers in Nunavut.
• While 65.0% of Nunavut workers used Inuktut at work in 2001, only 57.8% did so in 2011, a decline of 7.2 percentage points over a 10-year period. This downward trend was reversed between 2011 and 2016: 60.7% of workers used Inuktut in 2016, as their language of work.

French and immigrants languages spoken in Nunavut

• In 2016, 1,565 people were able to conduct a conversation in French in Nunavut, up 550 from 2001 (1,015 people). This represented 4.4% of the Nunavut population in 2016, compared with 3.8% in 2001.
• In 2016, 630 people reported French as their mother tongue, and 625 people used French at home on at least a regular basis in Nunavut, representing 1.8% of the population.
• In 2016, 765 people reported an immigrant mother tongue, and the same number used an immigrant language at least on a regular basis at home in Nunavut, or 2.2% of the population.
• Tagalog was the immigrant language spoken most often at home in Nunavut (175 people, or 0.5% of the total population), reflecting international immigration from the Philippines.
• Since 2001, there has been a significant increase in the use of immigrant languages in Nunavut, and French has remained fairly stable.

Conclusion

• Non-transmission of the mother tongue seems to be the biggest factor that negatively affects the vitality of Inuktut in Nunavut.
• Most of the linguistic indicators revealed considerable regional disparities.
• There was somewhat of a resurgence of Inuktut between 2011 and 2016, particularly in the public sphere.

Introduction and background

Nunavut adopted a unique legislative package ten years ago: the Inuit Language Protection Act and the Official Languages Act. These statutes contain provisions designed to protect, promote and revitalize Inuktut in the territory. Together, these statutes seek to elevate the status of Inuktut within the territory, while continuing to protect the rights of those speaking English and French. It also contains positive measures to protect and promote the quality and prevalent use of Inuktut in a number of areas, such as in school, at work, and in the day-to-day services provided to the public by governments and private sector organizations (Government of Nunavut 2008a, 2008b, 2008c). Inuktut, the term used by the Government of Nunavut, encompasses all dialects and regional variants of the Inuit language (Inuit Uqausinginnik, Taiguusiliuqtiit 2017).

Also in 2018, the Government of Nunavut released “Uqausivut 2.0,” a comprehensive plan to guide the ongoing implementation of its language laws. The plan defines the strategic priorities and desired outcomes for the next five years. Some of these expected outcomes involve a long-term increase in the number of an Inuktut-mother-tongue speakers and the number of people in Nunavut who learn and speak Inuktut in different areas of their life, particularly in communities where its use is on the decline (Government of Nunavut 2018a).

At the request of the Government of Nunavut, Statistics Canada was mandated to produce this report. The main objective of this report is to provide a statistical overview of the recent situation of Inuktut in Nunavut and of its speakers, based on 2016 Census data, by showing how the use of the language at home and at work has changed since 2001. In addition, this report aims to provide information to various stakeholders who work to support the protection, promotion and revitalization of Inuktut in communities and among population segments, where its use is more limited or is declining over time.

Inuktut is not the only official language of Nunavut. English and French also have this status. The report also includes statistical information on these two other official languages, as well as on other languages used by Nunavut residents, to better illustrate the evolving dynamic between Inuktut and other languages in the territory, whose linguistic situation is very different from the provinces and other territories of Canada.

In addition to its goal of preserving Inuktut, the Government of Nunavut aspires to make this territory completely bilingual, with the population able to speak Inuktut fluently, in addition to English or French. The objective of the Bathurst Mandate (Government of Nunavut 1999) was to help the Nunavut population to become a bilingual Inuktut–English society by 2020. This goal continues to be a priority for the Government of Nunavut, as indicated in the Turaaqtavut Mandate, where one of the stated priorities is strengthening the foundations for a fully functional, bilingual society in Inuktut and English or French (Government of Nunavut 2018b). The data on bilingualism in Nunavut presented in this report help to provide a snapshot of the 2016 situation, as well as its evolution since 2001 among the various age groups and communities.

This report can also be used for more general and diverse purposes. For example, many cultures and cultural groups around the world consider language preservation to be an important identity marker. As a result, when these cultures observe a decline in use of their language, they establish projects to revitalize it. This report presents several linguistic vitality indicators drawn from the census that can be applied to other languages, Aboriginal or not.

Since Nunavut’s Inuit and non-Inuit have different linguistic profiles, the information in this report is often presented separately for each of these two groups. Because the Inuit comprise the vast majority of Nunavut’s population, and represent virtually the entire population of Inuktut speakers, greater attention will be paid to this group.

This report is divided into two main parts. The first provides an overview of the linguistic situation in Nunavut, highlighting data from the 2016 Census, but also presenting trends from the past 15 years based on previous censuses. This part is subdivided into four sections:

1. Populations of interest and basic linguistic characteristics
2. Linguistic transfers, exogamy and cross-generational transmission of language
3. Languages used at work
4. Other languages spoken in Nunavut

The second part of this report presents key indicators of the language situation in Nunavut’s 3 regions (Qikiqtaaluk, Kivalliq and Kitikmeot) and 25 communities, as well as for the entire territory for comparison purposes.

Moreover, the report includes three text boxes that highlight language results from the 2012 Aboriginal Peoples Survey (APS) to provide complementary information to that of the census, such as results on the self-rated ability to speak and understand Inuktut, as well as the perceived importance of speaking an Aboriginal language.

Overview of the linguistic situation in Nunavut based on the 2001 to 2016 censuses

1. Populations of interest and basic linguistic characteristics

According to data from recent censuses, the population of Nunavut grew 12.7% between 2011 and 2016 (Statistics Canada 2017a), and reached 35,944^Note  in 2016. In relative terms, this is the strongest growth among all of Canada’s provinces and territories (Statistics Canada 2017b). By comparison, the Canadian population grew 5.0% over the same period.

This demographic growth is spurred by a high fertility rate: 2.9 children per woman, compared to the national average of 1.6 children per woman (Statistics Canada 2017c). In Nunavut, however, population growth is mostly due to natural increase, or the difference between the number of births and deaths. In 2016/2017, for example, there were 907 births and only 184 deaths in Nunavut, for a positive natural increase of 723 people.^Note  Considering that Nunavut’s total population growth was 577 people in 2016/2017, natural increase accounted for 125.3% of the growth.^Note 

Nunavut’s population is much younger population than that of the provinces and other territories, with an average age of 27.7 years, compared with 41.0 years nationally (Statistics Canada 2017a). The proportion of the Nunavut population represented by children under 15 (32.5%) is almost twice the proportion of children in the Canadian population (16.6%). Conversely, residents aged 65 and older make up a far smaller proportion of the Nunavut population (3.8%) than of the Canadian population (16.9%)^Note  (Statistics Canada 2017a).

Specifically, Nunavut stands out from the provinces and other territories because of its large proportion of the population with an Inuit identity, one of Canada’s three main Aboriginal groups, along with the First Nations and Métis. The Inuit made up 84.9% of the population of Nunavut in 2016, down slightly from 2011 (85.5%). The Inuit’s strong presence in the territory suggests different linguistic dynamics than elsewhere in the country. Nunavut could be considered an “area of contact” between language groups. In the territory, Inuktitut and English are predominant; Inuinnaqtun and French are also present, as are Inuvialuktun and other Inuit languages.^Note  The Inuit languages, or Inuktut (the generic term used in this report)—mother tongue of the majority of the population—coexist with English, the mother tongue of a minority in Nunavut, but a majority in Canada, and with French, one of the country’s official languages. Moreover, we are witnessing a growing presence of immigrant languages (see Text box 1 for an explanation of the main concepts) in Nunavut, particularly Tagalog (Pilipino), although the number of speakers remains low.

The linguistic dynamics are complex, and the issues differ between the original populations of Nunavut (or the territories that make up present-day Nunavut), the vast majority of whom are Inuit, and the populations originating from elsewhere in Canada or abroad but residing in Nunavut.

Start of text box

Text box 1: Data sources, methods and definitions

Data sources
The data included in this analysis are taken from the 2001, 2006 and 2016 censuses of population, as well as the 2011 National Household Survey (NHS), with the exception of the data in text boxes 2 to 4, which are taken from the 2012 Aboriginal Peoples Survey (APS). At the time this report was written, the 2017 APS data were not yet available.

Methods used for the censuses and the NHS

Random rounding and percentage distributions
To ensure the confidentiality of the information collected during censuses and the NHS, a random rounding process is used to alter the values reported in individual cells. As a result, when these data are summed or grouped, the total value may not match the sum of the individual values, since the total and subtotals are rounded separately. Similarly, percentage distributions, which are calculated on rounded data, may not necessarily add up to 100%.

Because of random rounding, counts and percentages may vary slightly between different census products, such as analytical documents, highlight tables and data tables.

Census and NHS definitions

Inuit population
The Inuit population is defined in question 18 of the 2016 Census long-form questionnaire: “Is this person an Aboriginal person, that is, First Nations (North American Indian), Métis or Inuk (Inuit)?” Throughout this report, “Inuit population” or “Inuit” refer to persons who reported an Inuit identity (single or multiple responses), while “non-Inuit population” or “non-Inuit” are persons who did not report this identity.

The use of “by Inuit identity” in the title of a table or chart means that the data are shown separately for the Inuit and non-Inuit populations.

Community, region and regional centre
For readability, the term “community” is used instead of the geographic concept of census subdivision (CSD) used by Statistics Canada. For the same reason, the term “region” is used in place of census division (CD). In this report, regions and communities (see Map 1) are designated as per Government of Nunavut terminology, which may differ from Statistics Canada’s. In order to compare with Statistics Canada data, particularly in data tables, the region of Qikiqtaaluk refers to the Baffin CD, the region of Kivalliq refers to the Keewatin CD, and the community of Resolute Bay refers to the Resolute CSD.

Description of Map 1

Description of Map 1

On this map, Kitikmeot region is in orange; Kivalliq region is in yellow; Qikiqtaaluk region is in green. Communities in Kitikmeot region are: Kugaaruk, Kugluktuk, Cambridge Bay, Gjoa Haven, Taloyoak. Communities in Kivalliq region are: Coral Harbour, Arviat, Whale Cove, Rankin Inlet, Chesterfield Inlet, Baker Lake, Naujaat. Communities in Qikiqtaaluk region are: Sanikiluaq, Iqaluit, Kimmirut, Cape Dorset, Pangnirtung, Qikiqtarjuaq, Hall Beach, Igloolik, Clyde River, Arctic Bay, Pond Inlet, Resolute Bay, Grise Fiord.

Nunavut’s three regional centres are the city of Iqaluit for the region of Qikiqtaaluk, the community of Rankin Inlet for the region of Kivalliq, and the community of Cambridge Bay for the region of Kitikmeot.

Nunavummiut
Persons residing in Nunavut.

Mother tongue
Mother tongue refers to the first language learned at home in childhood and still understood.

Language spoken at home
Since 2001, the Census of Population has included a two-part question on the languages spoken at home. The first part (part A) asks about the language spoken most often at home, while the second part (part B) asks for the language or languages spoken regularly at home in addition to the main language, if applicable. For each part, more than one response is accepted. In this article, the statistics on language spoken at home (or language of use) include, unless otherwise indicated, all individuals who reported that language in part A or B, alone or with another language.

Other language
The expression “other languages” refers to all languages other than English and French. It includes Aboriginal, immigrant and sign languages. Some data products also use the expression “non-official languages” to refer to the same concept.

Exceptionally, “other languages” can also be a residual category; the context will dictate what falls under it.

Aboriginal language
Aboriginal languages refer to languages (other than English or French) traditionally spoken by the Aboriginal peoples of Canada, that is, First Nations people (North American Indians), Métis and Inuit.

Inuktut
Inuktut is a designation standardized by the Inuit Language Authority of Nunavut (Inuit Uqausinginnik Taiguusiliuqtiit). It includes all the dialects and regional variants of the Inuit language spoken in Nunavut. In this document, Inuktut refers to the census concept of the Inuit language family, which comprises Inuktitut, Inuinnaqtun, Inuvialuktun and Inuit languages n.i.e. (not included elsewhere).

Immigrant language
The expression “immigrant languages” refers to languages (other than English and French) whose existence in Canada was originally due to immigration after English and French colonization. This expression excludes Aboriginal languages and sign languages.

End of text box

1.1 Definition of population of interest

1.1.1 Inuit identity population

The Nunavut population is 84.9% Inuit (30,190 persons) (Table 1.1). Thus, 15.1% of the population of Nunavut (5,390 people) does not identify as Inuit. The Inuit population has steadily grown since 2001, but its proportion of the total population of Nunavut has remained mostly unchanged (Chart 1.1).^Note 

Table 1.1 start



Table 1.1 end

Chart 1.1 start

Data table for Chart 1.1



Data table for Chart 1.1
Table summary
This table displays the results of Data table for Chart 1.1 Number and Percent (appearing as column headers).

	Number	Percent
Censuses of population
2001	22,555	85.0
2006	24,625	84.3
National Household Survey
2011	27,090	85.5
Census of population
2016	30,190	84.9
Sources: Statistics Canada, censuses of population 2001, 2006 and 2016; 2011 National Household Survey.

Chart 1.1 end

Table 1.1 shows that Inuit account for over 90% of the population in most of Nunavut’s communities. The exceptions are Iqaluit (56.6%), Rankin Inlet (82.2%), Cambridge Bay (82.5%) and Resolute Bay (86.8%). In all cases, the Inuit population comprises the majority, i.e., over half the population in each community.

The distribution of Inuit and non-Inuit population is not uniform across Nunavut (see Table 1.2). Non-Inuit population are mostly concentrated in Iqaluit (61.1%), the capital of Nunavut and Qikiqtaaluk’s regional centre. A larger proportion is also found in the territory’s two other regional centres (9.1% in Rankin Inlet and 5.7% in Cambridge Bay). In short, more than three-quarters (75.9%) of the 5,390 non-Inuit live in the three regional centres.

Table 1.2 start



Table 1.2 end

Conversely, just over one-quarter (26.5%) of Nunavut’s 30,190 Inuit live in one of the three regional centres (14.2% in Iqaluit, 7.6% in Rankin Inlet and 4.8% in Cambridge Bay). This means that a large majority of the Inuit population (73.5%) is distributed among the territory’s 22 other communities.

Over 9 in 10 residents of the Kivalliq (91.2%) and Kitikmeot (91.1%) regions are of Inuit identity, compared with 79.3% in Qikiqtaaluk region. However, if we exclude the population of Iqaluit, 94.6% of the population in the rest of Qikiqtaaluk are Inuit.

The Inuit population is younger than the non-Inuit population in Nunavut (Table 1.3). Over a third of the Inuit population is under 15 years of age (36.2%), compared with 13.3% of the non-Inuit population. Conversely, three in four non-Inuit (76.2%) are between the ages of 25 and 64 years, compared with 41.0% of Inuit. These differences speak to the contrast between the Inuit population, whose demographic evolution depends mainly on natural increase,^Note  and the non-Inuit population, for which migration is an important factor.

Table 1.3 start



Table 1.3 end

In 2016, Nunavut was home to 31,435 people aged five years and older. Of these, 28,715 also lived in Nunavut in 2011, while 2,535 lived in another province or territory and 185 lived outside Canada. In other words, about 9% of the Nunavut population aged five years or older in 2016 had been living in another province, territory or country in 2011.

In total, Nunavut’s net interprovincial migration over the 2011-to-2016 period was slightly positive (+75). This period saw 2,460 people leave Nunavut for other provinces and territories, while 2,535 people migrated there.^Note 

26,375 Inuit aged five and older enumerated in Nunavut in 2016, 26,005 (98.6%) also lived there in 2011.

The situation among non-Inuit is very different. Of the 4,870 non-Inuit who were living in Nunavut in 2016, only slightly more than half (55.4%) had been living there five years earlier (2,705 people). Many non-Inuit move to Nunavut from a province or another territory to work there for a few years, then return to live in their home province or territory.

The distribution of in- and out-migrants by Inuit identity reveals in a different way the over representation of non-Inuit people among migrants compared to the total Nunavut population, the majority of whom are Inuit. In 2016, 85.4% of the migrants who had moved to Nunavut from provinces and territories since 2011 were non-Inuit, compared with 14.4% who were Inuit (Chart 1.2).

In addition, more non-Inuit than Inuit (both in number and proportion) left Nunavut between 2011 and 2016. Of the 2,460 out-migrants, 1,785 (72.6%) were non-Inuit and 675 (27.4%) were Inuit.

Chart 1.2 start

Data table for Chart 1.2



Data table for Chart 1.2
Table summary
This table displays the results of Data table for Chart 1.2 In-migrants, Out-migrants and Total population 5 years and up, calculated using percent units of measure (appearing as column headers).

	In-migrants	Out-migrants	Total population 5 years and up
	percent
Inuit population	14.4	27.4	84.4
Non-Inuit population	85.4	72.6	15.6
Note: See “Random rounding and percentage distributions” and the definitions in Text box 1. Source: Statistics Canada, Census of Population 2016.

Chart 1.2 end

Although Inuit are underrepresented among the population of migrants between the provinces and territories, migration has contributed to a slight slowdown in the pace of growth of Nunavut’s Inuit population during this period. This is because the number of Inuit who left Nunavut between 2011 and 2016 (675) exceeded the number of Inuit who emigrated there (365), for a negative balance of -310 (Table 1.4).^Note  Among non-Inuit, net migration between the provinces and territories was positive (+380).

Table 1.4 start



Table 1.4 end

1.1.2 Mother tongue

In 2016, 23,225 Nunavut residents (65.3% of the population^Note ) reported Inuktut as their mother tongue. However, this proportion is down from previous censuses (68.9% in 2011 and 71.7% in 2001) (Chart 1.3). While it is mostly Inuit who have Inuktut as their mother tongue, the proportion of this population reporting an Inuktut-mother-tongue decreased from one census to another between 2001 and 2016.

Chart 1.3 start

Data table for Chart 1.3



Data table for Chart 1.3
Table summary
This table displays the results of Data table for Chart 1.3 Number and Percent (appearing as column headers).

	Number	Percent
Censuses of population
2001	19,025	71.7
2006	20,715	70.9
National Household Survey
2011	21,835	68.9
Census of population
2016	23,225	65.3
Sources: Statistics Canada, censuses of population 2001, 2006 and 2016; 2011 National Household Survey.

Chart 1.3 end

The main Inuktut-mother-tongue in Nunavut is Inuktitut: 97.4% of people with an Inuktut-mother-tongue have Inuktitut as their mother tongue (22,630 people) (Table 1.5). The 545 people with Inuinnaqtun as their mother tongue, concentrated mostly in the communities of Kugluktuk and Cambridge Bay (Kitikmeot region), make up 2.3% of Nunavut’s Inuktut-mother-tongue residents. Only a handful of Nunavummiut reported Inuvialuktun (15 persons or 0.1%) or another Inuit language (35 persons or 0.2%) as their mother tongue.

Table 1.5 start



Table 1.5 end

These data include all responses of Inuktut as their mother tongue, be it single or multiple responses.^Note  Table 1.6 shows that virtually all the responses on mother tongue are single responses, and that multiple responses are mostly English in combination with Inuktut. The population who reported Inuktut as their only mother tongue rose from 18,595 in 2001 to 22,560 in 2016. However, this increase represents a decline in relative terms, since the proportion of the Nunavut population who reported Inuktut as their only mother tongue was 63.4% in 2016, versus 70.1% in 2001, a decline of nearly 7 percentage points.

Table 1.6 start



Table 1.6 end

Multiple responses to the mother-tongue question have been on the rise in Nunavut since 2006, especially between 2011 (1.0%) and 2016 (2.1%). The number of people who reported Inuktut in combination with English as their mother tongue doubled over this period (300 people in 2011 compared with 650 in 2016).

Nearly all people with an Inuktut-mother-tongue^Note  (99.6%) are Inuit (Table 1.7). In 2016, 95 non-Inuit reported an Inuktut-mother-tongue, which is less than 1% of the population with an Inuktut-mother-tongue.

Table 1.7 start



Table 1.7 end

While having an Inuktut-mother-tongue is strongly associated with Inuit identity, the reverse is not necessarily true. For example, just over three-quarters of Inuit (76.6%) reported an Inuktut-mother-tongue in 2016, which means that Inuktut was not transmitted as a mother tongue to 23.4% of Inuit, or 7,075 people (Table 1.8).

Inuit without an Inuktut–mother-tongue are mainly located in the Kitikmeot^Note  region (Table 1.8). In each of this region’s communities, over half of the Inuit do not have an Inuktut-mother-tongue. The number of Inuit without an Inuktut-mother-tongue is 1,100 in Cambridge Bay (76.7% of Inuit), 995 in Kugluktuk (73.7%), 720 in Gjoa Haven (57.4%), 515 in Taloyoak (52.6%), and 475 in Kugaaruk (53.4%).

This means that 3,785 Inuit in the Kitikmeot region do not have an Inuktut-mother-tongue, or 53.5% of all Inuit in Nunavut who do not have an Inuktut-mother-tongue. Of these 3,785 people, 1,775 are under 15 (46.9%) and 890 are between 15 and 24 years old (23.5%). In other words, of the Inuit in the Kitikmeot region without an Inuktut-mother-tongue, 70.4% are under 25 years old.

Table 1.8 start



Table 1.8 end

In the Kivalliq region, 80.1% of Inuit have an Inuktut-mother-tongue. However, this proportion varies greatly from one community to another. In Arviat (96.8%) and Coral Harbour (92.4%), nearly all Inuit have an Inuktut-mother-tongue, while the majority of Inuit in Baker Lake (52.4%) have a non-Inktut-mother-tongue.

In the Qikiqtaaluk region, if we exclude the city of Iqaluit, 97.5% of Inuit have an Inuktut-mother-tongue (this proportion is 90.5% if we include Iqaluit). In this region, the communities with the highest proportion of Inuit who did not have an Inuktut-mother-tongue are Iqaluit (26.7%), the regional centre and capital of the territory—home to a relatively large number of non-Inuit—as well as Resolute Bay (21.2%) and Grise Fiord (20.8%), the two northernmost communities.

The proportion of Inuit population with an Inuktut-mother-tongue is higher among older people (see Chart 1.4). For example, 90.5% of Inuit aged 45 to 54 have an Inuktut-mother-tongue, as do 93.1% of Inuit aged 55 to 64 and 97.3% of Inuit 65 years and older. Conversely, 68.5% of Inuit aged 0 to 4 years, 67.6% of Inuit aged 5 to 9 years and 68.2% of Inuit aged 10 to 14 years have an Inuktut-mother-tongue. This raises the issue of mother-tongue transmission to younger generations, which will be examined in more detail later in this report (see section 2).

Chart 1.4 start

Data table for Chart 1.4



Data table for Chart 1.4
Table summary
This table displays the results of Data table for Chart 1.4. The information is grouped by Age group (appearing as row headers), Percent (appearing as column headers).

Age group	Percent
0 to 4 years	68.5
5 to 9 years	67.6
10 to 14 years	68.2
15 to 19 years	72.1
20 to 24 years	72.0
25 to 34 years	77.3
35 to 44 years	84.6
45 to 54 years	90.5
55 to 64 years	93.1
65 years and older	97.3
Source: Statistics Canada, Census of Population 2016.

Chart 1.4 end

However, the transmission of an Inuktut-mother-tongue to children under 15 varies by Nunavut region: 85.8% of Inuit aged 0 to 14 years in the Qikiqtaaluk region have an Inuktut-mother-tongue (96.7%, if we exclude Iqaluit), compared with 72.5% in the Kivalliq region and 15.9% in the Kitikmeot region.

Start of text box

Text box 2: How important is it for Inuit in Nunavut to speak and understand an Aboriginal language? How often are they exposed to an Aboriginal language?

For the vast majority of Inuit aged 6 and over in Nunavut, speaking and understanding an Aboriginal language was reported as being important to them. Among the 23,270 Inuit aged 6 and over living in Nunavut, as estimated by the 2012 Aboriginal Peoples Survey (APS), about 8 in 10 (83%) reported that it was very important and another 1 in 10 (11%) mentioned that it was somewhat important. The remaining Inuit population of this age group in the territory said that speaking and understanding an Aboriginal language was either not very important or not important to them, or claimed not to have an opinion on the subject.

Unsurprisingly, with Inuktut being one of the official languages in the territory and further protected by a specific law to increase its use in various aspects of daily life, almost all Inuit aged 6 and over in Nunavut (99%) said in the 2012 APS that they were exposed to an Aboriginal language either at home or outside of the home. Many of them were frequently exposed to an Aboriginal language in both environments. In 2012, about 8 in 10 (81%) of the 23,270 Inuit aged 6 and over living in Nunavut were exposed to an Aboriginal language on a daily basis at home and outside the home.

Notes regarding the 2012 APS:

1. At the time this report was written, the 2017 APS data were not yet available.
2. In Nunavut, the 2012 APS covered the Aboriginal population aged 6 and over. Information specific to the regions and communities of Nunavut are not available in the 2012 APS.
3. Missing values ("don't know", "not stated" and "refusal") were excluded from the denominator when calculating percentages.
4. Additional information about the 2012 APS is available on the Statistics Canada website.

End of text box

1.2 Linguistic characteristics and practices

Inuit identity and mother tongue are fairly stable characteristics that should theoretically remain the same throughout a person’s life.^Note  Census data provide information on linguistic characteristics or practices that can change based on different factors: the ability to hold a conversation in a language and the use of languages at home.^Note 

People can acquire knowledge of one or more second languages. The ability to hold a conversation in a language can also be lost if the language is not used. As a result, some people are no longer able to conduct a conversation in their mother tongue, even if they still understand it.

Language use at home can change over the course of a lifetime and mainly depends on the languages spoken by the people who live with the person. Exogamous linguistic unions, which refers to unions between people with different mother tongues, are generally more common in “areas of contact” between different language groups and can result in the use of multiple languages in a household. Language use at home is strongly linked to transmitting a mother tongue to children.

1.2.1 Ability to conduct a conversation in Inuktut or English

In 2016, 76.8% of the Nunavut population reported being able to conduct a conversation in Inuktut. This proportion was 79.0% in 2001. With each census, the proportion of the Nunavut population capable of conducting a conversation in Inuktut fell slightly, but in a steady manner (Chart 1.5).

Chart 1.5 start

Data table for Chart 1.5



Data table for Chart 1.5
Table summary
This table displays the results of Data table for Chart 1.5 Number and Percent (appearing as column headers).

	Number	Percent
Censuses of population
2001	20,950	79.0
2006	22,900	78.4
National Household Survey
2011	24,470	77.2
Census of population
2016	27,320	76.8
Sources: Statistics Canada, censuses of population 2001, 2006 and 2016; 2011 National Household Survey.

Chart 1.5 end

The downward trend occurred in spite of a 6,370 increase, over 15 years, in the number of people who could conduct a conversation in Inuktut, from 20,950 in 2001 to 27,320 in 2016. This is because the 30.4% increase over this period was lower than the growth of the Nunavut population (+34.1%) over the same period.

The Nunavut population with a knowledge of English has increased in both number and proportion. In 2001, 86.7% of the Nunavut population was able to conduct a conversation in English (Chart 1.6), compared with 94.1% in 2016. However, this growth was not linear; the proportion of people who could hold a conversation in English fell between 2006 and 2011.^Note 

Chart 1.6 start

Data table for Chart 1.6



Data table for Chart 1.6
Table summary
This table displays the results of Data table for Chart 1.6 Number and Percent (appearing as column headers).

	Number	Percent
Censuses of population
2001	23,000	86.7
2006	26,880	92.1
National Household Survey
2011	28,795	90.9
Census of population
2016	33,485	94.1
Sources: Statistics Canada, censuses of population 2001, 2006 and 2016; 2011 National Household Survey.

Chart 1.6 end

The number of people with a knowledge of English rose from 23,000 in 2001 to 33,485 in 2016, a 45.6% increase.

In nearly all the communities of the Qikiqtaaluk and Kivalliq regions, at least 9 in 10 residents reported being able to conduct a conversation in Inuktut in 2016 (Table 1.9). The sole exceptions were Iqaluit (51.2%), Resolute Bay (84.2%), Rankin Inlet (79.5%) and Baker Lake (81.2%). In the Kitikmeot region, 57.4% of the population was able to hold a conversation in Inuktut. This proportion varied greatly between the region’s communities, from 33.6% in Cambridge Bay to 74.6% in Kugaaruk.

Table 1.9 start



Table 1.9 end

Over 90% of the population was able to have a conversation in English in most Nunavut communities in 2016. In the remaining communities, this proportion was still above 80%.

In 14 communities, the number of people who could conduct a conversation in English exceeded the number of people who could hold a conversation in Inuktut in 2016. These communities included the three regional centres (Iqaluit, Rankin Inlet and Cambridge Bay). Conversely, the number of people who could conduct a conversation in Inuktut exceeded the number of people who could have a conversation in English in 11 communities. These communities are all located in the Qikiqtaaluk region, with the exception of Arviat, which is in the Kivalliq region.

In 2016, those who could conduct a conversation in French (70.6%) were concentrated in the capital of Iqaluit and accounted for 14.6% of the city’s population.

Among Canada’s provinces and territories, Nunavut boasts the largest proportion of the population who reported being able to conduct a conversation in more than one language. In 2016, just over three-quarters (76.9%) of the Nunavut population knew more than one language, compared to 39.0% of the Canadian population. Quebec ranked second, with just over half (52.2%) of its population being able to conduct a conversation in more than one language.

1.2.1.1 Changes in the ability to conduct a conversation in Inuktut and in English

The share of the population with a knowledge of English increased in all communities in Nunavut between 2001 and 2016 (Table 1.10)^Note . The largest increases occurred in Sanikiluaq, where 96.0% of the population were able to carry on a conversation in English in 2016, up 26.1 percentage points from 2001 (69.9%), and in Pangnirtung, where this proportion rose from 68.6% in 2001 to 85.8% in 2016, an increase of 17.2 percentage points. Also, an increase in the knowledge of English of more than 10 percentage points over this period was recorded in Hall Beach, Igloolik, Grise Fiord, Clyde River, Coral Harbour and Pond Inlet. In all these communities, the proportion of the population who could conduct a conversation in Inuktut was very high (over 90% in 2016), and, unlike the proportion who knew English, it remained steady between 2001 and 2016.

Table 1.10 start



Table 1.10 end

The communities where knowledge of English grew the least are generally those where this knowledge was already very high (over 90%). Moreover, it was in these communities that knowledge of Inuktut, proportion-wise, varied the most. In Kugaaruk, the proportion of the population who could conduct a conversation in Inuktut was 74.6% in 2016, compared with 86.7% in 2001, a 12.1 percentage-point decrease. In Cambridge Bay, this proportion dropped from 42.3% in 2001 to 33.6% in 2016, a decrease of 8.7 percentage points. A decline in the knowledge of Inuktut was also observed in Baker Lake, Chesterfield Inlet, Gjoa Haven, Taloyoak and Iqaluit. The communities of Resolute Bay,Rankin Inlet and Kugluktuk stood out: although knowledge of English, already very high in 2001, saw a moderate increase, knowledge of Inuktut, which is lower than the knowledge of English in each community, saw a relatively large increase (5.6, 5.8 and 4.3 percentage points, respectively).

1.2.1.2 Knowledge of languages among the Inuit population

These statistics speak to two important findings: the knowledge of languages differs between the Inuit and non-Inuit populations, and Inuktut–English bilingualism is very high among the Inuit population (82.3%). In 2016, 89.0% of Nunavut’s Inuit population could conduct a conversation in Inuktut, compared with 8.3% among non-Inuit (Table 1.11). Nearly all non-Inuit (98.9%) in Nunavut could conduct a conversation in English. Knowledge of English was also very high among Inuit (93.2%).

Table 1.11 start



Table 1.11 end

Table 1.12 shows that in 2016, there were more Inuit who could conduct a conversation in English (28,150 people) than in Inuktut (26,880). This was the case for nearly every age group among the Inuit population, except children aged 0 to 4, and adults aged 55 to 64 years and 65 years and older.

Moreover, in 2016, 82.3% of Inuit were bilingual (Inuktut and English) (Table 1.12). The rates of Inuktut–English bilingualism were particularly high among Inuit aged 25 to 64 years (92.1%). The lowest rates of Inuktut–English bilingualism in the Inuit population were found among those aged 65 years and older (59.7%) and 0 to 4 years (61.8%).

Table 1.12 start



Table 1.12 end

Given that a high proportion of Inuit in Nunavut are able to conduct a conversation in Inuktut and in English, only a small minority of the Inuit population knows only one language. In 2016, 2,015 Inuit (6.7%) could conduct a conversation only in Inuktut, and 3,185 Inuit (10.5%) knew only English. Interestingly, the number of Inuit who spoke only English is higher than the number of Inuit who spoke only Inuktut in all age groups, except among preschool-aged children and those aged 55 and older. Among Inuit children between the ages of 0 and 4 years, 800 spoke only Inuktut in 2016, compared with 635 who spoke only English. Among adults aged 55 and up, 525 spoke only Inuktut and 40 spoke only English.

Although the proportion of the Inuit population with a knowledge of Inuktut remained high in 2016 (89.0%), it had decreased since 2001, when 91.6% of Inuit in Nunavut were able to have a conversation in Inuktut. With the exception of Inuit aged 65 years and older, the proportion of the Inuit population able to converse in Inuktut declined among all age groups (Table 1.13). The declines over this 15-year period were more pronounced among Inuit aged 0 to 34 years, except for the 5-to-9 age group, which posted the smallest decline.

Conversely, knowledge of English among the Inuit population rose over the same period, from 84.5% in 2001 to 93.2% in 2016. This increase was observed for all age groups, but was especially large among Inuit children aged 0 to 9 years and adults 45 years and older.

Among the entire Inuit population of Nunavut, the rate of Inuktut–English bilingualism also rose from 2001 to 2016 (from 76.1% to 82.3%). However, it fell over the same period among teenagers and young adults aged 15 to 34 years.

Table 1.13 start



Table 1.13 end

One way to preserve and revitalize a language is to ensure that young people learn it from childhood and maintain it through regular, everyday use. Table 1.14 highlights Nunavut’s Inuit population aged 0 to 34 years and shows that knowledge of Inuktut among children, teens and young adults varies a great deal depending on the region and or community.

Apart from Iqaluit, nearly all young Inuit aged 0 to 34 years in every community of the Qikiqtaaluk region could conduct a conversation in Inuktut in 2016. In the capital, the proportion of this population with a knowledge of Inuktut dropped sharply from 2001 to 2016 for each of the four age groups. This decline was most apparent among preschool-aged Inuit children: 84.5% could speak Inuktut in 2001, versus 70.7% in 2016 (Table 1.14).

In several communities in the Kivalliq region, the proportion of Inuit aged 0 to 34 years who could have a conversation in Inuktut was very high in 2016. However, results were different for the Baker Lake community: its Inuit population in this age group was less likely to be able to converse in Inuktut. Furthermore, when compared with Inuit in the same age group in other communities of the region, 0- to 34-year-old Inuit in Baker Lake saw the sharpest decline in the ability to have a conversation in Inuktut between 2001 and 2016. The biggest drop occurred among Inuit aged 15 to 24 years (from 93.5% in 2001 to 80.3% in 2016). In contrast, there was an increase in the ability to conduct a conversation in Inuktut for some age groups among the Inuit population of Coral Harbour, Arviat, Rankin Inlet and Naujaat.

In 2016, knowledge of Inuktut among Inuit aged 0 to 34 was much lower in the Kitikmeot region, and it generally declined more quickly than in the other regions. In Cambridge Bay, the proportion of Inuit aged 0 to 34 years who could have a conversation in Inuktut for each of the four age groups was much lower than in the other Kitikmeot communities in 2016. That year, only 13.8% of preschool-aged Inuit children in Cambridge Bay could converse in Inuktut. Kugluktuk also had lower proportions than the three other communities in the region for each of the four age groups between 0 and 34, but unlike these communities and Cambridge Bay, the proportion of Inuit aged 0 to 4 years, 5 to 14 years and 15 to 24 years who could conduct a conversation in Inuktut rose from 2001 to 2016.

Table 1.14 start



Table 1.14 end

1.2.1.3 Ability of non-Inuit populations to speak Inuktut

In 2016, 8.3% of non-Inuit living in Nunavut could conduct a conversation in Inuktut (450 persons). Non-Inuit people’s knowledge of Inuktut fluctuated from one census to the next, with no clear trend apparent. The percentage rose from 7.5% in 2001 to 12.6% in 2006, then fell to 7.8% in 2011. The non-Inuit population is likely to change quite substantially based on migrations between the provinces and territories, which might explain these fluctuations.

Start of text box

Text box 3: How well is Inuktut spoken: very well, relatively well, with effort or only a few words? How well is Inuktut understood?

The previous section showed information about Inuit in Nunavut who spoke Inuktut well enough to conduct a conversation, based on census or NHS data. In Text box 3, language data from the 2012 APS are used to provide complementary insights into how Inuit in Nunavut rated their ability to speak Inuktut, from only a few words to very well, as well as how well the language is understood.

In 2012, among the estimated 23,270 Inuit aged 6 and over living in Nunavut, 96% said that they could speak at least a few words of Inuktut.

The vast majority of Inuit aged 6 and over in Nunavut speaking Inuktut in 2012 said they spoke it very well (63%), while another 15% said they spoke it relatively well. On the other hand, 13% were able to speak only a few words of Inuktut, while the remaining 8% said they could speak it with effort (Chart A).

However, a minimal ability to speak Inuktut does not necessarily mean that the language is not well understood. Among the 4,720 Inuit aged 6 and over who spoke Inuktut with effort or who could speak only a few words, about half (48%) rated their ability to understand it either relatively well or very well.

Chart A start

Data table for Chart A



Data table for Chart A
Table summary
This table displays the results of Data table for Chart A Speak very well, Speak relatively well, Speak with effort and Speak only a few words, calculated using percent units of measure (appearing as column headers).

	Speak very well	Speak relatively well	Speak with effort	Speak only a few words
	percent
Inuit aged 6 and over speaking Inuktut	63	15	8	13
Notes: Missing values ("don't know", "not stated" and "refusal") were excluded from the denominator when calculating percentages. Percentages do not add up to 100% because of rounding. Source: Statistics Canada, 2012 Aboriginal Peoples Survey.

Chart A end

The self-rated ability to speak Inuktut varied by age group. Adults were more likely to speak Inuktut well, compared with children and youth. Among the Inuktut speakers, almost all Inuit aged 55 and over (98%), and about 9 in 10 Inuit adults aged 25 to 54, reported speaking Inuktut very well or relatively well. The proportions were lower for Inuit children aged 6 to 14 and Inuit youth aged 15 to 24. For bothgroups of Inuktut speakers, about 7 in 10 said they spoke the language very well or relatively well (Chart B).

While about a third of Inuit children and youths spoke Inuktut with effort or spoke only a few words, a number of them could understand it very well or relatively well. Among the 1,860 Inuit children aged 6 to 14 with a minimal ability to speak Inuktut, about 4 in 10 (43%) could understand Inuktut well. Among the 1,660 Inuit youth aged 15 to 24 who were unable to speak Inuktut well, slightly more than half (53%) could, however, understand it well. The difference in the proportions for children and youth was not statistically significant.

Chart B start

Data table for Chart B



Data table for Chart B
Table summary
This table displays the results of Data table for Chart B Speaks very well or relatively well, Speaks with effort or only a few words, percent and 95% confidence interval, calculated using Lower and Upper units of measure (appearing as column headers).

	Speaks very well or relatively well			Speaks with effort or only a few words
	percent	95% confidence interval		percent	95% confidence interval
		Lower	Upper		Lower	Upper
Aged 6 and over	78	2	2	22	2	2
Aged 6 to 14	65Note *	5	5	35	5	5
Aged 15 to 24	68Note *	5	5	32	5	5
Aged 25 to 54	87Data table Note †	3	3	13	3	3
Aged 55 and over	98Note *	10	2	Note x: suppressed to meet the confidentiality requirements of the Statistics Act	Note x: suppressed to meet the confidentiality requirements of the Statistics Act	Note x: suppressed to meet the confidentiality requirements of the Statistics Act
x suppressed to meet the confidentiality requirements of the Statistics Act Note * significantly different from the reference category (p<0.05) Return to note * referrer Note † reference group Return to note † referrer Notes: The vertical lines on each bar represent 95% confidence intervals. Missing values ("don't know", "not stated" and "refusal") were excluded from the denominator when calculating percentages. Source: Statistics Canada, 2012 Aboriginal Peoples Survey.

Chart B end

End of text box

1.2.2 Languages spoken at home

The ability to conduct a conversation in a language is essential for its use in various everyday situations. Census data provide information on the language spoken at home and the language used at work (see Text box 1 for the definitions of these concepts). Knowing a language does not necessarily mean that it is used on a regular basis at home. Speaking a language regularly at home helps people maintain their knowledge of the language, and makes it more likely that it will be transmitted to the children. In 2016, 73.8% (26,270 people)^Note  of the Nunavut population reported speaking Inuktut at home on at least a regular basis. This proportion is slightly higher than in 2001 (73.4%), when 19,480 people reported speaking Inuktut at home.

That being said, fewer people are reporting Inuktut as the main language used at home. In 2016, Inuktut was the main language used at home by 51.4% of the Nunavut population, compared with 58.1% in 2001 (see Chart 1.7). Although the use of Inuktut as the main language at home fell 6.7 percentage points, its use as a secondary language was up 7.1 percentage points.

While Inuktut is being increasingly used in the home, it is shifting from the main language to the secondary language.

Chart 1.7 start

Data table for Chart 1.7



Data table for Chart 1.7
Table summary
This table displays the results of Data table for Chart 1.7 2001, 2006, 2011 and 2016, calculated using percent units of measure (appearing as column headers).

	2001	2006	2011	2016
	percent
Main language	58.1	54.8	52.4	51.4
Secondary language	15.3	17.8	20.9	22.5
Total	73.4	72.6	73.2	73.8
Sources: Statistics Canada, censuses of population 2001, 2006 and 2016; 2011 National Household Survey.

Chart 1.7 end

At home, Inuktut is mainly spoken by Inuit. Across Nunavut, 98.8% of people who speak Inuktut at home have an Inuit identity. In 2016, 5.8% of non-Inuit reported speaking Inuktut at home, or 315 people from a total of 5,390 non-Inuit. In comparison, 86.0% of Inuit reported speaking Inuktut at home in 2016.

The proportion of the Inuit population who speak Inuktut at home is higher among seniors: 98.6% of Inuit 65 years and older spoke Inuktut in 2016, versus 80.7% of Inuit aged 0 to 4 years (Chart 1.8).

Chart 1.8 start

Data table for Chart 1.8



Data table for Chart 1.8
Table summary
This table displays the results of Data table for Chart 1.8. The information is grouped by Age group (appearing as row headers), Percent (appearing as column headers).

Age group	Percent
Total	86.0
0 to 4 years	80.7
5 to 9 years	83.1
10 to 14 years	82.3
15 to 19 years	82.7
20 to 24 years	81.4
25 to 34 years	86.3
35 to 44 years	91.4
45 to 54 years	92.8
55 to 64 years	95.1
65 years and older	98.6
Source: Statistics Canada, Census of Population 2016.

Chart 1.8 end

Still among the Inuit population, there are wider variations in the use of Inuktut between communities. In the Kitikmeot region, 55.5% of Inuit speak Inuktut at home, compared with 93.6% in the Qikiqtaaluk region and 93.1% in the Kivalliq region (Table 1.15). Even within regions, use varies greatly. In Iqaluit, 79.9% of Inuit speak Inuktut at home, compared with 99.2% in all the other communities in the Qikiqtaaluk region. Nearly all Inuit speak Inuktut at home in every other community of the Qikiqtaaluk region. Inuktut is spoken by somewhat fewer Inuit in the communities of Resolute Bay (87.9%) and Grise Fiord (91.7%), farther north.

Table 1.15 start



Table 1.15 end

In the Kivalliq region, Inuit are slightly less likely to use Inuktut at home in Baker Lake (82.5%) and Rankin Inlet (89.5%). However, the largest differences are found in the Kitikmeot region: the proportion of Inuit who speak Inuktut at home is 28.7% in Cambridge Bay and 47.2% in Kugluktuk, while it is above 70% in the region’s three other communities.

1.2.2.1 Use of several languages at home

Most Inuit (58.4%) spoke more than one language at home in 2016. This proportion has increased since 2001, when 52.2% of Inuit spoke more than one language at home, a gain of 6.2 percentage points. Chart 1.9 shows that this growth occurred primarily between 2011 and 2016.

Chart 1.9 start

Data table for Chart 1.9



Data table for Chart 1.9
Table summary
This table displays the results of Data table for Chart 1.9 Inuit, Non-Inuit and Total population, calculated using percent units of measure (appearing as column headers).

	Inuit	Non-Inuit	Total population
	percent
Censuses of population
2001	52.2	13.0	46.4
2006	53.7	16.5	47.8
National Household Survey
2011	53.8	19.0	48.7
Census of population
2016	58.4	22.4	52.9
Sources: Statistics Canada, censuses of population 2001, 2006 and 2016; 2011 National Household Survey.

Chart 1.9 end

Chart 1.9 also shows that this trend applies to non-Inuit as well, although speaking more than one language at home is less frequent among this population. For example, 22.4% of non-Inuit spoke more than one language at home in 2016—mostly a combination of English and Inuktut, French or another language—an increase of 9.4 percentage points from 2001 (13.0%).

Nearly all Inuit who speak more than one language at home speak Inuktut and English (99.3%). Overall, 58.0% of Inuit speak Inuktut and English at home. Specifically, 30.4% of Inuit primarily speak Inuktut at home with English as a secondary language, while 25.8% speak primarily English with Inuktut as a secondary language. Lastly, 1.8% of Inuit reported speaking Inuktut and English equally at home.

When compared with 2001 data, we can see not only that use of both Inuktut and English is on the rise at home, but also that English is increasingly the main language used at home by Inuit. In 2001, 34.0% of Inuit primarily spoke Inuktut at home with English as a secondary language, while 17.4% primarily spoke English with Inuktut as a secondary language.

Use of English at home by the Inuit population

Generally speaking, while regular use of Inuktut at home is stable among Inuit—it rose from 85.6% in 2001 to 86.0% in 2016—English use is growing. In 2001, 66.5% of the Inuit population spoke English at home, compared with 71.9% in 2016. It is mainly joint use of Inuktut and English that is growing; exclusive use of Inuktut at home fell from 33.4% in 2001 to 27.9% in 2016, down 5.5 percentage points.

Start of text box

Text box 4: How well is Inuktut spoken when it is used at home as the main language, secondary language or not at all?

Section 1.2.2 showed that the vast majority of Inuit in Nunavut spoke Inuktut at home according to the 2016 Census, but also that, since 2001, a growing proportion of them used English at home. With the increased use of English at home, either as a main language or secondary language, one may wonder how Inuit are able to maintain their ability to speak Inuktut.

Since the 2012 APS used a subset of respondents from the 2011 NHS, language data collected in the NHS are also available for the people who answered the 2012 APS, providing additional information on their linguistic characteristics. Chart C combines these two data sources by showing the language(s) spoken at home from the 2011 NHS and the self-rated ability to speak Inuktut from the 2012 APS.

In Nunavut, about 9 in 10 Inuit aged 6 years and over speaking Inuktut in 2012 who had reported Inuktut as the main language used at home spoke it very well or relatively well (Chart C). The proportion of Inuit speaking Inuktut well was slightly higher when Inuktut was the only language spoken at home (95%) than when Inuktut was the main home language with English as a secondary language (91%).

However, a smaller proportion of Inuit aged 6 years and over speaking Inuktut (65%) spoke it very well or relatively well when English was their main home language and Inuktut was their secondary home language.

Not surprisingly, Inuit aged 6 years and over who used only English at home were those who struggled the most to speak Inuktut: about 6 in 10 spoke it with effort or spoke only a few words. However, the remaining 4 in 10 were able to speak Inuktut very well or relatively well despite not using this language at home. Of the 1,140 Inuit in this latter situation, 85% reported that they were exposed to an Aboriginal language outside the home on a daily basis.

Chart C start

Data table for Chart C



Data table for Chart C
Table summary
This table displays the results of Data table for Chart C Speaks very well or relatively well, Speaks with effort or only a few words, percent and 95% confidence interval, calculated using Lower and Upper units of measure (appearing as column headers).

	Speaks very well or relatively well			Speaks with effort or only a few words
	percent	95% confidence interval		percent	95% confidence interval
		Lower	Upper		Lower	Upper
Only Inuktut spoken at home	95Data table Note †	3	2	5	2	3
Inuktut as main home language and English as secondary home language	91Note *	3	2	9	2	3
English as main home language and Inuktut as secondary home language	65Note *	5	5	35	5	5
Only English spoken at home	40Note *	7	7	60	7	7
Note * significantly different from the reference category (p<0.05) Return to note * referrer Note † reference group Return to note † referrer Notes: The horizontal lines on each bar represent 95% confidence intervals. Missing values ("don't know", "not stated" and "refusal") were excluded from the denominator when calculating percentages. Sources: Statistics Canada, 2011 National Household Survey; 2012 Aboriginal Peoples Survey.

Chart C end

End of text box

2. Language transfer, exogamy and transmission of mother tongue

A language’s vitality relies on a number of factors that may or may not be conducive to its transmission and retention within a population. Linguistic exogamy, language transfer and intergenerational transmission are three important factors that can affect a language’s vitality. For example, linguistic exogamy (living as a couple with a person whose mother tongue is different from one’s own) can lead some people to abandon the use of their mother tongue as the home language (language transfers). Using a language at home contributes to the transmission of that language to the children.

2.1 Language transfer

A language transfer (or substitution) occurs when a person stops using their mother tongue at home. When the mother tongue is no longer used at home, this is called a complete language transfer.^Note  When the mother tongue is no longer the main language used at home, but continues to be used regularly as a secondary language, this is called a partial language transfer.^Note 

Table 2.1 highlights the rates of language transfer among the Inuit population in different Nunavut regions and communities. It shows that the rates of complete language transfer are fairly low among those who have Inuktut as their mother tongue. Although 23.7% no longer use an Inuktut-mother-tongue as their main home language, only 2.7% no longer speak it at least regularly at home. In the Kitikmeot region, a language transfer has occurred for 71.9% of Inuit with an Inuktut-mother-tongue. This language transfer is partial for 59.2% of the region’s Inuit with an Inuktut-mother-tongue, which means that they continue to use their mother tongue as a secondary language at home.

Table 2.1 start



Table 2.1 end

Table 2.2 shows that following regular increases between 2001 and 2011, the rates of language transfer among Inuit with Inuktut as their mother tongue declined between 2011 and 2016. Similarly, the rates of complete language transfer fell between 2001 and 2016.

Table 2.2 start



Table 2.2 end

However, this apparent improvement masks an incomplete transmission of Inuktut as a mother tongue. Those to whom Inuktut was not transmitted as a mother tongue are not included in the language transfer rate calculations. Chart 2.1 provides a more detailed picture of language transfer, by including cases of non-transmission of mother tongue. It shows that the proportion of Inuit who report Inuktut as their mother tongue and who use it exclusively at home is low in Kitikmeot region communities, reflecting the prominence of the English language in these areas. It also shows the limitations of the language transfer indicator in these communities, where fewer than 50% of Inuit report Inuktut as their mother tongue.

For example, the language transfer rate in Cambridge Bay is 84.7% (Table 2.1), but this number does not reflect the fact that 75.3% of the community’s Inuit do not have Inuktut as a mother tongue (Chart 2.1). According to (Chart 2.1), 20.9% of Inuit in Cambridge Bay underwent a language transfer (12.0% had a partial transfer and 8.9% a complete transfer). Chart 2.1 also indicates that 1.0% of Cambridge Bay’s Inuit have Inuktut as their mother tongue and use it exclusively at home (full retention – exclusive use) and that 2.7% of Inuit with an Inuktut-mother-tongue use it together with another language (full retention – combined use).

Chart 2.1 start

Data table for Chart 2.1



Data table for Chart 2.1
Table summary
This table displays the results of Data table for Chart 2.1 Complete retention - exclusive use, Complete retention - mixed use, Partial language transfer, Complete language transfer and Non-transmission of Inuit mother tongue, calculated using percent units of measure (appearing as column headers).

	Complete retention - exclusive use	Complete retention - mixed use	Partial language transfer	Complete language transfer	Non-transmission of Inuit mother tongue
	percent
Nunavut	8,275	9,375	4,855	630	7,075
Qikiqtaaluk	5,955	5,735	1,535	235	1,415
Iqaluit	480	1,250	1,225	190	1,145
Qikiqtaaluk excluding Iqaluit	5,470	4,500	330	40	265
Sanikiluaq	250	490	75	0	30
Kimmirut	140	190	15	0	10
Cape Dorset	620	665	25	0	25
Pangnirtung	930	415	10	10	20
Qikiqtarjuaq	435	135	0	10	0
Hall Beach	420	380	15	0	10
Igloolik	890	615	15	10	55
Clyde River	650	365	0	0	15
Arctic Bay	410	365	25	0	15
Pond Inlet	700	755	30	0	30
Resolute Bay	20	45	50	10	35
Grise Fiord	10	35	45	10	25
Kivalliq	2,125	3,210	2,055	135	1,865
Coral Harbour	30	395	370	0	65
Arviat	1,720	665	40	0	80
Whale Cove	25	165	175	0	40
Rankin Inlet	160	835	615	55	610
Chesterfield Inlet	0	200	110	10	55
Baker Lake	65	170	625	35	990
Naujaat	105	765	115	0	35
Kitikmeot	195	400	1,255	270	3,785
Kugaaruk	80	115	215	25	475
Kugluktuk	35	45	210	60	995
Cambridge Bay	15	40	175	130	1,100
Gjoa Haven	40	120	345	25	720
Taloyoak	25	90	305	40	515
Source: Statistics Canada, Census of Population 2016.

Chart 2.1 end

2.2 Linguistic exogamy

Language transfers or substitutions are often associated with linguistic exogamy.^Note  In Nunavut, for 71.4% of couples with at least one Inuit spouse or partner, Inuktut is the mother tongue of both partners (see Table 2.3). Only 7.7% of couples where both members are Inuit are linguistically exogamous, meaning that they do not share the same mother tongue.^Note  However, for 11.4% of Inuit couples, Inuktut is not the mother tongue of either partner. By contrast, the large majority (71.1%) of mixed couples (i.e., couples made up of one Inuit and one non-Inuit) are linguistically exogamous.

Table 2.3 start



Table 2.3 end

Table 2.4 shows that the rate of mixed couples is particularly low (3.6%) in the Qikiqtaaluk region, excluding the city of Iqaluit. The rate does not exceed 15% in any Nunavut region. It is higher in certain communities, namely Iqaluit (36.4%), Whale Cove (25.0%) and Cambridge Bay (23.2%). The rate of linguistic exogamy is generally equal to or greater than the rate of mixed couples, and the differences observed are rarely significant. By contrast, the rates of linguistic endogamy of Inuktut, and the rates of complete Inuit endogamy,^Note  vary considerably more from one community to another. These rates are below the 50% mark in the Kitikmeot region, but reach 100% in most of the communities in the Qikiqtaaluk region. This means that the Kitikmeot region is not characterized by a large proportion of mixed or linguistically exogamous couples, but by a smaller presence of an Inuktut-mother-tongue among couples. In Cambridge Bay, 51.8% of couples with at least one Inuit-identity partner report that neither spouse nor partner has Inuktut as their mother tongue.

Table 2.4 start



Table 2.4 end

2.3 Transmission of mother tongue to the children

Linguistic exogamy hinders the transmission of Inuktut to the children. Generally speaking, in Nunavut, when one parent in a couple does not have Inuktut as a mother tongue, the likelihood that Inuktut will be transmitted to the child as a mother tongue is much lower (see Table 2.5), primarily because it is spoken very little or not at all at home. For example, Inuktut is transmitted as a mother tongue to 87.4% of children aged 0 to 17 years living in a two-parent household where both parents have an Inuktut-mother-tongue, compared with 28.8% of children of linguistically exogamous couples and 1.4% of children of couples where neither parent has Inuktut as a mother tongue.^Note 

Table 2.5 start



Table 2.5 end

The transmission rates of Inuktut as a mother tongue to Inuit children aged 0 to 14 years have been falling (see Table 2.6). In 2001, 78.5% of Inuit children aged 0 to 4 years had Inuktut as their mother tongue, compared to 68.4% in 2016—a decline of over 10 percentage points.

Table 2.6 start



Table 2.6 end

Table 2.6 also shows losses among children cohorts.^Note  For example, in 2006, 76.4% of Inuit children aged 0 to 4 years had Inuktut as their mother tongue. In 2011, 70.6% of this same cohort of children, by then aged 5 to 9 years, had Inuktut as their mother tongue. In 2016, 68.2% of Inuit children aged 10 to 14 years had Inuktut as their mother tongue. These losses are likely due in large part to the fact that, according to the census, a mother tongue is not only the first language learned in childhood, but must also still be understood at the time of the census.

Beyond these trends, however, what emerges from Table 2.6 is the significant regional disparities in transmission of mother tongue to the children. In the Qikiqtaaluk region excluding Iqaluit, in 2016, over 95% of Inuit children had Inuktut as their mother tongue in each of the age groups, up from 2011. By contrast, in the Kitikmeot region, the proportion of children with Inuktut as their mother tongue—much lower initially—decreased significantly between 2011 and 2016 in each of the age groups. In the Kitikmeot region in 2016, 16.8% of Inuit children aged 0 to 4 years, 15.8% of children aged 5 to 9 years and 15.0% of children aged 10 to 14 years had Inuktut as their mother tongue.

2.4 Language continuity index

How do these factors affect the vitality of Inuktut? A language’s vitality can be synthetically calculated through a language continuity index (LCI). “This index is the ratio of the number of persons with a given home language to the number with the corresponding mother tongue.” (Lachapelle and Henripin, 1980, p. 122). This index is generally calculated using the main home language, i.e. the language spoken most often at home. In a context like Nunavut’s, where several languages come into contact, this index shows which language or languages benefit or suffer from these contacts. When the index is greater than 1 for a given language, this means that people who have this language as their home language outnumber those who have it as their mother tongue. In other words, this language attracts non-native speakers. By contrast, an index below 1 indicates a loss of native speakers. In a way, the index presents the balance of gains and losses for a given language.

Table 2.7 shows that in Nunavut, the language continuity index (LCI) for English is greater than 1, and that it is systematically higher than the index for Inuktut, which is below 1. Inuktut’s LCI fell between 2001 and 2011, but during the 2011 to 2016 period, it increased in Nunavut as a whole (0.79 in 2016 compared with 0.76 in 2011), in the Qikiqtaaluk region (0.88 in 2016 compared with 0.86 in 2011) and in the Kitikmeot region (0.34 in 2016 compared with 0.30 in 2011), while holding steady in the Kivalliq region (0.74 in 2011 and in 2016). Likewise, the English LCI increased between 2001 and 2011, and decreased slightly between 2011 and 2016.

Table 2.7 start



Table 2.7 end

This index must be interpreted with caution, however, because it can be particularly sensitive to changes affecting the denominator (in this case, people whose mother tongue is Inuktut or English). Thus, a smaller transmission of Inuktut as mother tongue may generate an increase in Inuktut LCI. Similarly, increased transmission of English as mother tongue, or significant in-migration of English-mother-tongue people in a given community or region, may cause a decline in the English LCI, despite the language’s stronger presence.

Moreover, the language continuity index considers only the language spoken most often at home, irrespective of secondary use of languages at home. By rounding out the LCI calculation to include everyone who speaks Inuktut at home at least on a regular basis, either as their home language or as a secondary language, we obtain a new index, which we will call LCI+, that takes into account the fact that people who speak Inuktut at home outnumber those for whom Inuktut is their mother tongue. Thus, the LCI+ of Inuktut for all of Nunavut was 1.13 in 2016. However, a similar calculation shows that the English LCI+ in Nunavut was 2.29 in 2016, despite the fact that the number of people speaking Inuktut at home (26,270) is nearly identical to the number who speak English at home (26,775). The difference is due to the gap in the denominator: Inuktut-mother-tongue individuals (23,225) far outnumbered English-mother-tongue individuals (11,690) in Nunavut in 2016.

Thus, it may be wiser to calculate various indexes on the basis of the Inuit identity population. Table 2.8 presents indexes of the transmission, the use at home and the knowledge of Inuktut that are calculated by viewing the Inuit population in relation to, respectively, the Inuktut-mother-tongue population, the Inuit-language-of-use population (spoken most often or regularly) and the population able to conduct a conversation in Inuktut. In each case, these indexes could have been greater than 1, since Inuktut can be the mother tongue or language of use at home, or a conversation can be conducted in Inuktut without the person belonging to the Inuit identity population. In other words, these indexes take into account both “gains” and “losses”.^Note  Although some indexes are equal to 1, in no case do they exceed this threshold.

Table 2.8 start



Table 2.8 end

The transmission, use and knowledge of English among the Inuit population can be measured in a similar way.^Note  However, for purposes of comparison with Inuktut, the indexes shown above must be recalculated using only the Inuit population.^Note  The relative importance of Inuktut can thus be compared with that of the English language within the Inuit population, either as a mother tongue or as a home language. It will also be possible to compare the ability to hold a conversation in any of these languages.

Table 2.9^Note  shows that the ability to conduct a conversation in English (93.2%) is greater than the ability to conduct a conversation in Inuktut (89.0%) within the Inuit population, despite the fact that a larger share of the Inuit population has Inuktut as their mother tongue (76.6%, compared with 25.4% for English) or as their home language (86.0%, compared with 71.9% for English).^Note 

Table 2.9 start



Table 2.9 end

All these indexes and proportions provide an overview of the vitality of Inuktut in Nunavut. It is difficult, however, to put these indicators into perspective, given the uniqueness of the language situation in Nunavut. To that end, the comparison with English is insufficient. What is more, the proposed indexes do not allow us to grasp the relative significance of the various factors that encourage or discourage linguistic vitality, such as the transmission of a mother tongue and language transfers

2.5 Devitalization factors

One way to take account of the various factors that can encourage or discourage linguistic vitality is to weigh each according to a common denominator, in this case the Inuit identity population. The first indicator of linguistic vitality is transmission of Inuktut as mother tongue to people with an Inuit identity. Since 23.4% of the Inuit population do not have Inuktut as their mother tongue (see Table 2.10), non-transmission of Inuktut as mother tongue is a factor that negatively affects linguistic vitality (-23.4 percentage points).^Note 

Table 2.10 start



Table 2.10 end

A second factor consists of complete language transfers, i.e. when someone does not speak their mother tongue at all in the home. In Nunavut in 2016, there were 630 Inuit with Inuktut as their mother tongue who never spoke their mother tongue at home, or 2.1% of the Inuit population (negative factor of 2.1 percentage points).

When we add non-transmission of mother tongue and full language transfers, linguistic devitalization factors total -25.5 percentage points, or just over a quarter of Nunavut’s Inuit population.

However, consideration can be given to a number of mitigating factors which promote linguistic vitality. For example, a complete language transfer can result from a linguistic exogamy situation where the mother tongue has not necessarily been completely abandoned in all spheres of life. Of the 630 Inuit who have made a complete language transfer, 475 can still conduct a conversation in Inuktut. This amounts to +1.6 percentage points. In addition, 3,445 Inuit use Inuktut at home despite it not being their mother tongue. These language transfers towards Inuktut, even partial ones, are a positive factor for linguistic vitality equalling +11.4 percentage points, even though most of these people use Inuktut as a secondary language.

Furthermore, 450 Inuit learned Inuktut as a second language,^Note  but did not use it regularly at home. These second-language speakers also contribute to the vitality of Inuktut (+1.5 percentage points), since they can use this language outside the home.

Taken together, these factors mitigate the effect of the negative factors by 14.5 percentage points.

Other mitigating factors can also be taken into account; namely the transmission, use and acquisition of Inuktut among non-Inuit. In all, 105 non-Inuit report Inuktut as their mother tongue (+0.3 percentage points), 225 non-Inuit speak Inuktut at home (+0.7 percentage points) and 130 non-Inuit are second-language speakers without speaking Inuktut at home or having it as their mother tongue (+0.4 percentage points). In all, non-Inuit make a +1.5 percentage-point contribution to the vitality of Inuktut.

When the negative factors (-25.5 percentage points) and the mitigating factors (+16.0 percentage points) are combined, the net effect is -9.5 percentage points.

This approach is based on the number of people who report Inuktut as their mother tongue or home language, or who can conduct a conversation in the language. This is how it provides an indication of vitality. However, it ascribes equal weight to someone who knows Inuktut as a second language without speaking it at home, and to someone who reports Inuktut as their mother tongue and home language. In other words, there is no weighting of Inuktut’s significance in people’s daily lives.^Note 

This indicator does, however, show changes in linguistic vitality and measure the relative significance of the various factors, as well as their evolution. Table 2.11 shows that overall, the net effect of the factors went from -6.5 percentage points in 2001 to -9.5 percentage points in 2016. Judging by this indicator, Inuktut was less vital in 2016 than it was in 2001. The various factors evolved differently over this period, however. Non-transmission of mother tongue, which is the main devitalization factor for Inuktut, saw an increase in its negative effect between 2001 (-15.7 percentage points) and 2016 (-23.4 percentage points). Conversely, the negative effect of complete language transfers lessened, from -4.3 percentage points in 2001 to -2.1 percentage points in 2016. On the whole, losses increased by nearly 6 percentage points over this period.

Table 2.11 start



Table 2.11 end

Of the mitigating factors, use of Inuktut at home by Inuit who do not report it as their mother tongue is on the rise (11.4 percentage points in 2016 compared with 5.5 percentage points in 2001). It should be noted, however, that this growth is aided by non-transmission of mother tongue, as more and more Inuit do not have Inuktut as their mother tongue.

Table 2.11 also shows that the contribution of non-Inuit to the vitality of Inuktut is fairly stable from one census to the next, and that it is relatively low in comparison with the other factors.

In short, non-transmission of mother tongue seems to be the main loss-of-vitality factor for Inuktut, and it is growing.

The factors related to vitality and loss of vitality described above do not cover all the opportunities or contexts in which Inuktut is used, such as at work or in the public arena, but without it being a main or secondary language at home. The next section will address this topic.

3. Languages used at work

In this report, language used in public is measured using data on the languages used by workers. Like the ability to conduct a conversation in a language and the language spoken at home, the use of a language at work hinges on the context. It first depends on the person’s job, and as a result, can vary over a lifetime. Certain work environments are conducive to using and learning more than one language, while others require little in the way of language skills.

According to the 2016 Census, there were 17,000 people aged 15 or older in Nunavut who were employed between January 1, 2015 and May 7, 2016, and 94.7% of these workers (16,105) used English at work regularly, either as a main or secondary language.^Note  Still, 60.7% of Nunavut workers (10,315) reported using Inuktut at work. According to 2016 Census data, Inuktut was the main work language for 27.9% of workers in Nunavut. Nearly all workers in Nunavut used Inuktut, English or both at work. A majority of workers in the territory (55.6%) used both languages at work.^Note 

Some workers—the vast majority of which are non-Inuit (86.0%)—used French at work in 2016, almost always together with English, Inuktut or both. The 500 workers who used French at work represented 2.9% of Nunavut workers. Of these, 415 used French as their secondary language of work, mainly combined with English.

Most workers in Nunavut used more than one language at work. In 2001, 56.8% of Nunavut workers reported more than one language of work. This proportion fell in 2006 (55.3%) and again in 2011 (53.5%), but this downward trend was reversed in 2016, with 58.4% of Nunavut workers using more than one language at work. These proportions are well above what we see at the national level: by comparison, 15.4% of Canadian workers used more than one language at work in 2016.

This rebound observed between 2011 and 2016 is most likely the result of a change in the use of Inuktut by Inuit workers. The main trends showed an increase in the use of English and a decline in the use of Inuktut at work between 2001 and 2011. While the use of English continues to grow, the presence of Inuktut rebounded in 2016.

Chart 3.1 illustrates these trends well. First, it shows the steady rise in the use of English at work. Used by 89.5% of Nunavut workers in 2001, English has steadily risen from one census to the next, totalling 94.7% in 2016. However, the proportion of workers who used English as their main language at work remained the same in 2011 and in 2016 (73.1%), though it had risen from 2001 to 2011. This means that the growth of English as a language of work in Nunavut between 2011 and 2016 was mainly due to its rise as a secondary language of work.

Chart 3.1 start

Data table for Chart 3.1



Data table for Chart 3.1
Table summary
This table displays the results of Data table for Chart 3.1 English (total), English (main), Inuktut (total) and Inuktut (main), calculated using percent units of measure (appearing as column headers).

	English (total)	English (main)	Inuktut (total)	Inuktut (main)
	percent
Censuses of population
2001	89.5	65.9	65.0	35.1
2006	91.2	70.6	62.0	30.5
National Household Survey
2011	93.2	73.1	57.8	27.1
Census of population
2016	94.7	73.1	60.7	27.9
Sources: Statistics Canada, censuses of population 2001, 2006 and 2016; 2011 National Household Survey.

Chart 3.1 end

While 65.0% of Nunavut workers used Inuktut at work in 2001, only 57.8% did so in 2011, a decline of 7.2 percentage points over a 10-year period. An even larger decrease occurred for workers who use Inuktut as their main language of work: 35.1% of Nunavut workers had Inuktut as their main language of work in 2001, compared with 27.1% in 2011, a drop of 8.0 percentage points. In both cases, this downward trend was reversed between 2011 and 2016: 60.7% of workers used Inuktut in 2016, and 27.9% used it as their main language of work.

It does not appear that these variations in the use of Inuktut at work are due to a shift in the number of Inuit on the labour market. The proportion of Inuit among Nunavut workers has remained fairly stable across the various censuses: 74.1% in 2001, 73.8% in 2006 and 2011, and 74.0% in 2016. Moreover, similar trends occur when only Inuit workers are considered (Chart 3.2). The proportion of Inuit workers who use Inuktut at work fell nearly 10 percentage points between 2001 (84.4%) and 2011 (74.5%). In 2016, 78.1% of Inuit workers reported using Inuktut at work, up 3.6 percentage points from 2011.

Chart 3.2 start

Data table for Chart 3.2



Data table for Chart 3.2
Table summary
This table displays the results of Data table for Chart 3.2 English (total), English (main), Inuktut (total) and Inuktut (main), calculated using percent units of measure (appearing as column headers).

	English (total)	English (main)	Inuktut (total)	Inuktut (main)
	percent
Censuses of population
2001	86.0	54.7	84.4	47.1
2006	88.3	61.2	80.1	40.9
National Household Survey
2011	91.1	64.3	74.5	36.5
Census of population
2016	93.0	64.5	78.1	37.6
Sources: Statistics Canada, censuses of population 2001, 2006 and 2016; 2011 National Household Survey.

Chart 3.2 end

Practically all non-Inuit workers used English at work. Specifically, 99.3% of non-Inuit workers in Nunavut used English at work in 2016, a proportion that has varied very little from one census to the next. However, 11.3% of non-Inuit workers did use Inuktut at work in 2016. This proportion has grown slightly, if steadily, since 2001 (9.2%).

3.1 Use of Inuktut and English at work in the communities^Note 

In nearly all of Nunavut’s communities, most workers used both Inuktut and English at work (Table 3.1), except for three communities: Cambridge Bay (18.3%), Kugluktuk (22.6%) and Iqaluit (36.3%). In each of these communities, almost all workers used English. In fact, workers in these communities were the least likely to use Inuktut at work.

Table 3.1 start



Table 3.1 end

In all the communities of the Qikiqtaaluk region, except Iqaluit (37.6%), more than 8 in 10 workers used Inuktut at work in 2016. In Clyde River (93.7%) and Pond Inlet (91.4%), this proportion exceeded 90.0%.

In most communities of the Kivalliq region, Inuktut was also used at work by more than 8 in 10 workers. The proportion of workers using Inuktut was lower in Rankin Inlet (64.3%) and Baker Lake (64.6%) in 2016.

Workers were much less likely to use Inuktut at work in the Kitikmeot region (37.2%). In 2016, close to 60% of workers used Inuktut at work in Gjoa Haven (58.2%) and Taloyoak (57.5%), and the proportion was even higher in Kugaaruk (67.1%). However, far fewer workers used Inuktut in Cambridge Bay (18.3%) and Kugluktuk (22.6%), two communities which accounted for nearly 60% of the workers in the Kitikmeot region.

4. Other languages spoken in Nunavut

There are languages other than Inuktut and English in Nunavut’s linguistic landscape. This section gives an overview of the population who speaks French or an immigrant language.^Note 

4.1 Portrait of French use in Nunavut

In 2016, 1,565 people were able to conduct a conversation in French in Nunavut, up 550 (+54.2%) from 2001 (1,015 people). This represented 4.4% of the Nunavut population in 2016, compared with 3.8% in 2001. The trends in the Nunavut population’s ability to conduct a conversation in French are similar to those observed for knowledge of English (section 1.2.1), but to a lesser extent (Chart 4.1).

Chart 4.1 start

Data table for Chart 4.1



Data table for Chart 4.1
Table summary
This table displays the results of Data table for Chart 4.1 Number and Percent (appearing as column headers).

	Number	Percent
Censuses of population
2001	1,015	3.8
2006	1,165	4.0
National Household Survey
2011	1,220	3.8
Census of population
2016	1,565	4.4
Sources: Statistics Canada, censuses of population 2001, 2006 and 2016; 2011 National Household Survey.

Chart 4.1 end

In 2016, 630 people reported French as their mother tongue, and 625 people used French at home on at least a regular basis in Nunavut, representing 1.8% of the population. In all, 455 people reported French as their mother tongue and language of use at home. This means that 175 people whose mother tongue is French do not speak French at home, and that 170 people whose mother tongue is not French use this language at least on a regular basis at home. The vast majority of the latter group (155 people) have English as their mother tongue.

The proportions of the population who speak French at home were 5.5% in Yukon and 4.0% in the Northwest Territories. Among the provinces, Quebec had the highest proportion of people who use French at least on a regular basis at home (87.0%), followed by New Brunswick (33.2%).

Of the 625 people who use French at home in Nunavut, a strong majority (500) live in Iqaluit (80.0%). In relation to Nunavut’s total population, the rate of geographic concentration is very high; only 21.3% of Nunavut’s total population was living in Iqaluit in 2016 (Table 4.1). There has been a francophone community in Iqaluit for several years, which accounts for this higher concentration of French speakers. As a result, a number of francophone organizations and services have been created, such as a Franco-Nunavut association, a school and a daycare centre offering programs in French, as well as a community radio station and newspaper.

Table 4.1 start



Table 4.1 end

4.2 Immigrant languages

Immigrant languages include all languages other than English, French, Inuktut or the other Aboriginal languages.^Note  In 2016, 765 people reported an immigrant mother tongue, and the same number used an immigrant language at least on a regular basis at home in Nunavut, or 2.2% of the population.^Note  In contrast, 21.2% of the Canadian population spoke an immigrant language at home, compared with about 27% in Ontario and British Columbia, and over 40% in the Vancouver and Toronto census metropolitan areas.

In Nunavut, approximately 85% of residents who speak an immigrant language at home do so alongside another language. In almost all cases, the other language is English. In nearly 60% of cases, the immigrant language is not the main language of use.

Tagalog was the immigrant language spoken most often at home in Nunavut (175 people, or 0.5% of the total population), reflecting international immigration from the Philippines.^Note  This was followed by Spanish (60 speakers).

In 2016, 58.2% of those who spoke an immigrant language were living in Iqaluit, compared with 21.3% of Nunavut’s total population (Table 4.1).

4.3 Profile by age and Inuit identity

Compared with people who spoke Inuktut at home, people who spoke French or an immigrant language were older on average. This is because international immigrants, who are most likely to speak a language other than English, French or Inuktut, generally come to Canada as adults. Furthermore, many of those who speak French were not born in Nunavut and arrived in the province as adults to work. Lastly, the lower fertility of non-Inuit is a contributing factor to the older average age of residents who speak French or an immigrant language.

Consequently, while 52.4% of people who spoke Inuktut at home were under 25 years old, this was the case for 30.4% of French home speakers and 24.8% of those who spoke an immigrant language (Table 4.2).

Table 4.2 start



Table 4.2 end

The vast majority of people who speak French (90.3%) or an immigrant language (88.3%) at home were non-Inuit (Chart 4.2). In 2016, a small number of Inuit (60 people) reported speaking French at least on a regular basis at home (Table 4.3). Just under 100 Inuit spoke an immigrant language at home.

Chart 4.2 start

Data table for Chart 4.2



Data table for Chart 4.2
Table summary
This table displays the results of Data table for Chart 4.2 Total population , English , French , Inuktut and Immigrant languages , calculated using percent units of measure (appearing as column headers).

	Total population	English	French	Inuktut	Immigrant languages
	percent
Inuit population	84.9	81.1	9.7	98.8	11.7
Non-Inuit population	15.1	18.9	90.3	1.2	88.3
Source: Statistics Canada, Census of Population 2016.

Chart 4.2 end

However, almost everyone who spoke Inuktut at least on a regular basis at home was Inuit (98.8%) in 2016 (Chart 4.2). Just over 300 non-Inuit spoke Inuktut at home (Table 4.3), mainly as a secondary language.

Table 4.3 start



Table 4.3 end

4.4 Evolution of the use of French and immigrant languages, 2001 to 2016

Given the low numbers, caution must be exercised when interpreting trends over time in the use of French and immigrant languages at home. Nevertheless, since 2001, there has been a significant increase in the use of immigrant languages in Nunavut, and French has remained fairly stable. Furthermore, there has been a more than four-fold increase in the proportion of the Nunavut population speaking an immigrant language at home. This number rose from 0.5% in 2001 to 2.2% in 2016 (Chart 4.3)

Conversely, the percentage of the population who spoke French at home remained more or less the same between 2001 and 2016 (Chart 4.3). French is the main language used at home for most people who speak this language at home at least on a regular basis, while immigrant languages have more of a secondary role at home.

At first glance, the proportion of the population speaking an immigrant language at home seems to have topped the proportion who used French at home in 2016. However, this comparison is inaccurate because immigrant languages comprise many different languages. In 2016, more than 45 immigrant languages were reported as being used at home in Nunavut, and most had a small number of speakers.

Chart 4.3 start

Data table for Chart 4.3



Data table for Chart 4.3
Table summary
This table displays the results of Data table for Chart 4.3 French and Immigrant languages , calculated using percent units of measure (appearing as column headers).

	French	Immigrant languages
	percent
Censuses of population
2001	1.5	0.5
2006	1.4	0.8
National Household Survey
2011	1.5	1.2
Census of population
2016	1.8	2.2
Sources: Statistics Canada, censuses of population 2001, 2006 and 2016; 2011 National Household Survey.

Chart 4.3 end

Profile by region and community

Conclusion

The purpose of this report is to present a statistical portrait of language dynamics in Nunavut, primarily using data from Canadian censuses of population. These data provide a wide range of information on language in order to study the various linguistic characteristics and practices of the population and to compare them over time to track their evolution. The wealth of linguistic data gathered by the Canadian censuses also helps in developing more complex indicators to measure certain aspects of the vitality of the Inuktut language in Nunavut.

The data in the different sections of this report cover various ethnolinguistic characteristics of the Nunavut population, such as Inuit identity and mother tongue, as well as knowledge of languages and use of languages at home and at work. Furthermore, linguistic exogamy, language transmission, language transfers and migrations are other factors that can affect the linguistic vitality of a community and that have been examined in greater detail in this report.

In addition to the various highlights found throughout this report, three key findings emerge from these analyses.

First, non-transmission of the mother tongue seems to be the biggest factor that negatively affects the vitality of Inuktut in Nunavut. The Inuit population is steadily growing in Nunavut and Inuit make up approximately 85% of the territory’s total population, a figure that varies little from one census to the next. However, nearly one in four Inuit and close to one in three children under the age of 15 did not have Inuktut as their mother tongue in 2016. The proportion of Inuit residents who did not have Inuktut as their mother tongue rose steadily between 2001 (15.7%) and 2016 (23.4%). In comparison, other factors likely to adversely affect the vitality of Inuktut, such as full language transfers, seem to have a much less significant impact.

As well, most of the linguistic indicators revealed considerable regional disparities. Regardless of the indicator used, the vitality of Inuktut still seems to be more fragile in the Kitikmeot region, and particularly in the communities of Cambridge Bay and Kugluktuk. The same is true in Iqaluit and Rankin Inlet, the regional centres with larger non-Inuit populations, and in Baker Lake, though generally to a lesser extent. Conversely, the vitality of Inuktut seems generally very good, particularly in the communities of the Qikiqtaaluk region, with the exception of Iqaluit.

Finally, according to the data, there was somewhat of a resurgence of Inuktut between 2011 and 2016, particularly in the public sphere. Between 2011 and 2016, the number of Inuit workers using Inuktut at work increased, after falling between 2001 and 2011. However, the use of English at work increased continuously between 2001 and 2016. This means that the increased use of English at work by Inuit workers has not necessarily hindered the use of Inuktut and, conversely, that the increased use of Inuktut between 2011 and 2016 has not hindered the use of English, but has improved bilingualism at work.

Other findings in this report also show a strong English presence, but this is not necessarily detrimental to Inuktut. For example, there was a decrease in language transfers among Inuit with an Inuktut-mother- tongue between 2011 and 2016, particularly complete transfers. There was also constant growth of the combined use of Inuktut and English at home among Inuit in Nunavut between 2001 and 2016.

Caution must nevertheless be exercised with these findings, in that it is hard to know how sustainable these recent trends will be. Moreover, while there are signs of a resurgence in the vitality of Inuktut, some significant trends persist and highlight the importance of monitoring the situation in the coming years.

Appendices

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