Nunavut MP stands alone against federal Indigenous Languages Act

Nunavut MP Hunter Tootoo was the sole MP to vote against the Liberal government's Indigenous Languages Act Wednesday night, saying it does nothing for Inuit languages.

Bill C-91 was up for second reading in the House of Commons.

Tootoo said he supports the idea behind the bill buthe couldn't vote for it in its current form.

He referred to concerns raised by Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami president Natan Obed when theLiberal's introduced the bill on Feb. 5.

At that time, Obed said the bill doesn't do enough to oblige the federal government to fund Indigenous languages, and that it createsa commission that is little more than an advocacy group.

Tootoo, who is an Inuk,said he has lost his Indigenous language and that as an MLA in Nunavut, he was proud to pass legislation to protect and promote Inuit languages.

Now, he says, the current Nunavut legislature is thinking of repealing those laws because they don't have the resources to implement them.

"I was hoping that there could be some mechanism in legislation like this to be able to help the Government of Nunavut to obtain resources to ... develop and deliver bilingual education,"Tootoo told the CBC after the vote.

Bill C-91 passed second reading and will now go to committee where it could be amended.

Tootoo says he plans to work with the governmentand Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami to make changesto the bill so that he can support it at its third reading.