BENEFITS

From the beginning, the aim of this study was to benefit the community of Inuvik, and by extension all settlements of the Inuviauit Settlement Region.

As is the case with many research studies, benefits are often not directly evident in day-to-day life. However, many of life's aspects are affected indirectly by the knowledge that can come from a study. This study sought to benefit, to varying degree, at least three groups:

1. Inuvialuktun Language Planners

Current Inuvialuktun language teaching materials are designed largely around a knowledge of traditional Inuvialuit culture. By learning about traditional Inuvialuit subsistence skills, language is deliberately brought together with a sense of identity that finds its roots in an ancestral heritage closely tied to life on the land. By examining current and potential learners' perspectives of Inuvialuktun, and of themselves as contemporary Inuit, language planners are hoped to be able to better address the needs and interests of the student population based on data collected in this study.

2. Inuvialuktun Language Learners

By participating in discussions, interviews, and questionnairs potential and current Inuvialuit learners of Inuvialuktun were invited to reflect on aspects of identity and self-definition. These were good exercises which enabled participants to reflect on existing language ideologies, some of which may not have encouraged lianguage re-acquisition at the time. By refelcting on these dynamics and their impact on individual actions, agency could be built in learners, with the hope to encourage new language attitudes.

3. All Inuvialuit Beneficiaries

With ancestral language being an important strand in the fabric of cultural identity, all Inuvialuit are expected to benefit from a qualitative asessment of existing language attitudes and ideologies. By contemplating the current role of the ancestral language, members of the community were invited to consider their own position vis-a-vis Inuvialuktun. Here declonization is a liberating process in which hegemonic patterns are uncovered by the individual, enabling them to address self- and community-guided change.

LANGUAGE & MENTAL HEALTH

Using qualitative anthropological methods, this study asked what are some of the impacts of Inuvialuktun language revitalization efforts on Inuvialuit identity formation across several age sets. The epidemiological rational behind this question was an understanding that Aboriginal language retention can strengthen school performance and self-esteem in learners, thus potentially increasing the immunity of a community to mental health problems.

In this regard, the study hoped to provide a better understanding of the extent to which Inuvialuktun language revitalization figures in the formation of healthy contemporary Inuvialuit identity. Although the study focused on language and identity, and did not directly measure correlations between mental health and language retention in statistical terms, it is hoped that data gathered through interviews and questionnaires will illustrate the interplay between cultural identity, human-environment ties, and mental wellbeing in the community of Inuvik. For more information on this aspect of the study, please download the "Language & Mental Health" document on the PR page.