The NunatuKavut Community Council is responding to a charge from the Nunatsiavut Government accusing the NCC of cultural appropriation.
The NCC is providing online language lessons in Inuttitut. Nunatsiavut Language, Culture and Tourism Minister, Roxanne Barbour, said she was appalled by the latest development. She says the NCC maintains that it represents the Inuit of south and central Labrador and that they had a different language system than those in northern Labrador, something she calls “harmful”, “offensive” and “nothing more than cultural appropriation.”
The NCC meanwhile says it is saddened by Minister Barbour’s comments and that, as the minister responsible for the promotion of Inuttitut, she would disparage their sincere and genuine efforts of language reclamation in other Inuit communities.
In a statement on the NCC website, the NunatuKavut Community Council accuses the Nunatsiavut Government of relying on “unethical, patriarchal, sexist, Eurocentric and racist opinions” to make “false assertions” about their land claim.
The Nunatsiavut Government says while it acknowledges that some members of NCC have some Indigenous ancestry and background, they do not recognize NCC’s proposed land claim.
