Summary

What happens when a government does not deliver public services in the language of the public?"

In this video, Aluki Kotierk, President of Nunavut Tungavik Incorporated, shares stories of the health care challenges faced by the Inuit in Nunavut. Major emphasis is placed on inadequate cultural competency and underepresentation of aboriginal health care professionals, but the focal point of this talk is communication. Kotierk contends that the ability for patients to speak in their mother tongues should be a basic right for all Inuit who too often are treated in health centres in which the care providers only speak English.