The recently released 2001 Canadian census paints a gloomy picture for waning aboriginal languages, with one lone bright spot: Quebec. Retention of aboriginal languages in the province is high, with more than 95% of Quebec Inuit speaking Inuktitut at home, a retention rate that beats even largely Inuit Nunavut, which can boast only 80%. Two of the other most common aboriginal languages in Quebec are Cree and Innu. Attikamekw, the language with the highest retention rate in all of Canada, has a very large number of its speakers in Quebec. Minnie Amidlak of Avataq’s Inuktitut language program, said she believes Nunavik’s relative success in preserving Inuktitut comes from reflection on what has happened in other parts of the North, where native languages have given way to English. “I think we can see if our language is not cared for our traditions and our Inuit way of life would be crippled.”
