Uvlaallautaq!

The survival of the Inuit people depends on the survival of the language. When people meet Inuit, they are disappointed if they cannot show their knowledge of Inuit ways … If the Inuit themselves don’t use their language more, it will be forgotten, and very soon the Inuit too will be a forgotten people …

There are only very few Inuit, but millions of whites, just like mosquitoes. It is something very special and wonderful to be an Inuk – they are like the snow geese. If an Inuk forgets his language and Inuit ways, he will be nothing but just another mosquito.

Abraham Okpik, 1962

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