Indian Arts and Crafts Act 25 Cfr Ãâ§ 30925
Winters aren't but hard in Nunavut; they are severe. Temperatures can plunge to minus 45 degrees Celsius (minus 50 degrees Fahrenheit) in parts of Canada'southward northernmost territory, some of which is located above the Chill Circle. But the beauty is exquisite; views of the northern lights are spectacular at that place.
"It is 1 of the most exotic places in Canada, and the most natural," Mary-Lee Sandy-Aliyak, a recruitment specialist with the Government of Nunavut, says of her territory.
"Just it is also a challenging place to live. In addition to the weather, there are no roads or railroads between the 25 communities of this vast territory, one-fifth of Canada's total land mass. Nunavut is only accessible by air, and during summertime, by gunkhole."
Nunavut – which means "Our land" in Inuktitut, ane of the Inuit languages, has been home to an indigenous population for more than four,000 years. Today, more than 80% of the population is of Inuit descent.
And while the territory is huge, the population is non: 39,000 people. The smallest community is Grise Fiord, with 130; the largest, Iqaluit, the capital of Nunavut, has eight,500 people.
"There are not a lot of resources for fixing things," says Sandy-Aliyak, whose chore includes helping Inuit employees get training and education to advance their career. "You really have to exist contained, whether you make your own clothes, service and fix your ain house stuff. You accept to know how to do maintenance on all of your things, whether it exist the figurer, the toaster, the fridge, vehicles – yous name it."
The COVID-19 pandemic could have resulted in an even more isolated way of life. But as countries effectually the world started to lock downward final bound, the Authorities of Nunavut was gearing up to put Microsoft Teams into place for many of its 5,200-plus employees and additional back up workers – scattered around the territory – providing a new way for them to meet virtually. Nunavut was also planning to use Teams as a tool to help authorities departments and agencies meliorate and deliver programs and services to remote communities throughout the territory.
Technologically, "we were in one case significantly behind, however as a issue of contempo events, we have come a long mode," says Dean Wells, corporate master information officer for the Government of Nunavut.
"That is changing dramatically with the help of Teams and moving to the deject with Office 365 and SharePoint online. It was something that was not possible until at present because of bandwidth restrictions."
Sandy-Aliyak says Teams has been important to provide preparation that might not otherwise take place during the pandemic.
"Until the pandemic, some employees attending conferences often would have to fly inside the territory to attend the gatherings, something that can be fourth dimension-consuming and costly. For example, it'southward nearly a three-60 minutes airplane ride from Grise Fiord to Iqaluit, and flights into some of the communities are weekly, not daily. All communities are quite spread out, and between each customs, travel tin be betwixt $ii,000 to $10,000 per person."
She was part of a leadership class of 24 that originally met in person and moved to Teams because of the pandemic. Teams is also where the course graduation took place.
"It was nice to see everybody'south faces because we couldn't encounter each other in person," Sandy-Aliyak says.
In November 2019, the Authorities of Nunavut was hit past a ransomware attack that took downwards everything, from the telephone organization to the regime's servers. Post-obit the attack, the regime considered whether to rebuild the old network or move frontwards with something different.
"Microsoft was amongst the firms that helped with the restoration of systems," says Wells. "The security provided past Microsoft was also crucial to the Government of Nunavut considering the bear on of ransomware. When the regime decided to move to the cloud, Microsoft became not only a correspondent just a partner as well."
Working together toward a mutual goal is important in Nunavut and part of Inuit culture. Taking care of each other and respect for Elders are key. Inuktitut, the start language of 70% of the residents of Nunavut, is integral to the teamwork and the traditional passing of noesis. Adam Guimond-Pishuktie, a xix-year-onetime records analyst, grew up not knowing how to speak Inuktitut, and it bothered him.
"I accept felt a little left out, but also kind of bad," he says. "My friends can speak it to each other, but I don't understand it, so it's a linguistic communication barrier – specially with the Elders. Whenever an Elder will come up to me, to ask for assist or whatever, I don't speak the language, and I take to go someone else to translate."
When a class to acquire Inuktitut started beingness offered via Teams to authorities employees, Guimond-Pishuktie eagerly signed up.
"Nosotros have Teams meetings every calendar week, and it helps a lot," he says. "You can try to learn it online and endeavor to empathize the grammar yourself. Just information technology's a lot harder, you lot're not understanding how to pronounce words. On Teams, the teachers are very helpful with that."
Boosted aid is also now available: Microsoft recently added Inuktitut text translation to Microsoft Translator. The launch coincides with Inuktut Language Calendar month in Nunavut. Inuktitut is the primary dialect of the Inuktut language. Other official languages and dialects used in the territory include English and French and Inuinnaqtun.
To add Inuktitut translation, Microsoft worked closely with the Government of Nunavut to get the language information needed to create the new translation system. The effort is part of Microsoft's AI for Cultural Heritage program, in which $x one thousand thousand over five years is committed to support projects dedicated to the preservation and enrichment of cultural heritage that leverage the power of artificial intelligence, such as the Inuktitut text translation.
In addition to Nunavut, Inuktitut is spoken across northern Canada including the Northwest Territories, Manitoba, Québec, and Newfoundland and Labrador. Information technology is in the Eskimo-Aleut language family, which is spoken as far west as Russia, through Canada, and into eastern Greenland. Other languages in this family unit include Yup'ik, Aleut and Inuktun.
Wells sees that the ability of Teams to attain individuals not only during a pandemic, but at any time, is a huge plus for the people of Nunavut. Within the government, video conferencing tin cut down travel expenses, reducing the number of flights, hotels and meals the government needs to pay for.
Whoever's got a PC at present tin can really admission Teams and go to piece of work
Using Teams, the Regime of Nunavut can also reach subject thing experts and consultants outside of the territory more easily, paving the way for expanded possibilities in health, and for students to become tutoring and school courses through Teams.
"They're getting tutoring when they can't get additional help in the community, they tin can attain out and get ane-on-one tutoring through Teams," says Wells. "The discomfort and shyness that some students feel in a class – they're agape to put up their hands, they're afraid to ask questions – y'all don't become that with a one-on-one tutor in your domicile."
Sandy-Aliyak has never been afraid to put up her manus, although she understands how others can feel that mode. Athletic and adventurous, she was the youngest of five children, and "learned to exist outgoing and not shy at all," she says. Her avocation is equally a stand-upward comedian, and she says she'due south mulling how she could utilise Teams for a one-act bear witness, or as a way for comedians who are spread out to practise their routines together. It's emblematic of how Teams capabilities tin meliorate residents' quality of life with training, employment, education and entertainment.
Wells says having Teams ways a whole unlike world.
"Whoever's got a PC now tin can actually admission Teams and go to work," he says. "I don't want to make it audio like we've got utopia congenital hither considering we don't. At that place's still a lot to do and a long way to abound in terms of internet service and connections in Nunavut. Only there's an awful lot of hope, and people are motivated now that they can see what's possible. The quality of life is going to improve dramatically."
Height photo: The northern lights over Nunavut. Photo courtesy of the Government of Nunavut.
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Source: https://news.microsoft.com/transform/how-an-inuit-territory-is-staying-connected-despite-vast-distances-apart/
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