Federal Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan will back a report calling for Inuit children to receive bilingual education in their aboriginal language of Inuktitut and either English or French, The Canadian Press has learned.

Duncan will be present at a Thursday news conference releasing a national strategy on Inuit education. The report is the result of more than two years of work by federal, territorial and aboriginal officials.

Bilingual education is seen as a major step toward reducing Nunavut's 75 per cent dropout rate, which is considered the root of many of the Arctic territory's social ills.

Mary Simon, head of the national group Inuit Tapirisat Kanatami, hinted at the report's contents Sunday in a speech at Queen's University in Kingston, Ont..

"The national strategy on Inuit education lays out a 21st-century vision for Inuit education," she said. "It provides 10 core recommendations, starting with a commitment to bilingual education -- Inuktitut and either English or French."

In an interview, Simon said Duncan backs the recommendations.

"I met with minister Duncan right after he was appointed and went through the whole thing with him. He was very supportive."

A spokeswoman for Duncan's office pointed out that education is a provincial and territorial responsibility and any changes would have to be implemented through those governments.

"It would be up to them to decide how to respond, not the federal government," she said.

Ottawa does fund aboriginal schools under the terms of the Indian Act. However, Inuit are not covered by that act.

Bilingual education involving Inuktitut has long been controversial in the North.

Some argue that since proficiency in English is key to success for young Inuit, classes should be given in English alone. Others argue that children do better if they have solid skills in their mother tongue -- which remains Inuktitut in Nunavut and other parts of the North -- before they cope with English.

Simon said while the language of instruction would be Inuktitut, classes in English or French would be mandatory.

"We do not want to educate unilingual people."

In her speech, Simon pointed to evidence backing teaching in Inuktitut. She said a 2008 United Nations panel found the greatest predictor of success in school for aboriginal children was how long they were taught in their first language.

A 2006 study by retired justice Thomas Berger came to similar conclusions.

Berger found that Nunavut's education system is producing graduates competent in neither English nor Inuktitut. Berger said that inability is one of the main causes of the territory's social problems and crippling unemployment.

He recommended bilingual schools and said it would take about $20 million a year to implement.

Berger was acting as a conciliator in a billion-dollar lawsuit between the land claim organization Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. and the federal government. The group claimed that Ottawa was failing to live up to the terms of the land claim by failing to educate Inuit to the point where they could claim their share of the jobs and benefits from the territory's creation.

The lawsuit is still active.

Simon agreed that education is of central importance in developing Nunavut and other Inuit regions in northern Quebec, Labrador and the Northwest Territories.

"I can't say it's the only thread you have to start plucking at but it's one of the key threads," she said. "If you're not a well-educated individual you can't be very competitive in the workforce."

Inuktitut is one of three aboriginal languages in Canada that remain strong, along with Cree and Ojibwa. In 2008, Statistics Canada reported that two-thirds of all Inuit speak Inuktitut and about half speak it at home.

Nunavut has implemented several policies to strengthen the language.

Customers in shops, restaurants and other businesses must have access to service in Inuktitut.

Municipal services are to be available in the Inuit language within four years. It is to be the language of work in the public service as of Sept. 18.

Inuit language instruction is now compulsory for students in kindergarten to Grade 3. That's to be extended to other grades by 2019.