Inuit lawmaker who intended to speak Greenlandic stopped from addressing the Danish Parliament

There is a debate about whether lawmakers from Greenland and the Faeroe Islands can speak in their own tongues before the Danish parliament

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — A lawmaker representing Greenland in Denmark’s Parliament was asked to leave the podium of the assembly because she intended to speak only in Greenlandic — the Inuit language of the sparsely populated Arctic island — frustrating uncomprehending legislators and highlighting strained relations within the Danish Realm.

Aki-Matilda Hoegh-Dam, from the social democratic Siumut party, is at the center of a debate about whether lawmakers from Greenland and the Faeroe Islands can speak in their own tongues before the Danish parliament. The two semi-independent territories that are part of the Danish Realm, each hold two seats in the Folketing in Copenhagen.