What we Heard Report: Consultations on the Implementation of the Indigenous Languages Act — October 23, 2020 — Manitoba

Context

The Government of Canada is undertaking a variety of consultation activities across Canada on the implementation of the Indigenous Languages Act, with a focus on the Commissioner of Indigenous Languages and Directors and the Indigenous Languages Funding Model.

These consultation sessions will help the Minister of Canadian Heritage make recommendations to the Governor in Council for the appointment of a Commissioner of Indigenous Languages and up to three Directors. Feedback from these sessions will also inform the development of the Indigenous Languages Funding Model.

For further details and information about the Indigenous Languages Act and current consultations, we invite you to read our Discussion guide: Consultations and Engagement on the Implementation of the Indigenous Languages Act.

A summary of the most recent consultation session is provided below. The summary is not a complete account of the discussions. Instead, it highlights the key themes that emerged from this consultation session. Please visit the online consultation portal and review the discussion guide to share your own and/or additional views.

Participants Overall Comments and Suggestions

Office of the Commissioner of Indigenous Languages

The following considerations and themes were raised during the discussion on the Office of the Commissioner of Indigenous Languages:

Roles and Responsibilities:

Participants indicated that it was important that the Office of the Commissioner of Indigenous Languages:

• Ensure that each distinctions-based group is adequately represented and can connect to the Office to draw information about the state of Indigenous languages and effective community efforts; and
• Adequately represent all regions and respect the diversity of language groups from across the country.

Plans and Priorities and Early Successes - Office of the Commissioner of Indigenous Languages:

Many participants talked about the importance of focusing on:

• Gathering information on existing resources and programs in the area of Indigenous languages revitalization; and
• Connecting respectfully with communities and being willing to learn directly from communities about their histories, languages and protocols.

Many participants also spoke about the importance of the Office advocating for transformational changes to the mainstream education system to incorporate Indigenous ways of learning and knowing.

Selection of a Commissioner and Directors:

Participants proposed that appointees to the Office of the Commissioner of Indigenous Languages should:

• Have some fluency in an Indigenous language;
• Be well-versed in the history of Indigenous languages and appreciate their sacred nature and cultural foundations; and
• Understand the current landscape of Indigenous languages in Canada, including their states of vitality and efforts underway to reclaim, revitalize, maintain and strengthen them.

Indigenous Languages Funding Model

The following considerations and themes were raised during the discussion on the proposed Indigenous Languages Funding Model:

Language Vitality and Governance Capacity:

According to some participants, the Indigenous Languages Funding Model should:

• Be based on needs;
• Provide funding directly to communities and to some regional organizations; and
• Take into account the language needs of urban Indigenous people.

What to Fund:

According to participants, the funding model should be flexible and responsive to community-determined needs. Different types of efforts are required to focus on young children, youth, parents, other adults and Elders, both in schools and in the community. Examples of the types of efforts that should receive funding under the new model include:

• Immersion programs, post-secondary education, Head Start programming, teacher training and curriculum development; and
• Language nests, Mentor Apprenticeship Programs, land-based programming, language recording and archiving, infrastructure, and the development of multimedia and technological resources for different audiences.

Many participants noted the importance of involving and properly compensating Elders for their time and effort and working with the next generation of Elders to build them up as fluent speakers. Other participants emphasized the need to support and expand existing successful programs.

Funding Process:

According to participants, the funding model should:

• Seamlessly provide a baseline amount of predictable and sustainable funding to all communities;
• Be community-driven; and
• Quickly respond to the urgent needs around Indigenous language revitalization.

Defining and Measuring Success:

Participants expressed that communities have to define, measure and benchmark success for themselves. Examples of what success could look like include:

• An increase in the use of Indigenous languages and in the level of fluency in people, particularly in young children; and
• Indigenous people having pride in their languages, songs and identities.

Additional Comments

Participants frequently expressed how important and urgent the work of Indigenous languages revitalization is, with a particular concern around the decline of many languages in Manitoba and the loss of speakers. Many participants also mentioned that:

• Indigenous languages are sacred and embody our culture, identity, and a living philosophy;
• Indigenous people need to lead the way, and think creatively about solutions to these issues; and,
• Current approaches are not working – an example of this is the treatment of Indigenous languages as a subject in schools.

Some participants stated that the commitment to supporting the revitalization of Indigenous languages should reflect the amount of time it took to take the languages away. Others talked about the importance of ensuring that Indigenous people have the same right to, and level of support for, education in their own languages as English-speaking and French-speaking children and families.