More than welcome words are needed

MP’s speech in Mohawk language was powerful, but much remains ahead

On Thursday of last week, Montreal MP Marc Miller stood before the House of Commons and delivered a speech in the Mohawk language of Kanyen’kéha.

“I stand here to honour the Mohawk language and I pay my respects to their people. Hopefully it will help us to become better friends. I also hope that we will hear the Mohawk language a lot more often here and that more Canadians will be proud to use it to speak to one another,” Miller said according to a translation of his remarks. The Island of Montreal is a traditionally Mohawk territory. The MP for Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs has been studying Kanyen’kéha since January. Amid the hoopla of Canada’s 150th and Montreal’s 375th celebrations, the speech was an understated but meaningful gesture toward acknowledging the historical and contemporary place of indigenous languages in this country.

At a personal level, it reminded me of my own missed opportunities to learn a language that might have helped me better understand not only my own country but also my classmates and neighbours growing up.

Miller said he learned to speak Kanyen’kéha through Onkwawenna Kentyohkwa, a community-based training program run by the Six Nations of the Grand River, home to the largest First Nations band in Canada, where all six Iroquois nations live together: Mohawk, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, Seneca and Tuscarora. I grew up in the southern Ontario town of Brantford that borders the Six Nations. I went to school with kids from the reserve. I speak English and French, but I don’t speak a single word in any indigenous language.

I’m inspired by the fact that he made the effort to learn the language. But as a member of the current federal government, Miller’s speech must elicit more than just praise. It should serve as a reminder to Canadians that the Liberals have made some big promises to indigenous peoples, including a commitment to implement all 94 recommendations from the 2015 Truth and Reconciliation Commission. There are questions around how much progress has been made. A couple of weeks ago, the Indigenous Rights Movement of Canada — represented by Cindy Blackstock, Delilah Saunders, Melanie Morrison, Sen. Murray Sinclair, Melissa Mollen Dupuis and Widia Larivière — received the Amnesty International Ambassador of Conscience award alongside musician and artist Alicia Keys. At the ceremony, which took place right here in Montreal, recipients urged not only Canadians but the world to hold our government to account for their promises to indigenous peoples.

At a speech to the Assembly of First Nations Special Chiefs Assembly back in December, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that the federal government would be proposing a Canadian Indigenous Languages Act. While they announced an allocation of around $90 million over the next three years to support communities seeking to revitalize indigenous languages in the 2017 budget, no actual legislation has been introduced as of yet.

Of course, there’s no denying that such legislation would be a logistical challenge. In Canada, there are more than 60 aboriginal languages, grouped into 12 distinct language families. About 20 per cent of those in Canada who report having an aboriginal mother tongue live in Quebec.

Would this mean Canada having 60 (or more) official languages? And if so, how would that mesh with existing policies and practices around French and English as Canada’s official languages? The reality is that different First Nations groups have been thinking about this for decades. One example can be found in a 2005 report titled Towards a New Beginning delivered to the minister of Canadian Heritage by the Task Force on Aboriginal Languages and Cultures. The authors concluded that while recognition of indigenous languages would be national, implementation could be regional.

Marc Miller’s Kanyen’kéha language speech to the House of Commons was a powerful symbolic gesture on behalf of the Liberal government. But keeping its promises to Canada’s indigenous peoples is going to take much more than words.