Indigenous languages law draws praise, ire

OTTAWA— A national Inuit organization says it is disappointed in the Liberals’ new legislation meant to protect Indigenous languages.

The Liberals tabled the bill Tuesday, two years after promising a law to promote Indigenous languages, which Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez said are on the verge of disappearing absent any intervention.

The bill pledges long-term funding and to create a federal commissioner of Indigenous languages.

While the Assembly of First Nations and Métis National Council are calling the bill a landmark piece of legislation, the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK) is calling the legislation a symbolic gesture from a “colonial system.”

Natan Obed, ITK’s president, said the Liberals’ legislation lacks any Inuit-specific content and doesn’t address Inuit rights to speak their traditional language, or help to revive and promote it.

“Despite being characterized as a reconciliation and co-development initiative, the Government of Canada engaged Inuit in bad faith throughout this legislative initiative,” Obed said in a statement. “ITK wanted nothing more than to truly co-develop a bill that we could champion with other Indigenous Peoples and the Government of Canada,” he said. “In no way was this bill co-developed with Inuit.”

The most recent census figures showed that 263,840 people reported being able to speak an Indigenous language in 2016.