Federal Indigenous language bill an opportunity lost
Roméo Saganash has provided us with many poignant moments in the House of Commons.
The residential school survivor did it again on Thursday as the NDP MP stood up and in Cree spoke of the incredible urgency to preserve rapidly disappearing First Nations, Métis and Inuit languages.
While Saganash said he’ll support the passing of the Indigenous Languages Act introduced earlier this week, he made it clear he is doing so with a heavy heart. He is woefully disappointed in what Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government came up with after so much more was promised. Trudeau campaigned promising to help save Indigenous languages and he promised to consult — there is that magic word again — Indigenous people on how to do so.
“I’ve been watching this government for four years. There is a clear difference between what they do and what they say,” Saganash said. What a lost opportunity. Language is what identifies us as people. It is there, hidden in our DNA, passed down through generations; it is what defines culture, protocols and who we are.
When First Nations, Métis and Inuit children were sent to residential schools, they were forbidden to speak in their own tongue and if they did, it was beaten out of them. As a result, generations of families lost their ability to communicate with their past and their culture. This was also lost when children were taken away from their families by the state as part of the ’60s Scoop.
My mother, who was raised by school survivors, says when she was a girl she used to press her ear against the door so she could hear the soft sounds of Anishinaabemowin being spoken outside by her grandfather. The language was not allowed in her grandmother’s home.
The United Nations says 87 Indigenous languages are in danger of vanishing over the next 100 years.
Yet what was unveiled in the Indigenous Languages Act won’t help anyone retain their dying language. The bill lacks teeth. Unlike the Official Languages Act, for instance, the bill contains no federal obligation to fund language use or any reliable financial support.
In fact, it does little other than create an Office of a Commissioner of Indigenous Languages to advance the use and reclamation of our vanishing languages.
This is hardly a panacea. It’s hardly even a help. It will be a “powerless advocacy body, perpetually burdened by costly and onerous reporting duties,” according to a statement from Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK), representing 65,000 Inuit from four regions known as Inuit Nunangat. About 84 per cent of Inuit within 51 communities are able to speak Inuktut.
ITK president Natan Obed said the government negotiated the bill in bad faith and in “no way” was this bill co-developed with Inuit.
Carolyn Bennett, minister of Indigenous Crown Relations, always speaks of the need for Indigenous self-determination.
But “this is nowhere near self-determination,” said Dr. Judith Sayers, president of the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council.
In Sayers’s home community of the Hupacasath First Nation, there are no fluent speakers of the traditional tongue left.
The legislation says the minister of Canadian Heritage will undertake consultations with “diverse” Indigenous communities — whatever that means — and then suggest long- and short-term funding options.
But we know what consultation means to this government. The bill should be changed to require that consent is obtained from all First Nations and Indigenous groups before funding is decided, Sayers said.
Consent should be obtained, too, before the new commissioner and the office’s five directors are appointed.
The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, of which Ottawa is a signatory, demands this. A languages office should be led by directors appointed by Indigenous people and accountable to Indigenous people.
Anything less is not selfdetermination. It is the long arm of colonialism once again deciding what is best for Indigenous peoples.
The office’s priorities and mandate should not come from Ottawa. It should come from the people themselves.
As Sayers points out, all that can be done now is hope to get amendments made to the legislation.
“What a disappointment,” she said.