(June 12, 2013) - Firstly I’d like to thank the Tsuu T’ina Nation for inviting us onto their traditional land to participate in this year’s Dene Languages Conference . It is always a learning experience to go to other First Nations’ traditional areas to share common cultural interests.
Today, I will provide you with information on our revitalization efforts for the Aboriginal languages of the Northwest Territories as well as the establishment of an Aboriginal Languages Secretariat as a separate facility dedicated to cultural and linguistic revitalization of our traditional languages.
Over the years the Government of the Northwest Territories has demonstrated support of its Aboriginal languages through the enactment of the Official Languages Act that confers official status to nine Aboriginal languages; the development of an Official Languages Policy and providing a variety of programs and services in support of Aboriginal languages enhancement and revitalization.
The Department of Education, Culture and Employment has a mandate that places it at the center of major language issues that affect the government’s delivery of language services. Under ECE, the Official Languages Division is tasked with carrying out the management and policy functions on official Aboriginal languages matters.
There are currently 9 Aboriginal languages recognized under the Official Languages Act of the NWT. These languages are spoken in 33 communities across the NWT. We have a population of just over 43,000 and approximately 50% are Dene, Inuit, Cree and Metis.
As Minister responsible for Official Languages, I place a high priority on the preservation and revitalization of languages. They provide a sense of identity and support the norms of traditional beliefs and social cohesion, especially in our smaller communities. Over the past 20 years, the percentage of people who speak an Aboriginal language in the NWT has declined on average by about 18 percent.
While the diversity of experience and level of language proficiency among the language communities presents a challenge for the delivery of coordinated language services, we view this as an opportunity. Our programming and access to date focuses on collaborating and working with Elders to communicate their valuable traditional knowledge and language, and bridging the gap between tradition and technology, to engage our youth.
It is particularly important that we understand the needs of each Aboriginal language community and work in close partnership to find the solutions that work best for them. We have done this through many approaches, working with our language communities and providing programs, services and access for people to explore their heritage and learn their language.
Snapshot of language communities
We have 8 language regions in the NWT, and within these regions are three language families. Dene languages include Gwich’in, North Slavey, South Slavey, Tlicho and Chipewyan, all Athapaskan languages. In the North and Northeast, the Inuit language family includes Inuvialuktun and Inuinnaqtun, in the Inuvialuit settlement region. Inuktitut in the NWT is spoken primarily in Yellowknife. And finally, Cree is spoken in one of the southernmost regions near the border of Alberta.
Of these individual languages:
•Tlicho is the healthiest, with approximately 2,600 speakers; this comprises 36% of all NWT residents who speak an Aboriginal language.
•South Slavey has approximately 1,500 speakers; more than half of the speakers are 40 years or older, and a third are under 40.
•North Slavey has approximately 1,200 speakers; more than half of the speakers are 40 years or older, and slightly less than half are under 40.
•Chipewyan has approximately 600 speakers; two thirds of the speakers are over 40.
•Cree has approximately 220 speakers in the NWT; nearly two thirds of speakers are over 40.
•The Inuit language family has approximately 370 speakers over 40 in Inuvialuktun, with approximately 100 under 40; Inunniaqtun has approximately 140 speakers over 40; and Inuktitut, spoken primarily in Yellowknife, has approximately 100 speakers over 40 and 100 under 40.
•Gwich’in is one of the most endangered languages in all of Canada with approximately 220 speakers in the NWT; two thirds of the speakers are over 40.
We have our work cut out for us; to ensure the future of our languages and cultures are intricately woven together, we have numerous plans for revitalization.
Education and Training
As identified by our Aboriginal Languages Plan, 2010, we are focusing our work in several different areas. Education and training are foundational to many of the programs and services we are providing, and planning to provide.
Some of our programming for early childhood, students and youth include the programs you see on the slide. These are focused on immersing children in their language and culture, because, as we know, foundations and pathways for lifelong learning happen in the early years to the age of 5. We have a new pilot program to begin in the 2013-14 school year, the Elders in Schools, which will pair our Elders with our students to bridge the gaps between youth and our Elders, and the gap between tradition and technology. As well, our TLCs provide support for education and after school programming in Aboriginal languages and culture.
These programs ensure that our children have the opportunity to learn their language, culture and traditional knowledge.
There are options for adults to learn languages in nearly every community in the NWT. Aurora College provides some of these programs and training, like the ALCIP certificate, which we have available at all three campuses in Inuvik, Fort Smith and Yellowknife. We have also provided community delivery in select communities.
We strive to ensure our teachers through our TEP program have full knowledge of the culture and language of the communities they may be teaching in, and provide cultural and professional development opportunities throughout the year.
The Aboriginal Languages Institute focuses on the principles of languages revitalization and practices in the preservation and maintenance of Aboriginal languages. Over the last few years, 22 participants have moved through the course.
Multimedia
One of our great challenges in our Aboriginal languages is that they are primarily spoken languages, so we are working to ensure we have digital and printed records for preservation. Our digital apps and online dictionaries have been tremendous tools used by schools, youth, and adults for learning and teaching opportunities.
As well, we are seeing many of our youth exploring their culture and language through film and visual arts – you may have heard of The Lesser Blessed, a feature film based on a book by Fort Smith author Richard Van Camp, and Dene: A Journey, a television series produced by Amos Scott. As well, our recent overwhelming success in Ottawa for the Northern Scene event was hosted to sold out crowds, and featured works of photography, musical performances, sculpture, jewelry, fashion, art – many produced by our youth, expressing their culture and language through these mediums.
Collaboration and Support
We have been working very closely with our language communities to ensure preservation and revitalization, and the five year plans in development will focus on those areas that require attention; training, education, traditional knowledge, immersion, technology, youth focused programs.
Our Cultural Places program is responsible for geographical names and features in the NWT, in line with the NWT Geographical and Community Names Policy, and the GNWT Policy of Aboriginal Place Names. To date, the NWT Geographical Names database now lists over 5,000 official names, with 4,000 traditional place names. Over 2011-12, researchers processed 600 proposed traditional place names submitted from different regions of the NWT.
We provide support through numerous programs, including the CLDF, the ALLP and the ABP. The two former provide support for programs and projects that support literacy in Aboriginal languages for children, youth, adults and communities. The ABP provides funding and support to the Native Communications Society and the Inuvialuit Communications Society for radio programming in Aboriginal languages as well as various projects for television broadcast on the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network.
Our partnerships are critically important in our language and culture preservation and promotion efforts, and we ensure that we consistently work across all of our partner resources to address both our challenges and opportunities in the North.
Engagement
We consistently engage our partners and stakeholders, especially when we require specific information on language, culture and traditional knowledge. Through these processes, we can be confident that the right voices are heard and opinions and direction recorded for our proposed programs, initiatives and services.
We recognize that there are many contributing factors to language and cultural preservation and retention, including poverty, the legacy of residential schools, mental health and addictions, disconnected families, to name a few. Some of our initiatives in the last few years have shone a light on these factors, and we are working across government and with our stakeholders to target our programming to address these factors.
We have completed or are in the process of engaging with our stakeholders to develop these initiatives to meet the needs of our current and future residents.
We held our first Aboriginal Languages Symposium in 2010, which contributed to our Aboriginal Languages Plan. Our recent subsequent symposium reinforced our direction and focus to continue to work closely with our language communities to ensure comprehensive preservation and revitalization plans are in place.
Our ASA plan focuses on four main priorities – Early Childhood Development and Child Care; Student and Family Support; Aboriginal Language and Culture Curriculum and Resource Development; and Literacy. There is an achievement gap between our Aboriginal students and other students, and we have and are in the process of addressing each of these priorities.
Our Residential Schools Teacher Resource is part of our Northern Studies curriculum, which was an exhaustive and comprehensive project that involved working with residential schools survivors, compiling research, and producing the material into a thorough package which does not shy away from the difficult truths of residential schools, but focuses on reconciliation and hope for the future.
Two of our most recent initiatives include our renewed ECD Framework, which dovetails with our Education Renewal Initiative. We are revamping the education system in the NWT, along with many of our national jurisdictions, Alberta included, to incorporate more of a competencies based learning structure, rather than an outcomes based system.
All of these initiatives contribute to our targets to revitalize our languages in the NWT, and they all include language and cultural components.
Aboriginal Languages Secretariat
Everything that I have highlighted here today has brought us to our most recent and exciting initiative. The Standing Committee on Government Operations in its review of the Official Languages Act of the NWT called for the establishment of an Aboriginal Languages Secretariat that would have authority to improve accountability and oversight for government services; determine service delivery priorities through consultations with aboriginal languages communities; and build government capacity through comprehensive long-term planning.
With our implementation plan, this important first step will assist us in making improvements and adopting new approaches towards enhancing and increasing support for Aboriginal languages.
Key Functions
Oversight, Management and Planning
- Provide Official Languages Act & Regulations oversight and accountability for Aboriginal Languages;
- Coordinate development and implementation of strategic regional language plans with Aboriginal language communities.
Education, Training and Instruction
- Support the development and delivery of Aboriginal language programming in the schools;
- Coordinate training for Aboriginal Language & Culture Instructors;
Resource Development
- Coordinate development of resources and curriculum for Aboriginal languages.
Services in Aboriginal Languages
- Coordinate development of resources and curriculum for Aboriginal languages.
These are exciting times; we are seeing higher graduation rates, more residents in training and education, invested communities and stakeholders, a healthy economy, the lowest unemployment rates in Canada and a lot of curiosity about the North, which is translating into increased tourism, population and opportunities. For every program and initiative we support and put in place, language and culture underpins everything. We believe we are on the right path to ensure our languages have a future.
If you would like more information on any of the initiatives I’ve discussed today, I would welcome your questions. Otherwise, please visit my Department’s website, which has information on all of these initiatives.
Masi.
