Five ideas to support Indigenous language revitalization in Canada

                                         

We continue reading excerpts from Honouring the Truth, Reconciling for the Future Summary of the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada and look at more Calls to Action for Language. This time the calls are aimed at Government Programs for Indigenous Languages and processes for Reclaiming Names. These are  Calls to Action 14 - 17.  

Government programs 

At a time when government funding is most needed to protect Aboriginal languages and culture, Canada has not upheld commitments it previously made to fund such programs. In 2002, the federal government promised $160 million for the creation of a centre for Aboriginal languages and culture and a national language strategy. But, in 2006, the government retreated from that commitment, pledging instead to spend $5 million per year in “permanent funding” for the Aboriginal Languages Initiative (ali), which had been started in 1998. The ali is a program of government-administered heritage subsidies. It is not based on the notion of respectful nation-to-nation relations between Canada and Aboriginal peoples. Neither does it provide Aboriginal people with the opportunity to make decisions for themselves about how to allocate scarce resources and how to administer programs. Many who appeared before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada were skeptical about the government’s Truth & Reconciliation Commission commitment to preserve Aboriginal languages. As Michael Sillett told us, “I cannot see the federal government putting out the money that’s necessary for full restitution, you know.... I can’t bring back my language; I lost that. I lost my culture, you know”… The outcome of the consultation should be legislation and policies that affirm the importance of Canada’s Indigenous languages, and allocate adequate funding to ensure their preservation. 

Calls to Action 

14) We call upon the federal government to enact an Aboriginal Languages Act that incorporates the following principles: 

    i.   Aboriginal languages are a fundamental and valued element of Canadian culture and society, and          there is an urgency to preserve them. 

    ii.   Aboriginal language rights are reinforced by the Treaties. 

    iii. The federal government has a responsibility to provide sufficient funds for Aboriginal-language             revitalization and preservation. 

     iv. The preservation, revitalization, and strengthening of Aboriginal languages and cultures are best              managed by Aboriginal people and communities. 

       v. Funding for Aboriginal language initiatives must reflect the diversity of Aboriginal languages. 

15) We call upon the federal government to appoint, in consultation with Aboriginal groups, an Aboriginal Languages Commissioner. The commissioner should help promote Aboriginal languages and report on the adequacy of federal funding of Aboriginal-languages initiatives. 

In addition to promoting the use of Aboriginal languages, an Aboriginal Languages Commissioner would also educate non-Aboriginal Canadians about the richness and value of Aboriginal languages and how strengthening those languages can enhance Canada’s international reputation... 

16) We call upon post-secondary institutions to create university and college degree and diploma programs in Aboriginal languages. 

Reclaiming names 

As a result of the residential school experienc
e, many Aboriginal people lost their language and lost touch with their culture. Many also suffered a loss of a different sort. It was common for residential school officials to give students new names. At the Aklavik Anglican school in the Northwest Territories, a young Inuit girl named Masak became “Alice”—she would not hear her old name until she returned home.96 At the Qu’Appelle school in Saskatchewan, Ochankugahe (Path Maker) became Daniel Kennedy, named for the biblical Daniel, and Adélard Standing Buffalo was named for Adélard Langevin, the Archbishop of St. Boniface.97 Survivors and their families who have sought to reclaim the names that were taken from them in residential schools have found the process to be both expensive and time consuming. We believe that measures should be put in place to reduce the burden placed on those who seek to reclaim this significant portion of their heritage. 

Call to Action

17) We call upon all levels of government to enable residential school Survivors and their families to reclaim names changed by the residential school system by waiving administrative costs for a period of five years for the name-change process and the revision of official identity documents, such as birth certificates, passports, driver’s licenses, health cards, status cards, and social insurance numbers.

On Whose Land Do You Live? An Action for Canadians on July 1 - Research Your Geography

 

Continuing from the previous three posts, my blog’s focus for the next several days is to raise awareness about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada's (TRC) Calls to Action. A summary of the whole report can be found at Honouring the Truth, Reconciling for the Future Summary of the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. Today, we read an excerpt from the Summary and the Call to Action aimed at Language: Call to Action 13.

“Some Survivors refused to teach their own children their Aboriginal languages and cultures because of the negative stigma that had come to be associated with them during their school years. This has contributed significantly to the fragile state of Aboriginal languages in Canada today.

Many of the almost ninety surviving Aboriginal languages in Canada are under serious threat of extinction. In the 2011 census, 14.5% of the Aboriginal population reported that their first language learned was an Aboriginal language. In the previ- ous 2006 census, 18% of those who identified as Aboriginal had reported an Aboriginal language as their first language learned, and a decade earlier, in the 1996 census, the figure was 26%. This indicates nearly a 50% drop in the fifteen years since the last res- idential schools closed. There are, however, variations among Aboriginal peoples: 63.7% of Inuit speak their Indigenous language, compared with 22.4% of First Nations people and only 2.5% of Métis people. 

Some languages are close to extinction because they have only a few remain- ing speakers of the great-grandparent generation. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (unesco) lists 36% of Canada’s Aboriginal languages as being critically endangered, in the sense that they are used only by great-grandparent generations; 18% are severely endangered, in the sense that they are used by the great-grandparent and grandparent generations; and 16% are definitely endangered, in the sense that they are used by the parental and the two previous generations. The remaining languages are all vulnerable. If the preservation of Aboriginal languages does not become a priority both for governments and for Aboriginal communities, then what the residential schools failed to accomplish will come about through a process of systematic neglect.”

Language rights

In interpreting Aboriginal and Treaty rights under Section 35(1) of the Constitution Act, 1982, the Supreme Court of Canada has stressed the relation of those rights to the preservation of distinct Aboriginal cultures.  The Commission concurs. The preserva- tion of Aboriginal languages is essential and must be recognized as a right.

Call to Action

13) We call upon the federal government to acknowledge that Aboriginal rights

include Aboriginal language rights.

Continuing from the previous two posts, my blog’s focus for the next several days is to raise awareness about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada's (TRC) Calls to Action. A summary of the whole report can be found at Honouring the Truth, Reconciling for the Future Summary of the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. Today, we read the 7 Calls to Action aimed at Education: Calls to Action 6 - 12.

Education 

6) We call upon the Government of Canada to repeal Section 43 of the Criminal Code of Canada. 

7) We call upon the federal government to develop with Aboriginal groups a joint strategy to eliminate educational and employment gaps between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Canadians. 

8) We call upon the federal government to eliminate the discrepancy in federal education funding for First Nations children being educated on reserves and those First Nations children being educated off reserves. 

9) We call upon the federal government to prepare and publish annual reports comparing funding for the education of First Nations children on and off reserves, as well as educational and income attainments of Aboriginal peoples in Canada compared with non-Aboriginal people. 

10) We call on the federal government to draft new Aboriginal education legislation with the full participation and informed consent of Aboriginal peoples. The new legislation would include a commitment to sufficient funding and would incorporate the following principles: 

        i. Providing sufficient funding to close identified educational achievement gaps within one                        generation.

        ii. Improving education attainment levels and success rates. 

        iii. Developing culturally appropriate curricula. 

        iv. Protecting the right to Aboriginal languages, including the teaching of Aboriginal                                   languages as credit courses. 

         v. Enabling parental and community responsibility, control, and accountability, similar to what                 parents enjoy in public school systems. 

        vi. Enabling parents to fully participate in the education of their children. 

        vii. Respecting and honouring Treaty relationships. 

11) We call upon the federal government to provide adequate funding to end the backlog of First Nations students seeking a post-secondary education. 

12) We call upon the federal, provincial, territorial, and Aboriginal governments to develop culturally appropriate early childhood education programs for Aboriginal families.

TRC Calls 1-5

Flowing from my first post yesterday, the blog’s focus for the next several days is on the TRC’s Calls to Action. The whole report can be found at Honouring the Truth, Reconciling for the Future Summary of the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. Today, we read about the 5 Calls to Action aimed at the Canadian Child Welfare system. 

Calls to Action

In order to redress the legacy of residential schools and advance the process of Canadian reconciliation, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission makes the following calls to action.

LEGACY 

Child welfare

1) We call upon the federal, provincial, territorial, and Aboriginal governments to commit to reducing the number of Aboriginal children in care by:

i. Monitoring and assessing neglect investigations.

ii. Providing adequate resources to enable Aboriginal communities and child-wel- fare organizations to keep Aboriginal families together where it is safe to do so, and to keep children in culturally appropriate environments, regardless of where they reside.

iii. Ensuring that social workers and others who conduct child-welfare investigations are properly educated and trained about the history and impacts of residen-

tial schools.

iv. Ensuring that social workers and others who conduct child-welfare investigations are properly educated and trained about the potential for Aboriginal communities and families to provide more appropriate solutions to family healing.

v. Requiring that all child-welfare decision makers consider the impact of the resi- dential school experience on children and their caregivers.

2) We call upon the federal government, in collaboration with the provinces and territo- ries, to prepare and publish annual reports on the number of Aboriginal children (First Nations, Inuit, and Métis) who are in care, compared with non-Aboriginal children,

320 • Truth & Reconciliation Commission

as well as the reasons for apprehension, the total spending on preventive and care services by child-welfare agencies, and the effectiveness of various interventions.

3) We call upon all levels of government to fully implement Jordan’s Principle.

4) We call upon the federal government to enact Aboriginal child-welfare legislation that establishes national standards for Aboriginal child apprehension and custody cases and includes principles that:

i. Affirm the right of Aboriginal governments to establish and maintain their own child-welfare agencies.

ii. Require all child-welfare agencies and courts to take the residential school legacy into account in their decision making.

iii. Establish, as an important priority, a requirement that placements of Aboriginal children into temporary and permanent care be culturally appropriate.

5) We call upon the federal, provincial, territorial, and Aboriginal governments to develop culturally appropriate parenting programs for Aboriginal families.

 

 

Hello Friends! About 35 years ago I began my journey of decolonization, truth and reconciliation. It began quite unconsciously back in the 1980's and 90's when I worked in Band-run schools and lived in First Nation communities in western Canada. I began to understand that my view of Canada and myself as Canadian was biased, limited, and often blatantly wrong. 

After several years of listening and learning, a red-tailed hawk touched me, twice on the shoulder on two separate occasions. I knew that I was being chosen for something. Since then, I have been waiting for Spirit to reveal what it is that I am being prepared for. Now, many years later I am ready and I know to what I am called and asked to do. 

Just before the recent discovery of  the unmarked graves of 215 children who attended Kamloops Residential School, I was drawn by Spirit to share more publicly my commitment to be and act in solidarity with First Peoples in Canada. The purpose of this sharing is for awareness raising and transformation. I want to help raise awareness among my people, settler people, who like me, generally benefit from all the systems in Canada: social, educational, medical, religious, economic, etc., while First Peoples continue to be disproportionately disadvantaged and dominated by these same systems. 

My commitment to solidarity with First Peoples is not unsubstantiated. My own personal journey has been richly blessed with many beloved friends and life-long teachers from whom I learn about Indigenous ways of being in the world. It is time for me to more fully honour the depth of these friendships and to share what I have learnt. I cannot live well if my sisters and those they love continue to be denied basic rights, like clean water, quality education and safety. 

Most Canadians are angry and shocked to hear that many children, as young as 3 years old, did not return to their families from the boarding schools they were forced to attend. However, the discovery of unmarked graves is not a shock to Indigenous peoples in Canada. 

Survivors of residential schools, who were traumatized from the experience have been telling the stories of these missing children for years. Many of the stories were recorded between 2007-2015 during Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Process (TRC). The Report includes 94 Calls to Action, six of which relate to missing children and burial information  (71-76). 

Even though stories about missing children and unmarked graves came out publicly during the TRC, many Canadians are just now waking up to these truths. As nations, we are not yet ready for reconciliation. Canadians are only now beginning to wake up to the reality of some of the tragically horrific truths. We have a long way to go. 

In 2016, Honourable Murray Sinclair, Chair of the TRC, said, “If you thought getting to the truth was hard, getting to reconciliation is going to be really hard.” We must start somewhere and it must be with truth. Indigenous Peoples and Settler Canadians are all here together in the country we call Canada. Settler friends, transformation is needed. We must choose how we want to live our common journey forward. I hope we choose the way that begins with truth.

Where can we begin? Start by filling in the AWARENESS gaps in our understanding of Canada's history. Below are two suggestions to start:

Listen to this 11 minute video: 

Become familiar with the TRC Report, including the 94 Calls to Action: Read Honouring the Truth, Reconciling for the Future Summary of the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada 

Silence - An Advent Challenge

On Sunday, Dec. 2, Advent begins. Perhaps even more than other times of year, we need to find some silence in the busyness of the Season. What do we celebrate at this time of year when we stand with all creation at the threshold between light and dark? It feeds my heart to imagine myself at the threshold of the “cave” within, peering out from the “mountaintop” of life in preparation for Christmas. 

I am not actually on a mountaintop, but I have been. I have just returned from the mountains in Tagaytay in the Philippines where I attended a 10 day international meeting. Many years ago when I was in the terrritories of the Tsilhqot’in and Lil’wat Nations, I lived in the Coastal and Interior Mountain ranges of British Columbia, Canada. My travels have taken me to Alberta Canada’s Rocky Mountains, the French Alps, and to the foothills of the Himalayas in Darjeeling, India. Mount Kanchenjunga, pictured below, is located at the border of India and Nepal. It can be seen from the hill station of Darjeeling, and is the highest mountain in India. Mountains are magnificent places from which to gain perspective, especially of the insignificance of human beings.

Anyone who has been to a mountain, or even flown over one in an airplane, knows something about what it means to have a mountaintop experience. But, a mountaintop experience is not an experience of having our “heads in the clouds”. Rather, a mountaintop experience provokes silence and provides a new and awesome view of reality. Being at the very top of a mountain within a mountain range is one of the most truly awesome experiences we can have. Feeling wonder and awe filling our whole being with an awareness that we are part creation, a very small part. It can be a truly humbling and spiritual experience of belonging to Life.

The Divine has blessed us with so much beauty, such a wonderful Earth home. May we respect every part of land, air, and water. May we walk gently on this earth together. To do so begins by loving our true nature as human beings, loving ourselves as part of created life with a responsibility to the whole. 

This Advent, watch the marvelous film, Love Thy Nature, and show it to friend, classes, family. The message: the way forward for us as human beings is to reconnect with who we are as part of nature and to allow that awareness to shape the technology and future that we create. 

May reconnecting with nature help us to find silence this Advent, and to respect and celebrate the God of Life, Love, Light, Wisdom, and Peace, the God who created us as part of all creation. Did God not come as Emmanuel, God-With-Us, so that all would have life? In light of this may we allow ourselves to be humbled, to be awed, to be grateful, and in our context to ask that which Chief Seattle questioned so many years ago, “How can you buy or sell the sky, the warmth of the land? The idea is strange to us. If we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can you buy them?”