Michelle DaCruz
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Apr 01/02) - The consensus of a two-day legislative review of the Official Languages Act last week is clear: it fails to serve the very people it was created to protect.

MLA David Krutko, deputy chair of the special committee on official languages, summarized the need for reform.

"In order to enhance these languages you have to use them. If you don't use them you lose them," he said.

Krutko, who is also the MLA for the Mackenzie Delta, pointed out that aboriginal people may feel threatened by English because it is the working language. He said because of this, aboriginals may be speaking their dialects at home or on the land but not in public.

Reforming the act could have a positive affect on erasing this mindset, said Krutko.

Fibbie Tatti, languages commissioner of the NWT, presented her own analysis of the act.

According to Tatti, one of the major shortcomings of the act is a lack of aboriginal perspective. For instance, the act was written without community consultation, and is published in English and French only.

Other issues detailed by Tatti include language use in the assembly and courts. These topics are covered in vague terms.

In courts, for example, English and French are standard languages, while the act states that the use of aboriginal languages requires only a "test of reasonableness."

In addition, printed government documents are only translated at the NWT commissioner's discretion.

To address these issues Tatti recommends employing a permanent interpreter-translator in the assembly; also, automatic translation of all high-profile documents, like birth certificates and driver's licences.

In a video-conference call from Ottawa, Dr. Dyane Adam, the language commissioner of Canada, explained the shortcomings of the act in respect to French only. Adam agreed with the concerns of the Federation Franco-TeNoise, who also made a presentation to the committee.

"The delivery of government services in French in person or by telephone is at its best uneven and sporadic," said Adam. "The scheme for applying official language rights in the NWT ... fails to provide the French language the same status of use enjoyed by English."

The purpose of the mandatory 10-year review is to provide an open forum for the public to critique the act and make suggestions for its improvement.

The five-member special committee on official languages heard the presentations and will include the suggestions in a report that will be presented to and debated in the legislative assembly by next February.