NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
The territory's nine aboriginal languages are in dire state and the GNWT needs to document them before it's too late, according to Ingrid Kritsch, research director for the Gwich'in Social and Cultural Institute.
Dictionaries and grammars should be produced so residents can draw on those resources to learn the languages in the future, she continued. An aboriginal languages curriculum is also key to the learning process.
"I think we're at a really critical stage right now with most of the aboriginal languages here in the NWT and we need to be very thoughtful and well planned out in any action we take," Kritsch said. "It has to be a multi-pronged approach. Youth and revitalization is very important, but don't forget the documentation."
Kritsch was one of nearly 200 delegates who attended the aboriginal languages symposium March 20 and 21 at St. Patrick High School in Yellowknife. The theme of the event was language through generations: We speak who we are.
The first day of the event consisted of presentations from government and language groups. On the second day, delegates participated in breakout sessions during which they were asked to give feedback on five subjects, including establishing an aboriginal languages secretariat, promoting speaking and writing of languages and providing government services in aboriginal languages.
The schedule, Kritsch said, was too tight and didn't allow participants time to discuss everything. Also, the narrow focus limited what could be said, she added.
Kritsch said she feels the government is so concerned with implementing the aboriginal languages secretariat plan that they've forgotten other important areas.
"I think that's a serious oversight. I think overall we need more funding in order to do the research behind all these languages," she said, adding a language centre would be a great asset because it would bring together language groups and linguists as well as provide a place to develop curriculum with resource materials to accompany.
That way the basics would be nailed down and communities would have a core of information to draw on and build from, Kritsch said.
Meanwhile, Albert Canadien, director of official languages for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, said the secretariat is being introduced so the goals established in the 2010 NWT Aboriginal Languages Plan: A Shared Responsibility can be carried out. These goals include developing standards for written language use and establishing an Aboriginal Languages Centre.
"In order to pursue this to full implementation we needed an organization with the capacity to address a lot of the recommendations of that plan," Canadien said, adding it will take time to carry out all the goals. "It's a work in progress."
During the symposium's question period, delegates also expressed concern over the amount of funding allotted to the aboriginal languages. It's not right that the federal government provides French speakers $1.9 million for the promotion and sustainment of the French language while all nine aboriginal languages share $1.9 million, said Mary-Rose Sundberg.
(The GNWT provides an additional $12 million annually for aboriginal language and culture activities. One million dollars is allotted for the French language.)
In response, Jackson Lafferty, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, alluded to the possibility of the federal government contributing more funds in the future.
Canadien later clarified, saying he believed Lafferty was referring to the GNWT's ongoing talks with the federal government over the Canada-NWT Cooperation Agreement for French and Aboriginal Languages. The original five year agreement expired in 1999 and it has been renewed every year since then. However, Lafferty and his department are hoping to sign a multi-year agreement with more money for the official aboriginal languages.
Either way, Canadien said he thinks the GNWT is on the right path in terms of aboriginal language revitalization and this symposium was another step in that direction.
"The result of this symposium will help us move ahead and increase support to the aboriginal languages, our official aboriginal languages," he said.
Languages by the numbers
Population 15 and up with the ability to converse
- English 22,237
- French 1,964
- Inuktitut 180
- Inuvialuktun 511
- Inuinnaqtun 208
- Ticho - (Dogrib) 1,511
- Cree 314
- Chipewyan 688
- North Slavey 1,054
- South Slavey 1,259
- Gwich'in 264
Source: NWT Bureau of Statistics
