Image
Image Caption
Audio
By Windspeaker.com Staff
With files from Dustin McGladrey of CFWE-FM
EDMONTON
Indigenous language legislation is in the process of being co-developed, said Arif Virani, member of Parliament for Parkdale—High Park (Ontario), who was in Edmonton last Friday to meet with Indigenous language experts and practitioners with the Métis Nation. They talked about what such legislation should contain in the final product.
He has been going across the country to talk with Indigenous groups interested in the language file.
“We’re talking with them, basically, about what success would look like three or four years out from now once legislation is in place and has been operating for awhile,” Virani told Dustin McGladrey of CFWE-FM.
What should be the outcome of legislation? More fluency, more students enrolled in language clases, better materials developed, adults speaking Michif or children speaking Dene, Ojibway or Cree?
The legislation springs from a commitment to protect, promote and preserve Indigenous languages made by the federal government after the Liberal win election in October 2015.
The situation is a complex one with 60 to 90 different languages and dialects in need of preservation, said Virani.
But “no matter where we go, people express the same desire to retake language skills and reclaim language skills as a part of reaffirming identity and culture,” erased due to the residential school system, he said.
“That’s what we are working to reverse; that horrible colonial legacy.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau upped that commitment by publicly stating he would create Canada’s first Indigenous language legislation, “not only because it’s required, but we’re doing it also in a manner that would be co-developed in a spirit of showing good faith with the different communities around the country working towards self-determination and more autonomy given to Indigenous people.”
The legislation is yet to be tabled in Parliament, though the plan is to table it in 2018.
To prompt discussion, Virani said they start with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s calls to action.
One call to action talks about language rights. Another is about having an Indigenous languages commissioner. And another is about having legislation in place to revitalize Indigenous languages.
The federal government has committed $90 million over the next three years to the language preservation effort. Virani describes it as an interim measure until the legislation is in place.
“One of the most amazing studies that was instructive to me was one in B.C. that looked at rates of mental health and youth suicides. The rates of youth suicides were 13 per 100,000 for kids that had some knowledge of their own language. That’s a lower number than the overall provincial average.
“The rates mushroomed to 97 out of 100,000 where kids in B.C. didn’t have the connection to their Indigenous mother tongue. That shows you when we are reaffirming language we are consolidating people’s identity and culture and their sense of belonging and self-confidence, which leads to better psychological well-being, better mental health well-being. It has better consequences for the criminal justice system, better economic consequences, education consequences, etc.,” Virani said.
It demonstrates that this is the right track, he said.
Before politics, Virani practised human rights and constitutional law for 15 years. As a person of color he has been dealing with identity and equity issues his entire life.
“I think this Indigenous language piece—I’m very honored that Minister Joly asked me to help her work on it because it’s opened up my eyes a lot. I’ll be frank. I’ve learned a lot on this file, much more than I did studying politics at McGill so many years ago.
“What I’ve come to understand is the needs of Indigenous parents and the wants that they have for their children are very similar to the needs or the wants that I have for my children. But I also understand the really unbelievable legacy of the discrimination and abuse and colonialism that people have suffered under for, literally, centuries and how that such a large hurdle to overcome.”