Language funding pulled

Phil Fontaine, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN), says he is shocked at the news of cuts by the federal Conservative government to Aboriginal language preservation funding.

On Nov. 2, Bev Oda, the minister of Heritage and Status of Women, provided a written response to a question about language funding by Member of Parliament Charlie Angus. Oda stated that monies set aside in 2002 for Aboriginal languages in the amount of $172.5 million would not be disbursed as planned and is being removed from the fiscal framework.

Oda informed Chief Bill Cranmer, chair of the AFN's Chiefs Committee on Languages, of her decision that language funding is expected to be renewed for the next 10 years at $5 million per year for a total of $50 million.

This represents a significant reduction from the original $172.5 million originally set aside, reports the AFN.

The chiefs committee wants guarantees that the $160 million is still on the table and that the department of Canadian Heritage is willing to work with the chiefs committee to ensure that the funds are used to revitalize, preserve and maintain of First Nations languages.

"We need to act on this immediately," said Cranmer. "First Nations languages are dying everyday with the passing of our Elders and speakers. For government to delay the funding once again is not only shameful and disrespectful, but it also hurts First Nations to the core of our existence."
Ronald Ignace, the former chair of the Task Force on Aboriginal Languages and Cultures, sent a letter to Alberta Sweetgrass to express his concern about the cuts.

"With this outrageous act the Conservative minority government has put its cards on the table: It is obviously planning to deliver a final blow to the 60 languages of Canada's first peoples, in a final act of cultural genocide," he wrote.

"If this represents, as stated Ö 'the government's approach to meeting the needs of Aboriginal people' then we can only conclude that the present government's approach entails the total destruction of what remains of our languages, which represent the essence of our cultures and identities, as so many of our peoples have eloquently stated in consultations across the country."

Ignace went on to say the 60 Aboriginal languages "are not frills and luxuries to either our existence as peoples, or to the fabric of Canada, or to global ecosystems.

"Indigenous languages are store-houses of peoples' intellectual heritage; they provide clues to the maintenance of ecosystems over many thousands of years; they provide clues to the ways in which the people who sustain their language arrive at intellectual and practical solutions to managing their social lives and environments."

Fontaine reminded the government of the recommendations and commitments made over the years leading up to Oda's announcement.

"From the Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, a decade ago, to last year's first ministers meeting in Kelowna, to Conservative party policy, recommendations and commitments were made to preserving and teaching First Nations language for future generations. The federal government should demonstrate the honor of the Crown and fulfill its obligations to help preserve and revitalize First Nations languages and cultures. It is important to Canada's identity."