It's official: Aboriginal languages of Nunavut, that is

A Canadian senator is hopeful that the passing of the new Nunavut Official Languages Act is only the beginning of progressing the recognition of Aboriginal languages throughout Canada.
Senator Serge Joyal said the unanimous endorsement of acknowledging English, French and the Inuit languages as Nunavut's official languages will open discussions about Bill S-237, the Aboriginal Languages Act of Canada.
Bill S-237, which had its first Senate reading on May 28, requests support to increase the use and access to learn Aboriginal languages. One of the demands is that Aboriginal language be incorporated into the curriculum of elementary and secondary schools, similar to the lengthy list of foreign languages that are currently offered to Canada's student population.
"We wanted to go first with the Official Languages Act of Nunavut and then that bill will more or less have a better base for discussion and support in the senate and House of Commons," said Joyal.
Joyal explained that protecting and supporting all Aboriginal languages is incredibly important.
One of the main concerns from senators before the Nunavut Official Languages Act was passed on June 11 was that it would put speakers of other Aboriginal languages at a disadvantage.
Hence, one of the recommendations from the Senate that accompanied the passing of Nunavut's new language act. Statistics Canada must monitor and report on the use of the five languages that are not considered official languages in Nunavut-Chipewyan, Cree, Dogrib, Gwich'in, and North and South Slavey.
"We would be interested to know what is the Aboriginal composition in the North in order to be able to support and enhance the use of other Aboriginal languages," said Joyal, who stressed that the other languages should not be dropped from the radar.
Dr. Patricia Shaw, the founder and current director of the First Nations Languages Program (FNLG) at the University of British Columbia, supports Senator Joyal's initiative to introduce the Aboriginal Languages Act of Canada.
The professor, who has extensively studied numerous Aboriginal languages, said it is a "huge issue" that there is a lack of importance placed on the languages of Canada's First Peoples.
"It is such a colonial artifact that French and English are the official languages of Canada and the first people who were here for millennia, before the colonizers, aren't officially recognized in terms of their linguistic heritage," said Shaw.
FNLG was created in 1997. The program offers students the opportunity to earn university credit in courses that teach a variety of First Nation languages, such as Algonquian and Wakashan.
However, Shaw believes that Aboriginal languages need to be more accessible to the general population. She hopes that they will be available in schools so Aboriginal children, in particular, will have the opportunity to grow up bilingual and be familiar with the language of their ancestors.
Both Joyal and Shaw said now is the perfect time to pass this new act that will give formal recognition to all Aboriginal languages. It will come on the heels of the June 2008 apology given by Prime Minister Stephen Harper when he acknowledged the profound effect that Indian residential schools had on Aboriginal culture in Canada.

Involved in Canadian politics for more than 30 years, advocating for language rights is far from new for Joyal. The francophone senator said he first raised the issue of supporting Aboriginal languages while he was the secretary of state for Canada from 1982 to 1984.
"I am very concerned that the disappearance of Aboriginal languages is a loss for all of Canada," said Joyal. "It is a loss of their basic identity."
Recognizing the relationship between the identity of the people of Nunavut and their languages is one of the most important results from the Nunavut's Languages Act, said Alexina Kublu, the languages commissioner of Nunavut.
Kublu pointed to the majority of Inuit in Nunavut as a reason for the federal government to finally give Inuktitut and Innuinaqtun equal status to Canada's official languages of English and French in the territory.
In 2006, 90 per cent of the population in Nunavut that identified as Aboriginal had knowledge of an Aboriginal language. Moreover, 82.3 per cent of the population said their mother tongue is an Aboriginal language.