What happened to the $20 million for languages?

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Do you remember the exciting news back in October 1997 when the Minister of Canadian Heritage, Sheila Copps, promised $20 million for Aboriginal languages? It was to be doled out at $5 million a year for four years beginning on April 1, 1998. While it was a pittance to what is needed to restore languages, we saw it as a glimmer of hope and the beginning of the government's commitment to "right an historic moral and legal wrong."

We have now passed March 1999 (Aboriginal Languages Month), and the money that was to begin to flow is just beginning a slow trickle from the government coffers to Aboriginal organizations and to a limited number of hopeful communities that submitted proposals. Why has it taken some 15 months to get the money moving?

It all has to do with politics. Which of the nine national Aboriginal organization should disperse the money? Which of four options should be followed? Option one suggested a collaborative process with the establishment of a steering committee made up of one representative of each national organization along with three federal representatives. Option two suggested dividing the $5 million a year among the nine organizations. Option three would have Canadian Heritage manage the money and option four suggested having the national organizations develop their positions on key issues and provide them to Canadian Heritage.

It appears that after months of debate and political posturing, none of the four options was chosen. It was decided instead that three Aboriginal organizations would "manage and administer" the funds - the Assembly of First Nations, the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada and the Metis National Council. Canadian Heritage is entering into multi-year transfer agreements with the three organizations and the $20 million will be allocated as follows:

First Nations languages will receive 75 per cent of the funds;

Michif (the Metis language) will receive 10 per cent;

and Inuktitut will receive the remaining 15 per cent.

While the jurisdiction of the Inuit Tapirisat is clear, one wonders how the monies will be divided among the AFN and the MNC who represent many of the same language groups, or does the MNC administer only the 10 per cent allotted for Michif?

The $20 million which is referred to as the Aboriginal Languages Initiative is not following the original plan to provide $5 million a year. Rather, the allocation has been trimmed to about $2.2 million for 1998-99, $4.4 million for 1999-2000, $4.3 million for 2000-01 and 3.7 million for 2001-02. My math tells me that adds up to $14.6 million. Where did the other $5.4 million go?

No doubt, it is for administration at the government level. One can assume that the three national Aboriginal organizations managing the funds will take an administration fee off the $14.6 million, as will their delivery organizations. After all that happens, we will be lucky to see $10 million reach the communities for the actual work that has to be done to save our languages.

The AFN has two ad-hoc committees: the Chiefs Committee on Languages, which is made up of a representative from each of the 10 provinces, (it appears the territories are not included) and the Technical Committee on Languages made up of field representatives and language technicians from the provinces.

There is also the First Nations Confederacy of Cultural Education Centres that has an historic affiliation with the AFN.

We know that the cultural education centres have been given the responsibility by the AFN to administer 30 per cent of this year's allotted funding for "critical" languages which are those in the most danger of being lost. Its jury committee reviewed 160 proposals, of which only 59 were selected for funding. None of the 59 received the full amount requested. In fact, the total cost of the 160 proposals came to $22.5 million and the centres had only about half a million to distribute. It is not difficult to imagine the hard work that went on in the communities toput together plans outlining what it would take to begin to revive their languages. It is not hard to imagine the disappointment at the paltry sum they got or are to get.

This is reported to show the serious problem that was faced, not only by the cultural education centres, but by those administering the 70 per cent for the so-called, enduring, flourishing languages. And as if all this is not bad enough, the monies for the approved proposals will reach the communities likely this month and must be spent by the 31st of this month or it lapses back into the government coffers.

The amount of money being quibbled over is not nearly enough to launch a serious effort to save our Aboriginal languages. Secondly, our own organizational structure is cumbersome and only adds to the bureaucracy. It does not follow cultural boundaries. It follows the dictates of government.

In my opinion, this approach is all wrong. Preservation of our languages cannot be used as a political football.

The "keepers of the language" should be the language family - Algonquin, Athapaskan, Eskimo-Aleut, Haida, Iroquoian, Hutenai, Salishan, Siouan, Tlingit, Wakashan. Should it not be up to the families to make decisions about the future of their languages? Shouldn't the families decide how their languages are to be protected, revived, maintained and used?

It is time to return to the way it was intended to be - to follow the natural law of the Creator.

Verna Kirkness is the author of the self-published book, Aboriginal Languages. For information about the book,FAX (604)731-5005.