The federal government announced nearly $1.8 million over two years for the preservation, promotion and revitalization of Indigenous languages in Manitoba Nov. 13, including projects in Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation (NCN), Norway House and at University College of the North (UCN).
Altogether, 16 projects will be supported by the funding from the Aboriginal Languages Initiatives (ALI), from language camps and classes to the creation of books, dictionaries, CDs, DVDs, magazines and workbooks in the Blackfoot, Cree, Dakota, Dene, Michif, Nakota and Ojibwa languages.
“Language is at the heart of the identity and culture of a people,” said federal Minister of Canadian Heritage and Multiculturalism Pablo Rodriguez. “We recognize that investing in the preservation, promotion and revitalization of Indigenous languages is paramount to them remaining alive and well throughout the country. We are proud to provide funding to organizations in Manitoba that support our commitment to Indigenous languages."
The projects announced Nov. 13 will provide about 6,500 hours of language instruction to more than 1,500 people and result in the production and distribution of nearly 11,500 language resource materials.The announcement was made in Winnipeg by Rodriguez’s Parliamentary Secretary Gary Anandasangaree, who said, "Indigenous languages are an integral part of our country's identity and play an important role in sharing culture. We are proud to work with these partners and support their community efforts by funding these important projects."
NCN is receiving $309,897 for a project entitled The Culture and Language of the People of Nisichawayasihk, while UCN is receiving $53,681 for its Aski Achimowin project. The Kinosao Sipi Misniowin Agency NPO Inc. in Norway House is getting $45,510 for the Minisowin Life Book Language Revitalization Project.
The federal government says that three-quarters of 90 Indigenous languages spoken in Canada are identified by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as endangered and that it doesn’t categorize any of them as “safe.” in 2016, fewer than 16 per cent of Indigenous people in Canada could talk in an Indigenous language, down from 21 per cent a decade earlier. Inuit people have the highest proportion of Indigenous language speakers at 64 per cent, compared to about 21 per cent of first Nations people and only two per cent of Métis people. The percentage of Indigenous people whose first language is an Indigenous language was 12.5 per cent in 2016 compared to 14.5 per cent in the census five years earlier. Only about 13 per cent of Indigenous people said in 2016 that they spoke an Indigenous language at home or on a regular basis.
