Mercredi calls for protection of languages

Page 2

The preservation of Aboriginal languages will be the acid test for Canadian human rights during the United Nations' Year of Indigenous Peoples, the grand chief of the Assembly of First Nations said.

"Successive Canadian governments tried to destroy our languages and cultures through systems such as the residential schools," said Ovide Mercredi.

"All over the country, our people are waking up to the fact that their languages have been taken away from them. Now we want the federal and provincial governments to help get them back."

Some Native languages have fewer than 10 fluent speakers left while usage of other tongues has been declining, he said.

And unlike English, French or other "heritage" languages, Native languages are not funded by separate federal programs, Mercredi said. Language programs must compete within a tight education budget with other Department of Indian Affairs initiatives.

The Department of Indian and Northern Affairs currently funds Native language programs two different ways, department spokesman Harold Gideon said.

Funding for on-reserve schools comes through the Elementary/Secondary Education Program. Native communities must negotiate the level of service with provincial officials.

Figures for 1990-91 indicate approximately $12 million of Indian Affairs $896 million education fund was used by ESEP to support Native language programs.

Native Affairs also provides money for on-reserve students who attend off-reserve schools, Gideon said.

"First Nations can use those funds to negotiate with the province of school boards over enhancing language programs."

The department also funds programs through cultural education centres, Gideon said. Native Affairs advanced $8 million to 73 separate programs and centres last year.