ELL: Gaelic Campaign ( Update 2 )

[David Wilson]

A Chairdean (Dear Friends)

    Highland Council (Scotland) have hardened their stance and are continuing with their plans to replace the one and only Gaelic speaker in their Child Care Team with a monolingual English speaker. This will mean that no-one in the team will be able to liase with parents, children and staff in their own language. Gaelic will no longer be fully integrated with local government in this field.

    For a language like Gaelic to survive, which only has around 60, 000 speakers, it needs to be fully integrated at all levels of society. It needs to be seen and heard as a language of prestige, not as a second class "oddity" on the periphery.

    If you haven't already done so, please answer this appeal and help Gaelic remain a fully integrated language in this region. Winning battles like these will be extremely important in the months ahead, when, once again, Gaelic campaigners and concerned members of the public will submit a petition to the Scottish Parliament demanding "Secure Status" for Gaelic. This, we hope, will give it the legal protection it needs. Campaigns like these show there is public and international concern which makes a Secure Status Act more likely. But there must be pressure. Without it, governments just sweep these things under the carpet.

    I have enclosed a copy of my original post and hope you will take the time to send even a short email to Highland Council on this issue.....

From: David Wilson <djj.wilson at virgin.net>
To: <endangered-languages-l at cleo.murdoch.edu.au>
Subject: ELL: Gaelic Campaign
Date: 20 June 2001 21:36

Dear List Members,

    The Gaelic language and Gaelic Medium Education (GME) have often been marginalized and severely constrained by Local Authorities in Scotland. Many of these Councils have little interest in supporting GME, because, unlike English medium education, GME is not protected by law. Councils often think they can act with impunity and reduce the Gaelic service to the lowest common denominator.

    In the near future, Highland Council's Gaelic Medium early education Officer will be leaving the Child Care Team. They are to be replaced with a monoglot English speaker. No matter how well intentioned or trained, such a replacement is unlikely to fully understand and appreciate the ethos, culture and working practices of GME. This will mean there will be NO Gaelic speakers in the Child Care Tean, forcing all parents, children and staff to deal with this Officer and the Council in English.

    Highland Council have refused to discuss the matter and are pressing ahead without consultation. It is important that pressure is brought to bear upon the Council. As I said earlier, GME is not protected by law.

    If you wish to help in the campaign, please put the following questions to the people below and express your own concerns about Gaelic.

1. Why no Gaelic speaking personnel have been hired to fill the vacancy ?

2. Has the Council looked for a Gaelic speaking replacement ?

3. Does the Council plan to hire a Gaelic speaker to deal with the needs of GME ?

Please send your emails to;

David Green (Highland Council Convenor) at; david.green.cllr at highland.gov.uk
Bruce Anderson (Director of Education)  at; bruce.robertson at highland.gov.uk

Gaelic needs legal protection. This can only be legislated for by the Scottish Parlaiment, so please send copies to the relevent Ministers......

First Minister, Henry McLeish.
henry.mcleish.msp at scottish.parliament.uk

Education Minister, Jack McConnell.
jack.mcconnell.msp at scottish.parliament.uk

    It would also be most helpful if you could send copies to all the members of the Council. This will increase the pressure and help bring about change. Simply paste and copy the entire list below into your copies box. If the list is too large for your service provider, it can be broken in to smaller segments.

andrew.anderson.cllr at highland.gov.uk ; duncan.allan.cllr at highland.gov.uk ; david.alston.cllr at highland.gov.uk ; roderick.balfour.cllr at highland.gov.uk ; allan.beaton.cllr at highland.gov.uk ; stuart.black.cllr at highland.gov.uk ; douglas.briggs.cllr at highland.gov.uk ; george.bruce.cllr at highland.gov.uk ; peter.cairns.cllr at highland.gov.uk ; isabelle.campbell.cllr at highland.gov.uk ; neil.clark.cllr at highland.gov.uk ; john.cole.cllr at highland.gov.uk ;
peter.corbett.cllr at highland.gov.uk ; garry.coutts.cllr at highland.gov.uk ; margaret.davidson.cllr at highland.gov.uk ; angus.dick.cllr at highland.gov.uk ; norrie.donald.cllr at highland.gov.uk ; morris.downie.cllr at highland.gov.uk ;
basil.dunlop.cllr at highland.gov.uk ; richard.durham.cllr at highland.gov.uk ; michael.finlayson.cllr at highland.gov.uk ; rita.finlayson.cllr at highland.gov.uk; david.flear.cllr at highland.gov.uk ; drmichael.foxley.cllr at highland.gov.uk ;
clive.goodman.cllr at highland.gov.uk ; angus.gordon.cllr at highland.gov.uk ; jimmy.gray.cllr at highland.gov.uk ; john.green.cllr at highland.gov.uk ; janet.home.cllr at highland.gov.uk ; barbara.jardine.cllr at highland.gov.uk ;
francis.keith.cllr at highland.gov.uk ; charles.king.cllr at highland.gov.uk ; ron.lyon.cllr at highland.gov.uk ; alastair.macdonald.cllr at highland.gov.uk ;eilidh.macdonald.cllr at highland.gov.uk ; olwyn.macdonald.cllr at highland.gov.uk ; william.maclachlan.cllr at highland.gov.uk ; liz.macdonald.cllr at highland.gov.uk ; drew.mcfarlane.slack.cllr at highland.gov.uk ;
ewen.mackinnon.cllr at highland.gov.uk ; roy.macintyre.cllr at highland.gov.uk ; sandy.mackenzie.cllr at highland.gov.uk ;
margaret.maclennan.cllr at highland.gov.uk ; ella.macrae.cllr at highland.gov.uk ; gillian.mccreath.cllr at highland.gov.uk ; alison.magee.cllr at highland.gov.uk ; john.matheson.cllr at highland.gov.uk ; kathleen.matheson.cllr at highland.gov.uk
; drew.millar.cllr at highland.gov.uk ; brian.murphy.cllr at highland.gov.uk ; james.oag.cllr at highland.gov.uk ; sandy.park.cllr at highland.gov.uk ; andrew.paterson.cllr at highland.gov.uk ; james.paterson.cllr at highland.gov.uk ;
margaret.paterson.cllr at highland.gov.uk ; david.philip.cllr at highland.gov.uk ; alasdair.rhind.cllr at highland.gov.uk ; john.rosie.cllr at highland.gov.uk ; william.ross.cllr at highland.gov.uk ; bernard.salmon.cllr at highland.gov.uk ;
roger.saxon.cllr at highland.gov.uk ; gavin.scott.moncrieff.cllr at highland.gov.uk ; robert.severn.cllr at highland.gov.uk ; jack.shiels.cllr at highland.gov.uk ; sheena.slimon.cllr at highland.gov.uk ; graeme.smith.cllr at highland.gov.uk ;
william.smith.cllr at highland.gov.uk ; deirdre.steven.cllr at highland.gov.uk ; angus.sutherland.cllr at highland.gov.uk ; james.thomson.cllr at highland.gov.uk ; lou.wilkerson.cllr at highland.gov.uk ; carolyn.wilson.cllr at highland.gov.uk ;
robert.wynd.cllr at highland.gov.uk


Many thanks for your help.

David Wilson.

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