No cash for native language courses (fwd)

[phil cash cash]

No cash for native language courses

[photo inset - Gary Yokoyama, the Hamilton Spectator. Luke Johns, a St.
Catharines-born Cayuga man who now lives in Hamilton, believes he can
rekindle his heritage by learning his language.]

Many aboriginal tongues on brink of extinction
By Marissa Nelson
The Hamilton Spectator
(May 17, 2007)
http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=hamilton/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1179376119005&call_pageid=1020420665036&col=1014656511815

If you're a pre-schooler in Hamilton, you can get education in an aboriginal
language. If you go to a certain high school, you'll have that opportunity
next year. But if you're an adult, you'll be hard-pressed to find
aboriginal courses anywhere in the Steel City.

A report released by Statistics Canada this week, using 2001 census data,
shows aboriginal languages are disappearing but the downward trend is being
pushed back by the younger generation learning their grandparents' mother
tongues as second languages.

In the last century, more than 10 aboriginal languages have become extinct
and many of the 50 languages still spoken in Canada today are on the brink
of extinction or endangered. Only a third have a good chance of surviving.

Taunya Laslo, the executive director of the Niwsaa Early Learning and
Outreach Program in Hamilton, said the biggest hurdle in running a program
in the city is finding people to teach it. Her centre has two classes for
pre-schoolers: one of Mohawk and the other in Ojibwa.

Even she's seen a need for adult education and they had a course in Mohawk,
but it was entirely run by volunteers. There's no funding for the program.

Luke Johns, a Cayuga man who was born in St. Catharines and now lives in
Hamilton, sees learning his language as a key to rekindling his link to his
heritage. "You're supposed to pray in the original language but you can't do
that," he said. "We sing some of our songs and our songs are like prayers,
but we have no idea what we're saying."

His parents didn't teach him the language or culture, but he wants his own
three children to learn it. You can only teach what you already know,
though.

"It feels like there's always something missing, so we're searching," he
said. "Without speaking the language, I don't feel like I can really be
Cayuga."

The importance of saving and restoring aboriginal languages is a theme
played out in Canada for decades, said Keren Rice, a linguistics professor
at the University of Toronto.

"Language is a real part of identity."

Students at Sir John A. Macdonald high school will get a chance to learn
aboriginal languages, art and culture for credit next year. Principal Mike
Rehill said with new provincial funding, he has been able to apply for
courses in aboriginal arts and native studies. He's also about to apply to
teach Mohawk and hopefully Ojibwa at the school.

The downtown high school has the largest native population in the local
school board and sees first-hand the rejuvenated interest young aboriginal
people have in their heritage.

"There's a lot of interest from the students in their culture," Rehill said,
adding that non-native students will also be able to take the courses.

This reflects a larger trend across the country highlighted by the
Statistics Canada study released this week.

The report says only one in four native people speak a native language. For
most of those people, the aboriginal language is their mother tongue. The
rest -- a small but growing group -- have learned it as a second language
and are less likely to pass it on to their kids.

There isn't enough census data on Six Nations people or their languages so
there's no way to know exactly how endangered is the family of Iroquois
languages. But the 1996 report from the Royal Commission on Aboriginal
Peoples said the Iroquoian languages were "in critical condition," with the
one possible exception of Mohawk.

Amos Key Jr., who speaks Cayuga and is the director of the language
department at the Woodland Cultural Centre, said there's been a major push
to rejuvenate the languages on the Six Nations reserve. They've even set up
a language commission in the hopes of influencing public policy.

"We still have time to do recovery, to turn the tide," Key said. "But it's
going to take some bold thinking."

On the Six Nations reserve, there are immersion schools from kindergarten
through Grade 12, with a Mohawk and Cayuga stream. There are also courses
for adults and aboriginal language programs in the English on-reserve
schools.

Key said there are more Cayuga than Mohawk speakers at Six Nations -- it's
the ceremonial language -- but there are more Mohawk speakers across
Canada. The other four languages from the Six Nations are in peril in
Canada. Tuscarora is already extinct in Canada and there's no one in
Ontario who still speaks Seneca, Key said, though there are some in the
United States.

There are only several dozen people at Six Nations who still speak Onondaga.

There are some Oneida speakers on a reserve near London, Ont.

Translations

English/Cayuga/Mohawk

Bear/hnya gwai/Ohkwa:ri

Red/Otgwehj ia/Onekwentala

Corn/Onehe/O:nenhste

Potato/Ohon ada/Ohnenna:ta

Head/Sano a:geh/Onon:tsi

Arm/Snentsa geh/ Onentsha Hello/Skano/Sekoh

Funding by the numbers

Federal: $9.1 million: The amount the Canadian government spends on
aboriginal languages each year.

The $9.1 million is broken down:

1) $5 million is for language preservation & promotion; 75 per cent of that
is for First Nations, 15 per cent is for Inuit and 10 per cent Metis. The
First Nations money -- about $232,470 for Ontario -- is distributed both on
and off reserve through the Assembly of First Nations and its affiliates but
about 85 per cent of the money stays on reserve. The Metis Nations of
Ontario gets $45,250 annually for languages.

2) $4.1 million is for territorial governments and their efforts in
promoting aboriginal languages.

Provincial:

$10.5 million First Nations, Metis and Inuit Education Supplement. It's a
grant to help school boards offer expanded native language and native
studies courses.

$6 million: Amount the province announced in January to help First Nations,
Metis and Inuit students achieve in school. The money is part of an
Aboriginal Education Strategy with plans to improve literacy and numeracy,
increase the number of aboriginal staff, and to further integrate
aboriginal content in the curriculum.

$5 million for other aboriginal initiatives, including: $2.3 million for
aboriginal student projects, $650,000 for alternative programs at native
friendship centres and $50,000 to train teachers on aboriginal
perspectives.

mnelson at thespec.com

905-526-2409