The Government of Canada Supports Aboriginal Languages (fwd)

[Heather Souter]

Taanshi,

Again, just so people subscribing to ILAT do not get the impression that the
Canadian Government has taken a renewed interest in promoting
Indigenous languages in Canada, please know that all the recent
funding announcements are not about "new" monies being committed.

Actually, the previous government (Liberal) had promised much more
funding to become available for language revitalization (172.5 million
over 11 years starting 2002) but the present Conservative government
reneged on the commitment. Millions of dollars of funding disappeared
with a blink of an eye. Now the funding stands at 5 million annually
for ten years. (12.5 million was already dispersed before the
Conservative government made its funding cuts.)  This means that in a
best case scenario as things stand the largest amount of funding over
11 years would be 62.5 million dollars.  A cut of 110 million dollars
or 64%!   This is in spite of the fact that the Federal government
will provide more than 1 billion dollars of funding for French
language education over the four year period between 2005 and 2009....

Eekoshi.
Heather

On 2/19/08, phil cash cash <cashcash at email.arizona.edu> wrote:
> The Government of Canada Supports Aboriginal Languages in New Brunswick and
> Prince Edward Island
>
> Press Release
> http://news.gc.ca/web/view/en/index.jsp?articleid=379689&categoryid=7&category=Regional+News
>
> WOODSTOCK, New Brunswick, February 19, 2008 - On behalf of the Honourable Josée
> Verner, Minister of Canadian Heritage, Status of Women and Official Languages,
> Mike Allen, Member of Parliament (Tobique-Mactaquac), today announced funding
> for the Assembly of First Nations Regional Office for New Brunswick and PEI.
>
> Funding of $737,613 will allow the organization to support a range of activities
> in the Mi'kmaq and Maliseet languages over a three-year period. Activities will
> include language classes and workshops, immersion camps, teacher training,
> curriculum development, language documentation, development of language
> resource materials, and documentary filmmaking.
>
> "The Government of Canada is pleased to provide this funding as part of its
> support for Aboriginal language preservation," said Minister Verner. "Providing
> tools and materials for the preservation and teaching of First Nations languages
> will help safeguard an important part of Canada's heritage."
>
> "Languages play an important role in community and culture," said Mr. Allen.
> "These funds will help the Assembly of First Nations Regional Office for New
> Brunswick and PEI undertake important work to document, promote, and provide
> learning opportunities for the Mi'kmaq and Maliseet languages."
>
> "This money, made available from Canadian Heritage, is giving us the opportunity
> to get the materials we need to work with," said Regional Chief Len Tomah. "It
> will allow the elders to spend time with our youth and children to teach them
> about their language and culture and pass down valuable knowledge that will
> live on forever from one generation to another."
>
> The Government of Canada has provided this funding under the Aboriginal
> Languages Initiative of the Department of Canadian Heritage. This initiative
> maintains and revitalizes Aboriginal languages for future generations by
> increasing the number of Aboriginal language speakers, encouraging language
> transmission from generation to generation, and expanding the use of Aboriginal
> languages in family and community settings.
> Information:
>
> Dominic Gosselin
> Press Secretary
> Office of the Minister of Canadian Heritage, Status of Women and Official
> Languages
> 819 997-7788
>
> Donald Boulanger
> A/Chief, Media Relations
> Canadian Heritage
> 819 994-9101
>