Michif Language Funding by Canadian Government, Michif Language Conferences, etc....

[Heather Souter]

Taanshi kiyawaaw!  (Hello to you all!)

Just so people subscribing to ILAT do not get the impression that the
Canadian Government has taken a renewed interest in the Michif (and
other Aboriginal) 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!

On a different note, "Michif Language Conferences" have been held
annually for at least five years now (all have been made possible
through government funding) but nothing very concrete has come out of
them as of yet....   No plans based on linguistically-informed
community-based language planning have been produced or implemented
thus far.  However, the host of the upcoming conference, the Gabrielle
Dumont Institute, has produced some fine publications and created the
fantastic Virtual Museum of Metis History and Culture, so perhaps the
March meeting will be a breath of fresh air.  Let's hope it will be a
catalyst for change in regard to Michif language issues!  We shall
see....

Now, if I could directly influence the political machinery of each of
the Metis provincial governing bodies and our National Council, I
would tell them the following:

Since we are a "dispersed nation" living all over Western Canada with
many of the "more traditional" people living in rural communities, for
real gains in Michif language acquisition to happen a variety of
distributed language acquisition/learning programs need to be
considered. Multi-media recordings, ( pedagogically and linguistically
sound ones!) freely available on dedicated websites and language
learning sessions using video conferencing  (Skype, MSN Voice, etc!)
could be set up if all Metis provincial governments put their funding
money together QUICKLY.
In addition, since our people speak a variety of languages known as
"Michif" (from a linguistic perspective, the mixed language (also
known as the "Southern dialect")  of Michif; and also the unique Metis
dialects of Cree, Ojibwa and French!), it might be wise to consider a
master-apprentice language learning program that allows for such
diversity--such as that run by AICLS in California.  A special
emphasis could be put on learning Michif (the most endangered variety
being the "mixed language" aka Southern dialect) while showing respect
for the languages spoken by of ALL our Metis Elders.  In this way we
would be cultivating new speakers who could receive further training
to help pass Michif on to future generations.
Our Michif-speaking Elders won't be physically with us forever.  And,
although virtual interactions with them through multimedia recordings
are/will be a wonderful mode of learning, if our language(s) are to
live they must be ACTUALLY spoken--used in the real and not only
virtual world! Our languages need to again be out in the
air--everywhere but ESPECIALLY in the home--where they belong!

Heather Souter
Michif Language Activist and Community Linguist
Camperville, MB
Canada