Native communities fight to keep their language alive (fwd link)

[Phillip E Cash Cash]

Native communities fight to keep their language alive
Published on Wednesday October 24, 2012
Share on twitter<http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/1276860--native-communities-fight-to-keep-their-language-alive#>Share
on facebook<http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/1276860--native-communities-fight-to-keep-their-language-alive#>
<http://www.thestar.com/ajax/reporterror/1276860>
**
ANDREW FRANCIS WALLACE/TORONTO STARJennifer Jones, cultural program
coordinator at the Native Canadian Centre of Toronto, is encouraged by the
fact that aboriginal classes draw 60 people there each week - both elders
who lost their fluency as a result of being shipped to residential schools,
and young people trying to reclaim their roots.
*Jennifer Pagliaro*
Staff Reporter
1 Comments<http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/1276860--native-communities-fight-to-keep-their-language-alive#comments>

In the largest room of a tiny, defunct schoolhouse off a winding road below
Grand River just outside the Six Nations reserve, Leroy Hill tries to
organize the dozens of rainbow-coloured sticky notes in front of him.

Each has a piece of one of the region’s Iroquoian languages on it — the
ones he’s trying to save. He purposefully stacks them on top of each other
in an order unknown to strangers.

Data from the 2011 census released by Statistics Canada on Wednesday shows
the number of native speakers of Canada’s 60 aboriginal languages is
decreasing overall. But it also indicates that fluency in certain language
families is rising, as is the number of people learning them as a second
language.

Access full article below:
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/1276860--native-communities-fight-to-keep-their-language-alive
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ilat/attachments/20121025/44d6eaf4/attachment.htm>