Debates of June 8, 2006 (day 8)

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. (English not provided)

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Mr. Speaker, I don’t speak my language very often as I’m still learning, but to me the Denesoline language is very important. With Aboriginal Day approaching, and although I recognize the importance of this national holiday for aboriginals and Canadians, I want to talk about the importance of aboriginal language as the foundation of our culture and livelihood.

I cannot stress the importance of languages to our northern territory. It has been stated by many Members of this current Legislature and past Legislatures, by prominent public figures, by teachers and educators, we hear it from elders and youth, and the many, many organizations, that the core principles, values and the cultures that we all uphold, revere and practice in this land are based on our aboriginal languages.

Mr. Speaker, we all know about the threat of losing these principles, our culture and the traditional way of life if we lose our languages. I feel that we are in the same predicament as the polar bear, with each polar bear representing some principle, culture, or tradition of our people and the ice cap representing our language, both of which are slowly fading away and will eventually lead to the extinction of cultures and traditions and, sadly, our polar bear if changes are not forthcoming.

Fortunately, Mr. Speaker, our options and opportunities to make positive changes are not as limitless as our friend the polar bear, who, unfortunately, needs the whole world to change in order to remain with us so our children’s children can see and perhaps learn from them. Thankfully, Mr. Speaker, we don’t need the whole world. All we require is this government to embrace the opportunity and to continue to make significant contributions towards the retention of northern culture and traditional lifestyle by providing growing support and resources in our schools, offices and institutions for aboriginal language development every year, which will definitely benefit our children and we can surely realize long-term benefits here in the NWT, both in aboriginal language development and improvement in all sectors of our society. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

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