Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. In honour of Aboriginal Languages Month I raise a few issues regarding not just a preservation but the growth and development in youth of aboriginal languages.
I met recently with two of my constituents and the Minister of ECE. The Minister reacted very positively to suggestions that are now being considered for action. The first major issue is the timely ability to get training of professional interpreters and translators. An interpreter/translator course is offered by Aurora College, but only two course credits are available each year. Because the full course complement is 20 credits, 10 years are needed to take all the necessary courses to achieve certification. This is obviously unworkable.
Second is the lack of evaluators with certification to administer certification tests and grant the formal interpreter/translator credential. This problem has been highlighted for more than 10 years in successive aboriginal language studies and reports, but no action has been taken to ensure that once people get the necessary education they can go on to be granted certification.
Combine the two factors, a 10-year course timetable and no ability to certify the students at the end of 10 years, and we are obviously going to lose a lot of excellent candidates who either won’t bother starting a 10-year process, leave at some point over the decade of courses, or never get the certification needed for good jobs.
Some committed people still go into language instruction but they don’t get the good pay that only goes to those with credentials; credentials they can’t get for lack of a tester. Ultimately, programming suffers because people can’t get the training or the certificate.
Another issue is the allocation and distribution of funding for local language development programming. Effective relevant language programs must be delivered at the individual community level to take advantage of local elders who are the best speakers, to ensure the nuances of the local dialect are honoured and because the best programming will be based in the local culture. Currently, funding is distributed on a regional basis for redistribution to individual communities. There have been problems with the redistribution coming too late in the fiscal year to be used. There has even been considerable lapsed funding.
Because the program is ultimately delivered at the community level, we need to look at how the department can put the funds directly in the hands of the communities at the beginning of each fiscal year so we get the best value from the scant funds available.
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted.
Briefly, at our recent meeting the Minister took these issues, as I say, very seriously and committed to see how this situation can be improved. I’m grateful for this commitment and look forward to his proposals. Let’s all look at what’s working and what isn’t in our aboriginal language support programs and improve where needed. I look forward to reports of good progress on these issues. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
