Thank you, Mr. Speaker. For some time now we’ve had an Official Languages Act which specifies that there shall be two languages boards, an Aboriginal Languages Board and a Languages Revitalization Board. Although these two boards and their membership is clearly laid out in the Official Languages Act, the GNWT is not following its own legislation, nor is the government, specifically the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, heeding the advice of the 16th Assembly Standing Committee on Government Operations, which did a thorough and comprehensive review of the Official Languages Act in 2009.
That review resulted in an excellent report, titled “The Final Report on the Review of the Official Languages Act, 2008-2009, Reality Check: Securing a Future for the Official Languages of the Northwest Territories.” In that report there were recommendations for, one, amendments to the Official Languages Act and, two, a new structure for language governance and management.
To his credit, the Minister for ECE has made some changes in the management of languages. We now have a secretariat for French language and a secretariat for Aboriginal languages. These changes go some way towards acknowledging the recommendations from the 2009 report, but it has put in place two secretariats where one was recommended.
What has not been acknowledged at all by the department is the need to make legislative changes to the Official Languages Act. The 2009 report recommended the amalgamation of the two languages boards into one languages board. As far back as October 24, 2012, the Minister stated in the House, “We are exploring legislative options to change roles and structure of the two existing Aboriginal languages boards.”
Now, two and a half years later, there have been no changes to the legislation governing these two boards. Instead, the Minister has changed the composition of the boards to suit the results of negotiations with the Federation Franco-Tenoise and the establishment of the two languages secretariats within his department. The Minister now flouts the law his very own department is responsible for. The Official Languages Board does not have any representatives for either English or French language as is required by the act, and the Aboriginal Languages Revitalization Board now operates without any representation from Inuktitut language communities.
We’re well past the time for some action in regard to legislative change for the Official Languages Act. The 2009 report made firm recommendations for change which have been ignored for too long. The Minister must do one of two things: heed the requirements of the Official Languages Act or bring forward the necessary legislative changes.
I will have questions for the Minister at the appropriate time.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.
