Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my statement today, I spoke about the need for us to continue to preserve our Indigenous languages. My questions are to the Minister responsible for Official Languages.
Mr. Speaker, the Tlicho people are doing many great things to preserve and promote their language. They have guides for teaching how to read and write. They have some online resources, such as apps, and they even have a Tlicho dictionary, as I mentioned in my statement.
I would like to ask the Minister: what are some of the initiatives that our government is undertaking to protect and promote the NWT's Indigenous languages? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you. Member, there is no Minister of Official Languages. Would you like to clarify who you are directing this to?
Thank you. That would be the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Sorry.
Thank you. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do want to put a shout out to the Tlicho government for the work that they have done. They actually gave me a copy of their language resource that they are using in the school and the teaching guide, and I was quite impressed with what they do, but the question was: what are we doing? That is important.
We did table our Indigenous language action plan; I believe it was last year. It is called Shared Responsibility, recognizing that preserving and revitalizing language is a shared responsibility. We all have a role to do in that. The action plan really focused on two big priorities: one was revitalization of languages and the other was access to languages.
The revitalization actions include working with the federal government to try to get funding for Indigenous languages and then providing that money to the Indigenous governments so that they can do their own language revitalization actions. We also provide funding to the schools to implement language revitalization in the schools, language knowledge for the younger children, and as well, we train government employees on how people can get access to the 11 official languages. We actually also supplement GNWT employees who use a second language in their work, if it is required for their work.
We are doing quite a bit. We have more to do. Languages are at risk, but it is something that we are actively pursuing. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I appreciate the Minister's reply, and I appreciate that she has indicated that the Indigenous Languages and Education Secretariat has an action plan under way. She had mentioned a couple of things with regard to it.
Could she maybe just outline for us whether the action plan actually not forthcoming but is under way? It is something that we are engaged in as a government right now, and if she can, could she possibly share a little bit more with us as to what exactly the action plan consists of?
Yes, we are actively working on our action plan, implementing the strategies that are in it, again, reminding that the two main priorities within the action plan are revitalization, and the other one is access.
We have been working with access, training GNWT employees. With revitalization, we have done quite a bit. We have got the scholarships in schools. We are working in partnership with Aurora College to implement a program for language revitalization for people.
The other thing that we have done already is we have updated our Aboriginal language directive and replaced it with a new policy for languages in schools. We are in the process of renewing how we fund and support language across the education system.
Thank you to the Minister for expanding on that. Mr. Speaker, there used to be a time when you could just look at a picture from way back in the day, and there were always a number of interpreters or elders or some other folks who were at whatever this public engagement was, making sure that the Indigenous languages were alive and well by doing interpretation and other things like that.
Today, as a government, we engage in a number of forms of public interaction. I would just like to ask the Minister: how can the government promote and protect Indigenous languages by including them when we go out and conduct community consultations, public hearings, conferences, trade shows, workshops? How can we keep the languages alive during those public interactions?
I would like to be able to stand here and say that at every workshop, forum, et cetera, we do use an Indigenous language, but that is not true. That is a fallacy. I do want to give credit to the Members of the Legislative Assembly who do use their language. I think it is very important.
We are losing our languages quickly, and that is why we are really focusing on this revitalization within the schools. Until we can actually get our youth and people speaking more, we are at risk of losing it. Our elders right now are our knowledge keepers. They are our language keepers, but our elders are getting older, so we need to make sure that we are actually providing that support to younger people in the schools. We have a long way to go. We are losing our languages, and it is not okay. We need to start with our youth and give them the tools so that they can bring it forward.
Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I would agree with the Minister that, where there is assistance needed from ourselves as a government to make sure that the languages do not die and fade away, that it is incumbent upon us to do so.
Mr. Speaker, the department's Indigenous Languages Revitalization Scholarship Program had an application deadline here not long ago, just before Christmas. I would like to ask the Minister: can the Minister update the House a little bit on how the uptake of the scholarship program was and maybe even describe for us a little bit more about the scholarship? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
We do have funding, actually, to provide for people, for Indigenous people, who want to or people who speak Indigenous languages, I shouldn't be exclusive, that want to actually pursue a diploma schooling in Indigenous language revitalization. As of today, we have had 14 recipients of our scholarship program. That shows that we are working on it, the action. I mean 14 sounds good, but it isn't good, Mr. Speaker. Fourteen is only a start. We need to again promote more revitalization. We need to make sure that we have speakers so that they can bring forward this and so our 11 languages do not disappear. It is something we need to continue on a daily basis. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.
