Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to support language diversity in the Northwest Territories.
There is so much that’s embodied in a language: ways of being, ways of knowing, incredible understanding, a whole framework for the way the world works.
Mr. Speaker, I was facilitating a workshop in Whati with elders and youth a number of years ago, and I finally realized they all spoke the Tlicho language, except for me. So I said, “Why don’t you guys go ahead?” and they did. But at the end the elders told me it was sad they didn’t speak strong Dogrib and didn’t understand the layers of communication that were happening.
Mr. Speaker, I’d like to start here by recognizing the speakers I hear frequently in this House: Mr. Lafferty, Mr. Beaulieu, Mr. Menicoche and now Mr. Yakeleya. When I used to tune in to this House in the old days, this facility would be ringing with all kinds of languages. I’m very happy to hear the ones that are being spoken now. I hope I’m going to hear more and more of them. But I’d like to really put in a plug. About three-quarters of the languages in the world are now extinct. We’ve got to really work to retain what we’ve got. There’s a huge key role for our Languages Commissioner.
I pay tribute back to our first one, Betty Harnum, who was multilingual in many respects. I think the commissioner needs to bring this to this facility, to this position. She needs to be a huge champion, a fierce champion, to really bring the programs that we need throughout this government to support the culture that goes with the languages. That will then keep those languages going. The Languages Commissioner needs to speak out loudly, prominently, frequently, and she needs to be active in an awards program that especially recognizes youth and lets our youth know that we value this attribute, that we recognize all the things it can bring.
Let’s have a more aware process from this government, and let’s really call on our Languages Commissioners to be super fierce in leading this retention. Retaining is so much easier than recovering. Let’s hear it for our Language Commissioners.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
