Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Our NWT Aboriginal Framework states that the alarming reality is that all of our Aboriginal languages are in decline, and, furthermore, our Action Plan 2018-2022 commits to updating the language indicators collected in the NWT Bureau of Statistics community survey. I have looked at multiple sources, and the only language indicators and clear data I could find is census data, so my question for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment is: what data do we have that tracks Indigenous languages? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member referenced the data described by the Bureau of Statistics in collaboration with Education, Culture and Employment. That is compiled every five years and it's by community, and it shows the number of speakers in each community. The 2019 survey results will be out in the summer of 2020, and those results have some more fine-tuned data, including interest in language. So we can find out how many people are learning the language or want to learn the language, and we can move forward that way. There are also efforts to collect language data from education authorities.
The Member earlier painted a pretty bleak picture of what's going on with Indigenous languages in the territory, and I have to say that I hope the committee takes up my offer of a briefing on what's being done with this, because in large part, and thanks to the Member for Monfwi who is sitting next to him, there has been a big shift in what we do in the territory in terms of language. The Department of Education, Culture and Employment has really focussed efforts and is doing its best to turn the tide, because things are in decline, but there are efforts to move things forward. So it's a brighter picture than the Member painted, but it's still a serious concern. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I really look forward to seeing those results this summer. I believe the issue here is that, every five years, we get the data compiled, and there's no doubt that the languages are in decline. Absent them not being in decline, I don't know how we can paint anything but a bleak picture, Mr. Speaker. I believe we need much more comprehensive data year after year. Can I be informed how many new fluent speakers we are producing each year versus losing? Can I get a data statistic that shows me the net number of speakers we have in this territory?
The Bureau of Statistics has information about the number of speakers. We don't have the information about which speakers have passed versus who has just recently acquired a language, but as I mentioned, work is under way to get better data, and hopefully, the Member will be pleased with what the future holds in terms of that.
My concern here is that, every time a language speaker passes, if they are not passing on that language, then we are losing this battle. I know there is work being done. I know ECE is trying, but I think absent having the number of speakers we are losing and the number of speakers we are gaining in the yearly data, then I don't believe we actually have a fair picture of what is occurring. Will the Minister commit to getting data that shows the amount of speakers we are losing and the amount of new fluent speakers we are creating each year?
In the data that we have, you can break it down by age. You see the number of people in each age group who speak a language. Clearly, the percentage of speakers in the older group, 75 plus, for example, is much, much higher than in the younger groups. We have that data in a sense. I think that what the Member is looking for might be a little too administratively burdensome to find, but we have a general sense.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't think it is too burdensome for us to be able to track every time we lose a language speaker, and I don't think it's too burdensome to track every time we gain a language speaker. Mr. Speaker, I guess I will ask this question one more way. Can the Minister commit to tracking how many fluent language speakers we have presently, and every time we lose one, that that is tracked somewhere and presented in the data? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I'm not a statistician, but I'd think there would be a lot of effort expended to do that that would be better spent teaching languages. The Member wants to know every time someone becomes fluent. Well, hopefully, we're not going to be able to track that because it's going to be so many people. You go around to different communities, and they're doing different things. In certain places, they have early childhood where it's immersion. I don't think we're giving those children tests on a regular basis to determine, "Are you fluent, or are you not fluent?" It's not a simple black-and-white thing. There might be people who don't want to share their language or share that information with the government. You know what I mean? I don't want to knock on people's doors and say, "Do you speak an Indigenous language?" It's not so cut-and-dry, Mr. Speaker.
The bottom line, however, though, is that we have a division in Education, Culture and Employment that is committed to revitalizing and strengthening Indigenous languages, and there are a number of initiatives across the government where millions of dollars have been spent on this every year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Hay River South.
