Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I appreciated the Minister's earlier statement about Indigenous Languages Month. The GNWT has been clear about the need for language revival and preservation in this year's Indigenous Languages Month campaign, which I will quote from directly: The loss of Indigenous languages is an ongoing challenge in our territory and around the world. To reverse the loss of language and culture and keep Indigenous languages alive and thriving, they must be spoken in homes and communities.
While the statement about homes and communities is true, and we should be proud that NWT is currently the jurisdiction with the largest rate of Indigenous speakers, this rate is in steep decline, Mr. Speaker. According to the latest census data, we lost 25 percent of our Indigenous language speakers between 2016 and 2021 alone. If we truly want to reverse the loss of language and culture, Indigenous languages must be taught in school. And similar to French language schooling, this could be established as a right at the territorial level. Nunavut did it in 2009 with the passing of the Inuit Language Protection Act. Quebec has had legal provisions regarding the right to education in Indigenous languages since the late 1970s. As a result of this, four in ten First Nation children in Quebec can speak their language. This is double the rate of the NWT. In the NWT, there is one exception we can look to which has begun to turn the tide of language loss in the NWT.
The Tlicho language currently has more youth speakers than those 65 and older. This is a direct result of the leadership and dedication of the Tlicho people who have ensured Tlicho is not only taught as a second language but is actually a language of instruction. We could follow this example and complete the vision that this Assembly had when it gave official status to our Indigenous languages by enacting the right to education in Indigenous languages.
Thankfully much of the work towards this has already been done by the previous Assembly. It was a key recommendation of the Standing Committee on Government Operations when it reviewed the Official Languages Act less than a year ago. Recommendation of the four of the committee was that the Department of Education, Culture and Employment implement an exercisable right for Northerners to full K to 12 immersion in each local Indigenous official language. We have the opportunity now to pick up where the previous Assembly left off, and I look forward to continuing that discussion with my colleagues. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Frame Lake. Members' statements. Member from the Mackenzie Delta.
