Though most of the discussion over last week’s B.C. budget was focused on mansions and taxes, there was one item we were pleased to see: $50 million for revitalization of Indigenous languages.
Thanks to residential schools, our government nearly snuffed out the First Nations languages spoken for thousands of years on the lands we occupy in Burnaby today. (In fact, four First Nations called these lands home: the Musqueam, Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh and Kwikwetlem.)
There have been varied attempts at trying to save and revitalize Indigenous languages, including the establishment of a Squamish language immersion program taught at Simon Fraser University by activist-educator Khelsilem.
Supporting Aboriginal language was a key theme in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s calls to action.
Much of the work is at the educational level where our young people can start fresh with accurate history lessons and, hopefully, help forge a better understanding of why reconciliation issues are important to all Canadians.
But ensuring that Indigenous languages can survive is a fundamental first step in any reconciliation process.
Prince George-Mackenzie Liberal MLA Mike Morris, a former RCMP member, rose in the legislature this week to say the money would be better spent on policing to combat “alcohol abuse, domestic violence and sexual abuse” in First Nations communities. We find this totally tone-deaf and inappropriate. But, worse, it again implies that force and more criminalizing of people will somehow heal the decades of discrimination and oppression that First Nations people have suffered.
Saving languages may not seem like a big step to some people, but it is a significant move and a change of attitude.
Language is not just a collection of nouns, verbs and grammatical rules. It is an entire way of seeing and interacting with the world. There are concepts, emotions and subtleties that do not survive translation.
And we believe language is a pillar of identity and a source of root strength that can anchor a people.
This $50 million is a small step towards giving back what’s been stolen.
