Calls to Action
- We call upon the federal government to acknowledge that Aboriginal rights include Aboriginal language rights.
- We call upon the federal government to enact an Aboriginal Languages Act that incorporates the following principles:
- Aboriginal languages are a fundamental and valued element of Canadian culture and society, and there is an urgency to preserve them.
- Aboriginal language rights are reinforced by the Treaties.
- The federal government has a responsibility to provide sufficient funds for Aboriginal-language revitalization and preservation
- The preservation, revitalization, and strengthening of Aboriginal languages and cultures are best managed by Aboriginal people and communities.
- Funding for Aboriginal language initiatives must reflect the diversity of Aboriginal languages.
- We call upon the federal government to appoint, in consultation with Aboriginal groups, an Aboriginal Languages Commissioner. The commissioner should help promote Aboriginal languages and report on the adequacy of federal funding of Aboriginal-languages initiatives.
- We call upon post-secondary institutions to create university and college degree and diploma programs in Aboriginal languages.
- We call upon all levels of government to enable residential school Survivors and their families to reclaim names changed by the residential school system by waiving administrative costs for a period of five years for the name-change process and the revision of official identity documents, such as birth certificates, passports, driver’s licenses, health cards, status cards and social insurance numbers.
Index
The History, Part 1 – Origins to 1939
Aboriginal cultural identity: arts and crafts, 642; attack on, vii, 22-23, 164-166, 188, 622; attitudes toward, 33-38, 93-94, 102, 130, 165-166, 199-200, 641-642, 677, 733-738; autonomy, 63; as barrier to conversion, 37-38; belonging to neither culture, 41, 179, 180-181, 184, 185, 190-191; ceremonies and spiritual practices, xi, 4, 34, 38, 82-83, 130-131, 634-642; dances, 82-83, 130, 165, 174, 178, 440, 635-640, 660; destruction of, 47, 109-110, 128, 138, 157-158, 162-167, 193, 234-235, 288-291, 600-601, 622, 740 n.32; versus European, 28, 35, 41, 42, 45, 46; food, 504; hair braids cut, 173-174, 599; hunting versus farming, 59, 60; maintain, 188, 353, 363, 366, 373, 642, 737; marriage practices, 643, 648; missionary attitudes, 25, 33-38, 93-94, 102; museums, 641-642; names changed, 599-600; Potlach, 172; restrictions, 130-131; Siksika (Blackfoot) language, 175; stereotypes in curriculum, 23, 301, 306-307, 327; traditional healers, 641; Treaty process and kinship, 117-118.
Languages and language learning: Aboriginal language preservation, 175, 737; Aboriginal language suppression, 5, 140, 185, 190, 194, 319, 488, 615-627; Aboriginal language usage, 36, 44, 70, 91, 318; academic failures, 326; curriculum standards, 96-97, 301, 306-307; French versus English, 616, 625-627; punishment, 185, 190, 192; suppression of Aboriginal languages, 5, 140, 185, 190, 194, 488, 615-627.
The History, Part 2 – 1939 to 2000
Aboriginal cultural identity: ADR process, 565-566; civil claims for loss of denied, 560, 563-564; First Nations’ residential administration, 97; IRSSA funding of commemoration, 574; parent-school committees (1967), 481; policy of cultural genocide and, 579; post-school re-education, 481-482; potlach ceremony, 128; traditional dance, 479; treatment in schools of, 126-132, 483-484, 491, 530.
Languages: in Aboriginal-administered schools, 91, 100; Aboriginal languages in schools, 91, 97, 100, 117, 130, 132, 530-531, 542; apology for damage to Aboriginal, 553; deprivation of education and, 24; official use of Aboriginal, 91; percentage of students with Aboriginal, 110; religious instruction in Aboriginal, 106-107, 126-127; suppression of Aboriginal, 126-132, 481-482.
The Inuit and Northern Experience
Culture, 78-79, 94, 97-99, 155, 170-171, 173.
Language, 9, 24-26, 38, 43, 49, 53-54, 90-93, 97-99, 170-173; loss of, 54-55.
The Métis Experience
Languages and language learning: Chipewyan, 31; church worship, 9; Cree, 31, 46, 47; discipline for not speaking English, 8, 10, 46, 49; English instruction, 33; French, 8, 31, 32; sign language, 11.
Missing Children and Unmarked Burials
n/a
The Legacy
Language and culture, 103-138.
Reconciliation
Language and culture, 12, 29, 34, 50, 66-67, 74, 85, 102-104, 111, 123, 159, 194-195, 216.