Province to translate proceedings into Indigenous languages

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This article was published 31/03/2025 (253 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Manitoba government is launching a pilot project that might eventually involve official transcripts of debates and proceedings being translated into seven Indigenous languages.

The project is starting with Anishinaabemowin, Premier Wab Kinew said in a news release Monday, which is  National Indigenous Languages Day.

The project will focus primarily on translating the official proceedings of the legislature but might expand to mandate letters and other government releases. The recruitment process to hire two Indigenous translators has begun.

“This project will generate a huge amount of Indigenous language text, which will help language learners, teachers and artificial intelligence researchers work with our province’s first languages,” Kinew said in a news release.

“I’m proud to announce this initiative, which honours the languages of the Anishinaabemowin, Dakota, Cree, Anisininew, Métis, Inuit and Dene peoples in Manitoba.”

The service will be expanded to the other six Indigenous languages spoken in Manitoba once the pilot project returns successful results, Kinew noted.