Province provides $4.5M for Indigenous language degree programs 

The province is spending more than $4.5 million on new Indigenous language degree programs at two post-secondary institutions.

The University of Winnipeg will get $2.3 million to create a bachelor of arts in Indigenous language immersion in Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwa). It will be Manitoba’s first immersion degree program designed for second-language learners. The program will provide a pathway to teacher certification, helping fill immersion teaching positions, the Manitoba government said in a news release Monday.

The province is also giving University College of the North in The Pas $1.49 million for capital costs to transform an existing site into a new Centre for Aboriginal Languages and Culture, and $759,000 to support program operations. A new bachelor of Indigenous languages program will focus on fluency development in Ininimowin (Cree).

“Preserving the Indigenous languages of our province means passing them on to future generations. Indigenous youth will be healthier if they can speak the traditional language of their communities,” Premier Wab Kinew said in the release. “These programs train a new generation of fluent Indigenous language speakers and teachers to carry on Manitoba’s Indigenous traditions.”