More people studying Indigenous languages

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This article was published 30/03/2024 (593 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Enrolment is increasing in Indigenous language courses at the University of Manitoba, and adult learners across the country are taking online classes and looking for chances to practise speaking the languages their parents or grandparents were punished for uttering.

For years, linguistic advocates have been calling for guaranteed funding for Indigenous language immersion programs in Canada, and that’s still not a reality on the 31st annual National Indigenous Languages Day (observed March 31 tomorrow).

Language immersion programs are needed now, as fluent speakers get older, if Indigenous languages are going to not only survive but thrive.

“I think we’re in a time of crisis because our languages are becoming so endangered,” said Lorena Fontaine, department head of the University of Manitoba’s Indigenous Studies department. For years, Fontaine has been one of those advocating for Indigenous language rights to be enshrined and protected in Canadian law so that federal funding flows to language programs in an equitable way, similar to how English- and French-language programs are resourced. The University of Manitoba offers in-person introductory and intermediate Cree and Ojibwe classes, as well as drop-in classes for adult learners.

When she tried to sign up for an online course in Ojibwe last year, Fontaine learned there were already 700 adults signed up from across the U.S. and Canada. The course was full, and she couldn’t register.

”That says to me that there’s quite a huge number of people are interested in learning their language.”

It’s a good sign, but one she said has amplified existing barriers to learning Indigenous languages. Fontaine’s mother is Cree and speaks it fluently as her first language. Her father spoke Ojibwe.

“I grew up hearing it around me, but they both attended residential schools, so they were both afraid to pass it down onto me,” she said.

She’d like to see immersion programs expand — in Winnipeg schools there are three immersion programs for children, two in Ojibwe and one in Cree. Language immersion programs are also needed for adults, with training for teachers and funding for an Indigenous Languages resource centre, Fontaine said. Ideally, she’d like to see Indigenous language immersion programs offered in all schools, from kindgarten to Grade 12 and in post-secondary, for non-Indigenous as well as Indigenous students. But that can’t happen without teachers. A provincial study Fontaine was part of a few years ago indicated Manitoba needs at least 1,200 Indigenous-language teachers for the existing programs alone.

Although dedicated and knowledgeable, many of the teachers are becoming elderly and don’t have access to educational certification or training.

Her mother, for example, is now in her 80s.

“That’s the age range that we’re looking at for people that are first-language speakers,” Fontaine said. “In order to revitalize our language, we have to invest resources right now in those adult learners, those second-language speakers that are wanting to learn their language, to encourage them to continue and develop skills to teach the language,” she said.

“They’re going to be our future teachers.”

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca