Thank you, Madam Speaker. I will finish my Member's statement that I started yesterday. Madam Speaker, Michif is not bad French, as many of the speakers have been made to believe and have felt for many years. It is a real language, rather a group of languages that are spoken by large groups of people in Canada and in the USA. Michif is a truly born Canadian language, actually born before confederation. It is the result of friendly relations between aboriginal people and the French and English.
Michif is taught in some schools and there are some dictionaries and grammar written on it, but it has never been documented in the Northwest Territories before. I would like to thank the resource people who came from Manitoba, especially Guy Lavalee and Audreen Hourie and also those from North Dakota, especially Ida Rose Allard who speaks and teaches Michif Cree.
Madam Speaker, the reason why I am making a Member's statement on this is because I see my language, Inuktitut, evolving everyday, borrowing words from English and French. For example, we borrowed the word "oui," French for "yes." We use the word "Ouibill." And we borrow the word sugar, as "sukaq" and also the word flour "palaugaq." There are so many examples. I believe if I'm speaking to an Inuk mechanic, he would have names for every part of the truck, including pistons, ball bearings and manifolds, in Inuktitut, which have been created since that product has come to our life. We have many examples.
The reason why we are adopting these words is so that our language will survive. It is one of the strongest aboriginal languages in Canada. So many aboriginal languages are endangered and there are only three languages that aren't. One of them is Inuktitut and it will survive because it adapts to all the languages it encounters. Thank you.
---Applause