Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The committee looked at what progress has been made since the Special Committee on the Official Languages Act review (SCROLA). One of SCROLA’s intentions was to develop a Northwest Territories’ language revitalization framework. With this in mind, SCROLA’s recommendations were structured to support such a framework. The recommendations address legislation and policy, management, financing, service delivery, human resource development, language research and development, education, promotion, and media and technology. The Government of the Northwest Territories tabled its response at the dawn of the 14th Legislative Assembly in 2003. Bear with me, I
am losing my voice.
The following section provides an overview of the recommendations, and highlights the committee’s most important findings on the progress of their implementation.
Strengthening Legislation And Policy (Section A Of The Recommendations)
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The Official Languages Act was amended
following the SCROLA recommendations. Amendments included the recognition of collective aboriginal language rights in the preamble, the important role of language communities in preserving and developing their own languages, and the changed roles of the Minister and Languages Commissioner.
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Government institution regulations were
established to clarify which government boards, agencies, corporations and so forth are bound by the provisions of the Official Languages Act.
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Contrary to the SCROLA recommendation to establish one Aboriginal Languages Board, the GNWT introduced the Official Languages Board and the Aboriginal Languages Revitalization Board (the languages boards). The GNWT established regulations to create the two languages boards. These regulations only address the appointment process and the terms of the appointments, and not the terms of reference or consultation functions of the boards.
Improvement of Management and Accountability (Section B Of The Recommendations)
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SCROLA had hoped that an empowered
Official Languages Secretariat directly
reporting to the Minister would create and monitor a government-wide implementation plan and evaluation framework. The secretariat was to support the development of official languages regulations and policies, to provide operational support for the languages boards. In addition to its managerial and administrative functions related to various contribution agreements, and intergovernmental relations concerning languages.
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The GNWT restructured the official languages division within the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, creating a direct reporting relationship to the deputy minister. The government did not add any resources to the division to address its expanded mandate.
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To date, no implementation plan for the act, no evaluation framework, and no regulations or new policies addressing language services have been developed.
Effective and Adequate Financing (Section C Of The Recommendations)
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SCROLA recommended that the GNWT
ensure all language funding to schools is actually used for language activities, that funding for the language initiatives indentified in the recommendations be put in place, and that maximized federal participation through the NWT-Canada contribution agreement be negotiated.
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Very little progress has been made in this area. While some areas have seen funding increases, no comprehensive funding approach that would match the suggested initiatives has been created. This may be linked to the non-existence of an implementation plan.
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Community language initiatives and even
departmental official languages funding continues to be provided on a year-to-year basis, increasing the difficulty for these organizations and institutions to make long-term plans and allowing continuity of their activities.
Enhance Service Delivery (Section D Of The Recommendations)
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Little has been done to address these
SCROLA recommendations or the GNWT’s commitments in its response to these recommendations. There are no regulations or policies addressing “active offer”; nor are there any government-wide procedures and measures for tracking demand and service delivery in official languages.
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Some progress has been made on addressing improvements for French service delivery: a single-window service centre pilot project for
French opened in Yellowknife in June 2008; and Education, Culture and Employment is working on a plan to improve French language services generally.
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The GNWT has preliminary plans to phase in the establishment of a single-window service centre for aboriginal languages.
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No public registry of interpreters/translators
has been made available. Instead, the official languages division continues to compile a contact list for interpreters/translators that is shared with government departments and institutions.
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A certification process for aboriginal
interpreters/translators has still not been established. The GNWT actually put this renewal initiative on hold when it was discovered that there was a lack of qualified aboriginal evaluators. The GNWT hopes that it can revisit this initiative when more interpreters and translators have been trained. Excuse me.
Build Human Resources Capacity (Section E Of The Recommendations)
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Progress on the reinstallation of interpreter/translator training is very slow. The Akaitcho language groups are presently offering a regional community-based training program. The GNWT supports this initiative through a pilot project that it hopes will be adaptable for other language groups.
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Progress has been made on the Aboriginal
Culture and Languages Instructor Program (ACLIP): the part-time one-year certificate program delivered has been expanded to a two-year diploma program delivered full time. This new diploma program is currently being delivered for the first time in the Taicho region.
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The committee found that the GNWT does not lend sufficient support to build the human resources capacity for professions related to official languages. This is a concern, as the success of revitalization efforts will also depend on the availability of qualified language professionals like teachers, instructors and interpreter/translators.
Support Research And Development For Official Languages (Section F
Of The
Recommendations)
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The committee is particularly concerned that the GNWT has not addressed the SCROLA’s recommendations relating to terminology development. The urgent need for terminology development was identified by all stakeholders in all regions and languages. These needs, along with proposed actions and solutions, have repeatedly been brought to the government’s attention. Its inaction has
contributed to the frustration expressed by language stakeholders to the committee during the consultation process.
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Furthermore, the importance of terminology
development for language survival and revitalization has been well documented. Failure to support and advance terminology development has devastating consequences for languages already under threat.
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It should be noted that in its response to the SCROLA recommendations, the GNWT suggested that much of this work should be conducted by the Aboriginal Languages Revitalization Board. The committee questions whether the Aboriginal Languages Revitalization Board is sufficiently resourced and adequately supported for this undertaking.
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Similarly, the GNWT did not address a
recommendation to establish a coordinated cataloguing and distribution process for aboriginal language resource materials.
Increase And Improve Aboriginal Languages Education (Section G Of The Recommendations)
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The Minister of Education, Culture and
Employment issued a directive to the divisional education councils and the divisional education authorities in 2004, setting minimal standards for aboriginal language instruction (30 minutes per day and 90 hours per school year) outlining funding and reporting requirements. While this has led to some improvements of aboriginal language programming in the school system, there are still concerns that the funding is not always used for language activities, and that 30 minutes of language instruction is insufficient to impact language revitalization in any meaningful way.
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The committee was glad to find that support for language nest programs improved. Presently the GNWT provides funding to 18 registered early childhood facilities for language nest programs. However, the committee was concerned that in recent years this funding has been reduced.
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The committee also saw the improvements to the regional delivery of the Teacher Education Program and the Aboriginal Language and Cultural Instructor Program as steps in the right direction.
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There is no overall strategic aboriginal
languages education plan that would link the different activities and allow for the measurement of successes and overall progress.
Promote Official Languages (Section H Of The Recommendations)
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The GNWT did not issue a progress report on the implementation of its commitments for action to the SCROLA recommendations.
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The GNWT provides ongoing support to the French language community for their cultural activities supporting French.
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The government and the Minister responsible for Official Languages have not addressed any of the recommendations concerning the promotion of aboriginal languages
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The committee questions whether this inaction means that the responsibilities for language promotion are not a good fit with the Minister’s role and mandate.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to pass on the continued reading of the executive summary to Mr. Jacobson. Thank you.