Merci, M. Speaker. [English translation not provided.]
…for bringing forward today what I think is an important motion, which I’ll be voting in favour. I started off in my native tongue of French, and not because I feel confident that I have a secretariat in French, but moreover that I know there’s security in my language moving forward. I think, in essence, this is what this motion is looking at, is security.
Not to reiterate what we’ve heard today from some of the Members here, we talked about the importance from the justice system, the medical system, which I think is utterly important. We talked about culture. I want to just hone in on that culture piece a little bit. We need to preserve our Aboriginal languages. They are unique and irreplaceable. They are, in essence, part of our global heritage that we have to maintain. Aboriginal identities are tied to their languages, and without language we are putting cultures at risk, not just language.
We are identified as Northerners by our languages. We should be proud of that uniqueness on a global scale. Our Aboriginal languages are every bit part of our nationalism that need to be preserved. We need to preserve this language of our people. We need to keep these languages alive and useful; otherwise, our own identity as Northerners could be lost forever. When they’re lost forever, they will not come back.