Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ll be speaking in favour of this particular motion. Mr. Menicoche mentioned about the work done last term. I was on that committee as well. We heard a lot from people about the challenges before them about their languages. I believe the re-establishment of the Language Bureau is probably one of the most needed steps out there to help support these language groups.
I often believe that languages to survive need to be relevant, and to be relevant they need to be supported. Many of the challenges we heard in the communities when we travelled was medical terminology and justice terminology. We cannot forget the fact that modern day terminology constantly evolves. By way of example, when I say that although my wife doesn’t speak an Aboriginal language, she speaks a Chinese one, and how quickly they are to grasp on modern technology, and they define it themselves, and create it themselves and it becomes part of their language, these modern names. I think that’s one of the things that this Language Bureau would say, is wait a minute, we don’t have a word for this, we will develop a word for this. As they develop words, they also make the language relevant, which is meaningful to the young people who have to learn this. They need to learn this. A Language Bureau would set up a criteria, work with Aboriginal elders and build a foundation that can be reinforced and
built upon. It would be the buttress of what languages need. Right now they’re by themselves and they don’t have that type of support.
The other element of this is, once the Language Bureau is re-established, I certainly support further integration of Aboriginal languages within our schools and it must be enhanced. If a child can’t go to the store and buy a jug of milk in their own Aboriginal language, even being able to say what the word “milk” is – if they’re not using it in their own language, and not using it in their daily lives, and they’re not using it in the home – it’s just a sad case that we have this state before us of which they are significantly declining.
In short, this motion I think is the foundation of where we need to go to help build upon the existing state of our languages. The sad state is they are declining. This is the reinforcement I believe they need.