Mahsi, Mr. Chair. I just want to speak on some of the key events that took place within this realm of the Official Languages Act.
I think it's important that since we're talking about official languages, I'm going to speak in Tlicho.
[Translation] Mr. Chair, before I begin I would like to take a moment to thank those of my colleagues who use their official language in this House. I also want to thank my mother, who made sure that I spoke my mother tongue. Without her persistence I would not speak fluently. This is important in this conversation today: the role our parents play in making sure we know who we are and where we came from.
Aboriginal language revitalization is all about use and relevance. It is inspiring to hear all our Aboriginal MLAs and Mr. Dolynny using our official Aboriginal languages in this House.
As the Standing Committee on Government Operations noted in their report, they are building on the work of the previous Assembly, that presented a lengthy report with many recommendations. Since that report was tabled, I have responded to it and provided updates multiple times in person, and by letter when standing committee was not available to meet. This is up to and including a letter to the chair of the standing committee including a detailed table of the status of our work, which I sent on April 5, 2014.
Since the 2009 standing committee report was tabled, I chaired, with the chair of the same standing committee, the first Aboriginal languages symposium. At that meeting I also made room on the program for the chair of the standing committee to provide a presentation to delegates on the SCOGO report. Subsequently, a copy was presented and was sent to all the delegates.
Elders, regional Aboriginal governments, language coordinators, linguists and other experts were in attendance as were several MLAs at that time. Following that meeting, I tabled this in the House on October 27, 2010, a 10-year framework for official languages, entitled “NWT Aboriginal Languages Plan - A Shared Responsibility.” As my opening message in the plan said, this plan used the information collected, the results and recommendations of the 2009 report of the NWT Legislative Assembly Standing Committee on Government Operations entitled “Reality Check: Securing the Future for the Official Languages of the Northwest Territories.”
We took the advice of the standing committee and added the voice of language experts to draft this 10-year plan and its corresponding actions in response to the standing committee's report. This plan is updated as necessary and is undergoing an update at the moment to reflect our new partnership with regional Aboriginal governments as they assume considerable increased responsibility for revitalization of their own language.
Mr. Chair, as symposium delegates advise, where the responsibility rightly rests is with the actual keepers of the language who use their languages in their everyday lives and encourage others in their regions to do the same.
The plan will also be updated to reflect new agreements we will be signing with the federal government very soon, an agreement that we hope will bring increased funding to all our official languages and will enable our people to become more fluent in their mother tongues.
As I said, the 2009 SCOGO report was a lengthy report, coupled with 48 recommendations and 45 sub-recommendations, for a total of 93 recommendations. The report advocated for increasing the layers of oversight by dividing responsibility into two distinct and separate branches: the official language services and Aboriginal language protection.
Under the Aboriginal language protection branch, a further two layers were proposed: an Aboriginal language authority and an Aboriginal language advisory committee. In addition, a non-government Aboriginal languages centre was proposed. The advice received from standing committee to create these layers of bureaucracy is, however, not what Aboriginal governments, elders and language experts are telling us. What they said is we need less bureaucracy and more authority as keepers of the language, and we listened.
This government has worked with Aboriginal governments to assess in creating and finding their five-year language plan. Now, as we come to the end of the first year of the implementation, we are working together to create a detailed measurement, evaluation and accountability framework.
That framework will provide both the GNWT and our Aboriginal government partners with the information we all need to move forward, making any necessary changes and improvements and guarantee the survival and strengthening of our official Aboriginal languages.
Many of the 93 recommendations suggested in the 2009 standing committee report most certainly have merit and we have and are working on those. I very much look forward to providing further detailed reporting when I table my response to the current standing committee report in 120 days.
When we speak about NWT official languages, we must also take into consideration English and French. There is no doubt that English is thriving and needs little help, but our responsibility to French is a different matter. The French community is working very hard with their language speakers to strengthen their language and to make it very clear that they expect no less from the government.
Recently, every department in this government created language plans to describe how services will be provided to French residents, and those plans are currently being implemented. We are extremely hopeful that the new language agreement we will sign with the federal government will provide additional funding to completely underwrite the cost of the government's French Language Plan. This is a responsibility that resides with the federal government and we fully expect to be met.
In closing, I would like to say again that I tabled a response to the 2009 report in the form of a 10-year plan, entitled “NWT Aboriginal Language Plan - A Shared Responsibility.” I have provided updates to standing committee through representations and letters and through annual language reports. I will be more than happy to table all this information once again, including letters to the standing committee if the chair permits. I will provide a full detailed response to the standing committee report in 120 days. [Translation ends]