[Translation] Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This month is Deline language month. That is why I am going to make my statement in the Aboriginal language. Back in the old days, I am from Fort Resolution, people who lived around Fort Resolution, Little Buffalo River, Rocher River, the Slave River, Stony Point, people were living all over the place, and, when you are going from one camp to the other, everybody spoke Chippewan. Only Fort Resolution spoke English. Back in the days, when people were picked to go to school, we were living in Fort Resolution. I didn't speak English when I started school. I only spoke Chippewan. A lot of people were like that. Yes, we only spoke Chippewan language, and that is the way it was.
After we all went to school, we were taught the English language. We only spoke the Deline language, though. What I think now, the way we spoke our language, that is where we learned our language, at our home. Nowadays, they are teaching the kids in the school system, They are not really teaching the kids quite properly. What I think, if you want a really strong language, you've got to learn it at home. The ones who spoke the language, the Slavey, the Dogrib people, they learned at home. They taught the kids at home. That is the way the kids learned, and that is the proper way to do it.
I spoke Chipewyan. When I was going to speak English when I was in school, they had to give me somebody who spoke English so they could, kind of an interpreter. It was pretty hard for me when I first started school. That is the way it was in the old days.
So, when the kids are learning their language at home, everybody who is learning, they're writing to each other in their language now. Thank you. [Translation ends.]