What an honour. I'm starting to like this committee. Thank you.
Cheryle, thank you for that presentation. That was pretty thorough and succinct at the same time.
I don't know if you listened to the earlier panel, but we had some officials from the heritage department, as well as StatsCan. One of the questions I asked them you referred to, in a way, in your presentation; that is, whether we should recognize indigenous peoples' languages as official languages in this country. I know you referred to article 13 of the UN declaration, of course, but also Truth and Reconciliation Commission call to action 14.
I've been attending Assembly of First Nations chiefs' meetings over the last 30 years, and I have never seen a standing ovation such as the one that the current Prime Minister got when he announced the aboriginal languages act that they would enact. Everyone in the room was thrilled about that. I was thrilled about that too. I even stood up to applaud the Prime Minister.
In my view, the way that call to action 14 is written does not necessarily go in that direction. It says that the act must contain the following principles, the first one being “Aboriginal languages are a fundamental and valued element of Canadian culture and society”. What is your opinion on whether we should recognize aboriginal languages as official languages in this country?