Thank you for your question.
It's difficult not to just always talk about money. Certainly, that is the most important thing the federal government can do: invest adequate funding into the endeavours of nations trying to restore their languages.
At my first witness testimony back in 2018 or 2019, I was asked how many languages I thought we could save. At that time, I said “all of them”, leaving no language behind. With regard to the investments of today, while there are investments that are a lot better than they were in the past, this does leave languages behind. Even with the investment I have here in Nova Scotia that I manage, I may not leave a language behind—because we speak one language—but I leave communities behind because I don't have enough for everybody. That is a very difficult and unfair position to be in.
I hope that all languages are treated with the same dignity and respect: that they matter and they are important languages that deserve and have a right to survive. That equals adequate funding. That is the first step of it.
There is also ownership and responsibility that nations can take on. It's about making sure that planning is in place. We are very pro-planners here when it comes to language revitalization efforts. We don't want to duplicate the efforts of other communities when things are happening there, but we also want to make sure that when money—those scarce dollars—comes through, there is a plan of action immediately: that something must be done and that it is realistic and achievable by the communities. We do a lot of support in that aspect. That is a responsibility that we take on and that communities take on to make sure that we are very planned and have sound, smart planning in place.
Ultimately, I think that's my response to you.