Woliwon. Thank you very much.
Yes, I truly believe it is very crucial for all indigenous languages to be official. Back home in New Brunswick, we even struggle to reclaim the original names of our rivers. The river that flows through our homeland is called St. John. I've never met this gentleman before, but we've always known that river as being Wolastoq, which clearly defines who we are. We are the people of that beautiful and bountiful river, so that's our responsibility.
We're struggling with the present provincial government, which is putting up roadblocks even to our simply reclaiming the name of our homeland. It is really discouraging when we come up against these roadblocks from the government and they're not following the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's calls to action with respect to our reclaiming our names and honouring our languages.
It's a constant battle for us even to do something as simple as giving the river back her beautiful name. Our languages are the first languages of the lands we're from, and when we do ceremonies, our land, our waterways, the trees and all the animals know what we're speaking.
Thank you.