Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee on Dec. 12th, 2022

[The Chair, Liberal, Marc Garneau]

Ms. Kublu, you're on mute.

[Alexina Kublu]

Now I'm unmuted. I do that when I'm teaching as well.

The traditional method of passing on knowledge among Inuit is—as I think it is among other peoples, as well—by doing. It's by watching and doing, not sitting down in a classroom and having someone talk and talk and talk at you. This happens during the summer, mainly, because it is quite cold in the winter up here. People go out on the land, away from the community, and they will focus on a skill, whether its how to make a qamutiik or how to make a harpoon, or sewing and working with seal skin. It's to relive the Inuit culture using Inuktitut.

I know that in high school here, as well as in the lower grades, they get taken out on the land by hunters and people who know what they're doing, so that they can be away from the classroom with someone who is talking to them in Inuktitut and so that they're digesting the language as they're living it.

We also sit in the classroom. I'm sad to say that our classrooms do not have beautiful, ready-made teaching material. I was—

[Bob Zimmer, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, BC]

Ms. Kublu, I'm sorry. I have to interrupt. I know the time is short here, but that's what I was going to get to.

We're talking about languages. How do we implement them so that they actually work? We all want to see Inuit maintain their language and maintain the traditions. However, from a federal perspective, is the set-up that the current government has successful to date?

If you were to give them advice—and I guess you're getting to the curriculum part of it—how would you structure it better, as an instructor yourself? How would you structure it better, so that we see a higher success rate at the end of the program? It's not just dumping money at something and spending a lot of money on something, but having something in which we see successful students who complete the program and have a good knowledge of your language.

Maybe explain that. As an instructor, I'm sure you would be able to draw up a plan that would work to see it realized. Speak to that.

[Alexina Kublu]

Currently, in the teacher education program, the instructors have to speak Inuktitut to our students. It's not just hearing it; we're teaching the class in Inuktitut.

[Bob Zimmer, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, BC]

It's like immersion.

[Alexina Kublu]

It's not just having a subject. It's not just the subject of Inuktitut—which, I'm sad to say, beyond grade four, is what it is in the schools. Inuktitut is no longer a language of instruction, but a subject, and all of the other subjects are in English.

What we're trying to do in the teacher education program is teach the subjects in Inuktitut.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marc Garneau]

Thank you.

[Bob Zimmer, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Ms. Kublu.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marc Garneau]

We'll now go to Mrs. Atwin for six minutes.

[Jenica Atwin, Liberal, Fredericton, NB]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to our witnesses for joining us today.

I'll be asking most of my questions of Mr. Tremblay.

Woli-nipayiw. Kulahsihkulpon. Welcome to our committee today.

I'm speaking from the unceded and unsurrendered territory of the Wolastoqiyik here in Fredericton.

It's so important for me to have you join us today to speak in the open and to our government about a lot of the conversations that we have around the dinner table. I know just how important immersion is, in particular. I'd love it if you could speak a bit more about the new initiative that was launched here in our area on immersion and, specifically, the role of the grandmothers and the grandfathers in passing this language on. Also, what are the challenges in getting youth engaged? We know there's that gap in the middle.

Thank you. Wela'lin.

[Grand Chief Ron Tremblay]

This whole process of getting the Kehkimin School ready last September was a huge chore because a lot of the people who were part of the development of the school have not taught in that setting before. There was a lack of readiness and a lack of education in teaching teachers how to teach the language. We had about one month to get the school ready and to show the curriculum to the teachers. It was really fast-paced and by the time the pre-K students came in, the teachers hadn't had a chance to get the proper training.

There was a lack of funding in the training, as well as in the curriculum development. We were working pretty much day and night trying to get the curriculum ready for the teachers, and even though we did produce a lot of resources for the teachers, they lacked time spent prior to the kids coming in.

There has been a learning curve for us. We started in September, and here it is December and it's just been in the last few weeks that the teachers really had time to sit down to go through the curriculum resources that were provided for them.

Then having the elders and the speakers coming to assist them in going through the curriculum has been a chore because there are only a few speakers around in the area who can do that.

We're trying to focus on land-based teachings. Because we're near a city, we would really love to have the area to have an immersion school right in the woods, somewhere near water. We do have Killarney Lake right there, but still there's a lot of traffic that comes in and out. There are walkers going through the park and around the lake so it's not completely in solitude and away from the public.

Those are the challenges: funding for the adequate training for teachers and giving them proper time to go over all the curriculum that we produced for them. Mind you, it's been successful up to now. We're hoping to move from pre-K to kindergarten next year, and each year move up, hopefully to grade 4, but again, space is going to be limited because we need a larger building to have these classes.

Those are the struggles: the lack of funding and the lack of space. A lot of the money, the funding and the grants, that we received is not toward the infrastructure for buildings or renovations. It's mainly toward the cost of providing for teachers and a few resources and so on.

It's been a challenge, but we've had success with these beautiful young children. When I go in, I speak the language to them and they respond to me in the language about the weather or what they're doing that day.

We're hoping we will get future assistance in funding from the government.

I don't know if I completed the question or not.

[Jenica Atwin, Liberal, Fredericton, NB]

That's great.

You spoke about resources, and I know that over your long career in education and as an advocate for language, you've worked on a number of apps and websites. Can you speak to technology? Is it working? Is it enough to grab the attention of the younger generation? Are there successes? Is it a best practice we should use moving forward?

[Grand Chief Ron Tremblay]

Well, just being here at the mite ceremony, I had a chance to listen to some speakers yesterday talking about languages. A huge concern was about the time spent by our young people on mobile devices, be it phones or computers. They said, you know, if you want to learn a language, you have to go on the earth to get your hands dirty. You have to connect with our lands and our waters. Those are our teachers. Our language came from the land, not from a computer or from sitting in a classroom. We do need some technical support or technical curriculum to assist the teachers, or even the families at home, that way, but I think the real teachings come from the land.

In terms of giving the responsibilities back to us to get back on the land, this fall we went to skin a deer and tan the hide. These little ones were scraping and getting their hands bloody. They loved every minute of skinning the deer hide to make either clothing or drums. I incorporated the language within the whole process. This was an amazing event for three days for them.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marc Garneau]

Thank you very much, Chief and Ms. Atwin.

Mrs. Gill, you have the floor for six minutes.

[Marilène Gill, Bloc, Manicouagan, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I thank Ms. Kublu and Chief Tremblay for being at this committee meeting. What they said about land was very interesting.

I should have started by wishing you a happy International Decade of Indigenous Languages.

The committee's goal is to study how the government can support language revitalization. The Indigenous Languages Act, Bill C‑91, was passed in 2019, but time is running out. Just over the past 30 years, Ms. Kublu has seen knowledge of Inuktitut and the number of Inuktitut speakers decline. In theory, the act is supposed to be implemented over five years, but action must be taken. Even Mr. Tremblay said there's hardly anyone left under 60 who speaks his language, so revitalization has to happen through community initiatives. This shows us just how important it is to take significant measures now even though the act was passed in 2019. Ms. Kublu and Chief Tremblay talked both directly and indirectly about immersion.

Now back to the land issue. In my riding on the North Shore, we have the Innu first nation, whose language is very much alive. Having read the Innu-French dictionary, I learned that a lot of the terms have to do with the land and practices upon the land, so I certainly understand the importance of language.

I have two questions for each of you. Please answer as you see fit.

Do you think that, since 2015, or since the Indigenous Languages Act was passed in 2019, the government has stepped up with financial support for indigenous languages?

Let's start with that first question, and then I will ask the second one.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marc Garneau]

Is your question for anyone in particular?

[Marilène Gill, Bloc, Manicouagan, QC]

I would like to hear from Ms. Kublu and then Mr. Tremblay, if possible.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marc Garneau]

Ms. Kublu, perhaps you want to have a go at answering that first question. Then we'll go to Chief Tremblay.

[Alexina Kublu]

There are times when we feel that the federal government is very far away. Information does not trickle down to us that rapidly. We haven't seen much change at all during this time, I'm sad to say.

[Grand Chief Ron Tremblay]

Yes, I'd have to agree. In fact, a sad event in the last four months, just in my community of Neqotkuk, is that we've lost six speakers within that very short period of time. As the months and years go by, we are going to lose more and more of our fluent speakers and the knowledge-keepers of our language.

Since 2015, I believe the federal government has provided some funding toward core programs, as I have stated, within either the band schools or the provincial schools. However, we all know that core programs don't work. They don't provide a fluency within our languages. It's just like putting a band-aid over a huge cut.

[Marilène Gill, Bloc, Manicouagan, QC]

Thank you, Ms. Kublu and Chief Tremblay.

Here's my second question.

I get the sense that there are some pretty good programs for targeted, short-term initiatives. However, the ask with respect to the act was for predictable, long-term, adequate funding.

Based on what you're saying, this is going to take a huge amount of money. As a witness said earlier, it's going to take an intensive and quick approach that meets the needs.

Do you agree with that? Do you think communities are ready?

Chief Tremblay, you mentioned the Maori. I think their story gives us hope and shows us that it can be done.

I will let you share some final thoughts on that. I would like to hear from you, Ms. Kublu, and then from you, Chief Tremblay.

[Alexina Kublu]

Qujannamiik.

Language is not something that belongs only in the schools, and it does not belong only out on the land. It belongs everywhere.

When you become as old as I am—almost 70—you end up doing a lot of stuff in your life. One of the things that I have done is be a justice of the peace. We are very fortunate in Nunavut that our courts are conducted in Inuktitut, with the justice of the peace either speaking directly in Inuktitut or being interpreted. Sad to say, I don't think that is the case in all of Canada.

Also, Nunavut and the Northwest Territories have official languages. Their official languages acts recognize the language of the first people of the region. Not only do we have the Official Languages Act of Nunavut, which has French, English and Inuktitut, emphasizing the two diverse dialects of Inuktitut and Inuinnaqtun, but we also have the Inuit Language Protection Act, because the Official Languages Act is geared toward a government, whether it is federal, territorial or municipal. In order for the language to survive, Nunavut has the Inuit Language Protection Act, which pertains to the private sector as well.

The provision for language has to go beyond just being in the schools and go into everyday life.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marc Garneau]

Thank you, Mrs. Gill.

Ms. Idlout, you have the floor for six minutes.

[Lori Idlout, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

[Member spoke in Inuktitut, interpreted as follows:]

Thank you, Mr. Chairperson.

To all of you who are speaking to us today, you have confirmed a lot of our concerns—my concerns personally— regarding indigenous people and our language. It's very precious to us, and we do not want to lose it.

For instance, for those who speak French, I do not discriminate. I envy them that their language is protected and recognized and is an official language in Canada. French and English are official languages in Canada. I envy you.

I ask every one of the speakers today, should our indigenous languages be official in all of Canada?

We will have Alexina first and then the other speaker. You have the right to speak Inuktitut, and it will be interpreted.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marc Garneau]

Ms. Kublu, you are on mute at the moment.