Qujannamiik, Mr. Zimmer.
I can only talk about my jurisdiction in Nunavut. My mandate as the languages commissioner is to ensure people are aware of their language rights. When Nunavummiut feel that their language rights have been infringed, they can send us their concern. We then investigate those concerns and whether language rights have been infringed.
The fact that my office is still receiving concerns from Nunavummiut is an indicator there is still a lot of work to be done. My role is to ensure that people are aware of their language rights and to make the obligated bodies aware of their language obligations.
In terms of funding, in the Inuit Language Protection Act there are three distinct offices: the minister of languages, which is with the Department of Culture and Heritage within the Nunavut government, and an Inuit language authority that is mandated to standardize terminology and to preserve traditional terminology.
In terms of the fact that my office is still receiving concerns, the recommendations we've been putting out there are not being addressed; hence that recommendation to have one central agency within the government, because they are obligated in Nunavut to comply with the Inuit Language Protection Act. There are many different government departments and agencies. To have one particular agency.... I mentioned the Privy Council. I'm open to discussions. Maybe it's the Treasury Board. Maybe it's Heritage Canada, but I'm open to those discussions.
Evidently, with the fact that I'm still receiving concerns as a languages commissioner, the language rights obligations are not being met by the federal government specifically.
Qujannamiik.