Yes. Tiawenhk. Thank you.
I think there are two that are pretty concerning.
One is the way in which the act doesn't speak directly to the heart of what the purpose is. In the purpose of the act it's to “establish measures to facilitate the provision of”. Never is there a specific point where it says that the federal government “is committed to providing adequate, sustainable and long-term funding for...Indigenous languages”. That appears in the preamble, but it does not appear in the purpose of the act.
The other piece of it is with respect to language rights. It's mentioned that there are specific points at which indigenous language rights are a piece that should be looked at, and it says that the Indigenous Languages Act would support indigenous language rights, but it does not explicitly describe those rights. That is pretty problematic, especially here in Quebec with Bill 96 and with the fact that now we're seeing this encroachment of the French language on indigenous languages.
Indigenous languages are not the threat to French. English, not indigenous languages, is the threat to French. We're in a different situation here in Quebec as well, so those amendments would be particularly helpful for those of us here in Quebec with this encroachment.