Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I would like to thank all the witnesses who are here with us today.
There are indeed many common threads in the various testimonies, such as the issue of linguistic depletion. Mr. Simpson has just spoken about this.
Personally, I know my ancestors spoke Abenaki, Mohawk, French and English. And yet, at home, we don't speak any other languages currently apart from French and English. I understand the issue firsthand.
I liked the expression used by Dr. Lukaniec, who spoke of a dormant language and not a dead one. A dormant language is just waiting to be reawakened. I found that most interesting. We sometimes get the impression that in order to speak a language, you just have to buy a textbook or take a class, but it's much more complicated than that.
I would like to hear more about funding from Dr. Lukaniec. She spoke of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, amongst others, and the fact that it was easier in the past to plan over five years.
A new act came into force in 2019, but everyone agrees that the act doesn't have enough teeth and that it is vague. The act does indeed provide guidance and direction, but does not make anything mandatory. Ms. Bear also spoke about this when she talked about languages that are being lost.
So what should we do exactly? The act was passed almost four years ago and just like you, I like to believe that we can do something.
Dr. Lukaniec, what can we do right now in order to reawaken these dormant languages? As a linguist, you are best placed to explain how difficult it can be.