Evidence of meeting #49 for Indigenous and Northern Affairs in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was languages.
A video is available from Parliament.
4:45 p.m.
Liberal
Pablo Rodriguez Liberal Honoré-Mercier, QC
We'll get back to you on that.
Paul here says—
Well, you can say it.
4:45 p.m.
Paul Pelletier Director General, Indigenous Languages, Department of Canadian Heritage
The target was set for 2021, recognizing that it was when the next census release was going to be. Stats Canada have just released their findings from that gathering in 2021. That's why there's been a delay in reporting that. Now we're able to report the status as of 2021.
4:45 p.m.
Conservative
4:45 p.m.
Director General, Indigenous Languages, Department of Canadian Heritage
We have that data now.
4:45 p.m.
Conservative
Gary Vidal Conservative Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River, SK
Can you report that to the committee?
4:45 p.m.
Director General, Indigenous Languages, Department of Canadian Heritage
Sure.
4:45 p.m.
Liberal
4:45 p.m.
Liberal
Michael McLeod Liberal Northwest Territories, NT
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I hope Gary wasn't using my time for his questions.
This has been a very interesting discussion, Mr. Chair, on this indigenous language study.
I want to say marsi cho to Minister Rodriguez for appearing today to speak on this very important topic.
You were the minister who sponsored the Indigenous Languages Act way back in 2019, and you may have touched on some of this stuff I'm going to ask you, but since that time, what are some of the government's key accomplishments on supporting indigenous languages and implementing the legislation?
4:50 p.m.
Liberal
Pablo Rodriguez Liberal Honoré-Mercier, QC
As I said, this is the thing I'm most proud of from the first time I had the privilege of being the Minister of Canadian Heritage. We've worked on co-developing this bill. We didn't agree on everything all the time, which is also normal, but I think we got to a pretty good bill that allowed us right away to start increasing our actions.
To answer your question directly, we've put in place, for example, $840 million for the financing of the projects. If you add to that the fact that we're putting in another $118 million per year, we're getting close to a billion dollars.
Is it enough? I would say that for languages, it will never be enough, because language is who we are. It's our identity. It's our past. It's our present. It's our future. It's how we tell our stories. We pass those stories on to our children.
I'll give you an example. When I came from Argentina.... That's why I have such a strong accent in English—we were political refugees, and I didn't speak a word of French or English. My dad said, “From the door, outside, you speak the language you want. Learn French. Learn English. Learn everything you want, but on this side of the door, inside, it's Spanish.” It was important to him that we keep our culture, just as it is for all of you.
That's what I'm saying. There will never be enough money, because the needs are so big. Of course, we are accelerating the pace, there are more projects, we're financing faster and we're putting in place agreements whereby we're going to transfer that to our friends—the Inuit, the Métis and the first nations—so that they make the decisions and we're not involved anymore.
However, there's so much to do in that, because we have to bring this to another level. It's not only teaching the language. It's also eventually having more music in indigenous languages. It's having more books in indigenous languages. It's having more television shows, more music and more movies at the movie theatre in indigenous languages. That's my dream. That's what I hope for.
We have to start somewhere. I think the start is not that bad. We've funded, I think, 77 different indigenous languages up to now in the different projects.
We appointed the commissioner. We're working with him. He's independent. We're there to support him.
Now we're working on these long-term funding agreements whereby we will transfer a big amount of money to the indigenous organizations. They will be the ones accepting the projects and taking us away from that decision, and I think it's the right thing to do.
4:50 p.m.
Liberal
Michael McLeod Liberal Northwest Territories, NT
Last fall, I was in Dettah, and I was very excited to announce almost $40 million to support indigenous languages across the territories. The money was going to indigenous governments. It was going to friendship centres. It was going to broadcasters. There was the literacy council. A lot of people were saying that the right way to do it is to provide it and put it in the hands of different stakeholders.
Can you speak to the work done by Canadian Heritage to move away from a centralized approach to funding, and how indigenous governments and organizations can play a bigger role in decision-making in the design and delivery of indigenous language programming?
4:50 p.m.
Liberal
Pablo Rodriguez Liberal Honoré-Mercier, QC
That's a very good question.
That is what we've wanted to do since day one. When we came up with the bill, we said the structure is within Heritage. We're going to work at co-developing it, but at the end of the day, the people are the ones who know what is best for them. They're the ones who know what they need.
I'm not going to go and tell one first nation, “I think this is good for you in terms of indigenous language.” No. Never. How would I know that? It's not up to me to say that.
That's why it's so important for us to finance those long-term agreements with the Inuit, the Métis and the first nations. It's so we can transfer those amounts, and they can select the projects and have those discussions. We already have those discussions, in a way. We don't go by ourselves and say we're going to finance this project or that one. It goes through different groups. Maybe you can explain exactly how we do that, but we're going one step further, transferring the money and saying, “Okay, you know better than us what to do.”
Do you want to quickly add to that?
4:55 p.m.
Director General, Indigenous Languages, Department of Canadian Heritage
Currently, we have set up first nations, Inuit and Métis committees. For most projects, they look at the proposals coming in. Based on their expertise on revitalization work, they make recommendations back to the department on who should be funded and how much, and the department has followed those recommendations ever since we set up these committees three years ago.
4:55 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Marc Garneau
Thank you, Mr. McLeod.
We will now go to Mrs. Gill.
You have the floor for six minutes, Mrs. Gill.
4:55 p.m.
Bloc
Marilène Gill Bloc Manicouagan, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you Minister, for appearing before the committee today.
You are aware of my interest in languages, generally speaking. Needless to say, the link between culture and language was raised earlier.
I have questions about what was done by the department.
You said that more money was allocated. More money will always be needed, of course. People have been telling me that even though we are being told that there is more money, they are not necessarily feeling a difference and they get the impression that there are barriers in terms of accessing and using the money.
Was additional staff hired by the department specifically for the needs of this process?
Can you tell us how many people were hired to provide more services to these people? I could, if you wish, give you a list of the grievances I've heard about, which were also presented to the committee.
How many additional people were hired to meet requirements?
4:55 p.m.
Liberal
Pablo Rodriguez Liberal Honoré-Mercier, QC
I'll give you an overview, and then give the floor to Mr. Pelletier.
There are several ways to support the strengthening, preservation and protection of indigenous languages. One such way is through the Indigenous Languages act. An increase in funding now allows us to do that. As I mentioned earlier, the budget is $840 million…
4:55 p.m.
Bloc
Marilène Gill Bloc Manicouagan, QC
I'm sorry, Mr. Chair, but once again I'm going to interrupt, because he is not answering my very specific question.
Thank you, Minister.
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Liberal
Pablo Rodriguez Liberal Honoré-Mercier, QC
I'm answering. I told you that Mr. Pelletier would be providing the specifics…
4:55 p.m.
Bloc
Marilène Gill Bloc Manicouagan, QC
I'd like you to give me the number of people. If you can't do that, Mr. Pelletier could tell me right now.
4:55 p.m.
Liberal
4:55 p.m.
Liberal
Pablo Rodriguez Liberal Honoré-Mercier, QC
Please be polite. I let you speak and I would expect you to do the same.