[Witness spoke in Secwepemctsin]
[English]
Thank you for honouring me here to speak to this esteemed committee and to talk about the work of the commission.
[Witness spoke in Secwepemctsin]
[English]
As well, I would like to honour the lands and people of Kitigan Zibi for us being here.
Good afternoon, and thank you for the invitation to speak to you today.
As you all know, on July 12, 2021, I took office as commissioner and chief executive officer of the Office of the Commissioner of Indigenous Languages. The three directors representing the interests of first nations, Inuit, and Métis took office at the same time as I did.
The directors and I serve as the governing board of the commission. We feel privileged, humbled and honoured to have been selected as the first commissioner and directors of the Office of the Commissioner of Indigenous Languages, but we are also aware of the enormous task before us in implementing the mandate with which we have been entrusted.
As chief executive officer, I am responsible for the control and management of the commission. Over the past 18 months, our primary focus has been on establishing the commission. There was no such entity or organization prior to the act, so we have been working to build the organization from the ground up. The complexity and significance of our mandate and responsibilities require us to take the appropriate time and steps needed to establish a solid foundation for this organization. We're also working on long-term planning and strategies; we have begun baseline research to better understand the status of indigenous languages in Canada and the funding in place to support language revitalization, strengthening and maintenance. We expect the commission to be fully operational and staffed by the summer.
The Indigenous Languages Act is clear that the commission is an independent entity. The independence is critical to the integrity and credibility of the commission. It is what ensures we can carry out our mandate freely, objectively and without undue influence.
By the end of July each year, the commission must report on a number of things, including the use and vitality of indigenous languages in Canada, the adequacy of federal funding provided by the federal government, and, of particular interest to this committee, the implementation of the Indigenous Languages Act.
The act also sets out the requirement for two statutory reviews. The first is a three-year preliminary review of the act and of its administration and operation, to be commenced by the Senate, the House of Commons, or by both houses of Parliament.
The second is a five-year review requiring the Minister of Canadian Heritage to initiate an in-depth review by October 1, 2025, and within every five years thereafter.
Again, this will include a review of the act and of its administration and operation. Although the act received royal assent in June 2019, the provisions of these reviews did not come into force until some time later, to allow time for the implementation of the act.
We understand that, much like the impacts on the establishment of the commission, the COVID pandemic has also impacted the act's implementation. Given that the timing of the first review will commence soon after October 1, 2023, there is a potential that the implementation of this act will be studied by four separate parliamentary entities within the year or so, including by this committee. We intend that at the time the statutory reviews are under way, beginning in late 2023, the commission will be in a better position to provide an assessment on the implementation of the act.
Kukwstsétsemc.