First of all, I'd like to express myself in my language and give you an actual example to answer your question.
[Witness speaks in his native language]
I've answered you in my language. Historically that's how we used to speak. Our language was used in various ways, and it was a family language. It was a language of commerce, of trade. It was also a ceremonial language.
When you're talking about the history of Canada and how Canada has learned to appreciate who we are as a people—and Heritage Canada has taken part in the development and the preservation of our language—it has come to a point where we're just getting started. We've barely started. We're trying to bridge the gap between the cultures in Canada so we can bring ourselves together and have a better foundation in this country and a better place for everybody.
I have children and grandchildren. I have a son who's 15 going on 16. He's in high school. When he was seven years old, he did a presentation and a display. He was just a young boy. In one way, we're saying we're lost, and in another way we're saying we've gained. When a seven-year-old child goes out in the public and showcases who we are as a people and a nation within this country, that means we've come a long way.
My grandmother, who was born in 1880, never had a chance to use her language publicly. She never had a chance to showcase her language. When she went shopping, the business of commerce was English, and that's how she learned a little bit of English and she learned French. My grandparents knew many languages. They were the languages of trade. During the buffalo hunts, when you went through certain territories you had to speak the languages of the people of those territories. That's how we became very diverse. Today I'm one of those people who can happily say that I'm very well versed in Dakota, in Ojibway, which is Saulteaux, Cree, Michif, and French. We're very well assimilated with our languages and our culture. Some 90% of our Métis people are assimilated in the English culture.
Because of the colonization and whatever else, residential schools, we have had no choice but to be immersed, and because of that we've lost a lot of our culture. If it wasn't for our Métis organizations that celebrate Back to Batoche every year, where we display who we are, we wouldn't get many chances. When I hear what we're talking about here, I see us at Back to Batoche, where we can display ourselves as people of this country. That's not to forget—and that's why we're here—that the Michif, the Métis people are involved.
We have to have things like cultural camps, language input, our stories, our songs, our history. We have to have it all. We have to showcase it, regardless of whether it's in Saint-Jean sur Richelieu, Quebec, or it's in St. Lazare, Manitoba, where I was born and raised, as long as the people have an opportunity, especially our youth, to gather with our elders, because the elders are the teachers.
Merci. Thank you.