Mr. Speaker, March is National Aboriginal Languages Month. Today I want to honour these languages, the first languages in this country.
I encourage the members of this House and all Canadians to support aboriginal peoples in their struggle to preserve and promote their languages. Of the 53 aboriginal languages in Canada, only three have a good chance of surviving, one of which is Inuktitut which I just spoke.
The NWT is the only jurisdiction in Canada which recognizes aboriginal languages as official languages. Through the federal NWT Language Co-operation Agreement, aboriginal languages in the Northwest Territories receive protection and assistance.
This agreement is significant and I commend its objectives to all Canadians.