Mr. Speaker, I would also like to congratulate my friend on the hard work he has done in learning the local language in the unceded territory where he lives. I want to commend him. It is inspiring for all of us to see the effort the member has put forward in learning that language and how it connects him to the land and the people where he lives.
A good friend of mine from the Nuu-chah-nulth people, and from the Ahousaht Nation, Cliff Atleo, always reminds us that our language is what identifies us. He says we are nothing without our language. We are losing speakers all the time, as the member knows and as I cited earlier today. The Barkley dialect, for example, has gone from 15 speakers since the government was elected to nine. They have been waiting for funding. I got a note today from a councillor from Tseshaht Nation, Ken Watts. He said that as a council member in his community who has helped apply for language funding, that is one of the most important things. He wrote, “Without funding behind this, nothing will change. They also need to send money directly to communities. I respect the work of some organizations, but communities need it, as they know what's best for their nation's languages.”
Tseshaht's position is that language funding should not be competitive. He spoke a little about the importance of the language funding going out to where the needs are. I want to ensure that the member is going to enforce and ensure that when the government rolls out the funding, it will not be a competitive process and that everyone who needs it is going to be able to have access to it, especially in areas where there are language holders. We know many of them are aging out in certain areas.
I also want to understand whether the government is going to inject money immediately. We are losing language speakers now, and as we lose these holders of knowledge and holders of the language, we lose our whole cultures in certain communities. We lose languages in certain nations. It is important this be backed up with funding.