Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  [Witness spoke Wendat] Tiawenhk inenh [English] I can tell you that it is truly difficult to reawaken a dormant language and that it requires a lot of funding. There's another problem. With the current funding model put in place by the Department of Canadian Heritage and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, we are not able to measure results on a monthly or yearly basis.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  If we don't change the funding model, other communities will absolutely find themselves in the same situation as us, which is something I do not wish to see. In 2017, we started an in‑depth study of manuscripts and archival documents. That took many years. I myself took language training to be able to speak my ancestral language.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Tiawenhk for this question. I think there's a lot more that is involved. I think the metaphor of rebuilding is a useful one to think of here, because we're not going to be able to simply go on the Internet for language teachers, find material to teach for English or French and pull it into the classroom and have supports and environments where students can be immersed in the language outside.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes. Tiawenhk. Thank you. I think there are two that are pretty concerning. One is the way in which the act doesn't speak directly to the heart of what the purpose is. In the purpose of the act it's to “establish measures to facilitate the provision of”. Never is there a specific point where it says that the federal government “is committed to providing adequate, sustainable and long-term funding for...Indigenous languages”.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you very much. Kwe aweti'. My name is Dr. Megan Lukaniec. I'm a member of the Huron-Wendat Nation situated in Wendake, Quebec. I am a linguist for our nation. I am honoured to be here to discuss the Indigenous Languages Act, and the impacts of that act on our community and our language.