On Tuesday, April 16, 2024, the federal government announced its budget 2024. Unfortunately, the funding allocated for Indigenous language revitalization in Canada falls far short of what is needed and will impact the continuation and growth of language learning and documentation here in B.C.
B.C. has the greatest diversity of First Nations languages in Canada, with over half of all Indigenous languages in the country originating in this province. There are 36 unique languages across B.C.’s 204 First Nations, and more than 95 dialects.
Carla Lewis, Chair of the First Peoples’ Cultural Council, had this to say about the language funding announced in budget 2024:
“Generations of oppressive and assimilationist federal and provincial policies have aimed to wipe out First Nations languages. Through dedication and hard work, our people have fought for language rights to keep our languages alive. But many of our languages have few speakers left and most fluent speakers are elderly. Our languages hold our culture, history and ways of being. We can’t over-emphasize the urgency of the situation and we can’t wait another five years to get the funding needed to breathe life into our languages that were stolen from us. We need long-term, sustainable funding now. We need sufficient funding for each and every language across Canada. We are beyond frustrated at being expected to do this urgent work with insufficient resources. This is not reconciliation.”
FPCC is developing resources and will share more information to assist communities in advocacy for long-term sustainable funding and ensure B.C. receives a fair portion to support our significant language diversity.
Read the full news release
If you have concerns about how the language funding in budget 2024 may impact your language programs, please contact us at coaches@fpcc
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