Our Home and Native Languages?

One of the things that many Canadians take pride in is our multiculturalism. We live in a nation of rich diversity and tolerance we often like to say (when we’re not complaining about the complications that is…) and compared to some other less fortunate nations that’s true. What many Canadians may not be aware of, however, is how much of our social diversity and cultural inheritance is now threatened --threatened in a way that is almost always irreversible.

Many of the languages spoken in Canada --since long before there even was a Canada-- are now facing imminent extinction. A mass extinction, if you will, that will surely come to pass unless more is done to save them. I’m speaking of course about the many native languages that aboriginal Canadians have spoken for centuries and millennia past; languages which are unique in ways that make their imminent passing all the more sad.

Every language is of course unique in its own way, and every one should be valued by its community as part of their collective heritage, their identity, their culture, their particular means of communication which connect them to their ancestor’s voices in ways which only it can convey. Our aboriginal languages are particularly unique, however, in that they’re all members of very different and diverse language families, none of which are spoken anywhere else outside their small communities. Which also means that if they die out here they die out everywhere.

Before I go further into why our immigrant majority should care too, I’d first like to present a comprehensive list which shows in some detail the increasingly dire straits of our First Nation’s first languages. I only hope this stark overview can help give a better sense of the present situation:

( * I have used a number of academic and governmental sources to compile what I believe are the most up-to-date and accurate records, but had to use a degree of discretion in deciding which languages are indeed separate languages (low mutual intelligibility) and which only dialects, as well as the most plausible relationships with other language groups. There is little scholarly agreement on most larger language families or stocks, but some theories are more accepted than others. The lines immediately below mark the locales, languages, probable relationships, and speakers remaining, in the order followed)

Present State of Aboriginal languages in Canada.

# (Locations): Language: (Family Relationships): -Total Speakers, Total Ethnic Population: (% speakers) {{additional comments} **

Dead Languages:
1- (Newfoundland) Beothuk (Isolate, distantly related to Algonkian?) -extinct 1829, no known survivors.
2- (Quebec) Hochelaga/Laurentian (North Iroquoian, Iroquois-Caddo-Sioux) -extinct (??), assimilated with Huron, Mohawk? {{the name ‘Canada’ from Laurentian ‘Kan-ada’, meaning settlement/village}
3- (Quebec, Ontario, US) Huron-Petun-Attiwan/Wyandot (North Iroquoian, Iroquois-Caddo-Sioux) -extinct 1960’s, pop. 5,000. {{growing interest in reviving language}
4- (NWT, Yukon, US) Inuit-Louchoux pidgin (Inuit-English-Dene pidgin) -extinct mid-1900s?, Arctic trade language.
5- (BC) Nicola Dene/Stuwyx (East Dene, Na-Dene) -extinct early-1900’s?, assimilated with Thompson Salish.
6- (BC) Pentlach (Coast Salish, Mosan stock?) -extinct 1940’s, pop. 50?
7- (Maritimes) Souriquoian pidgin (French-Basque-Mi’kmaq pidgin} -extinct mid-1800’s?, Maritime trade language. {{Newfoundland “Jakatars” once speakers?}
8- (BC, Yukon) Tsetsaut (Tsetsaut Dene, Na-Dene) -extinct 1930’s, survivors assimilated with Nisga’a.

Languages on the Verge:
9- (Quebec, US) Abnaki-Penobscot (Atlantic Algonkian, Algic) -20 or fewer speakers, pop. 2,000. {{all speakers in CAN}
10- (US, from Saskatchewan) Atsina/GrosVentre (Arapaho Algonkian) -a few partial speakers, pop. 2-3,000? {{all speakers in US}
11- (BC) BellaCoola/Nuxalk (North Salish, Mosan stock?) -20 or fewer speakers, pop. 800.
12- (BC, US) Haida, Masset-Kaigani (Isolate, distantly related to Na-Dene?) -40 or fewer speakers, pop. 1,500.
13- (BC) Haida, Skidegate (Isolate, distantly related to Na-Dene?) -10 or fewer speakers, pop. 500.
14- (BC) Haisla (North Wakkash, Mosan stock?) -25 or fewer speakers, pop. 1,000.
15- (Yukon) Han (East Dene, Na-Dene) -10 or fewer speakers, pop. 300.
16- (BC, US) Kutenai (Isolate, distantly related to Algonkian or Salish?) -5 or fewer speakers, pop. 900. {{all speakers in CAN}
17- (Ontario, from US) Munsee-Lenape (Atlantic Algonkian, Algic) -5 or fewer speakers, pop. 400-1,000? {{all speakers in CAN}
16- (Ontario, US) Onandaga (North Iroquoian, Iroquois-Caddo-Sioux) -70-100 speakers?, pop. 19,000.
19- (US, some in Ontario) Pottowatomi (Central Algonkian, Algic) -50 or fewer speakers, pop. 25,000. {{all speakers in US, but partial speakers still}
20- (Alberta) Sarsi/TsuuT’ina (East Dene, Na-Dene) -50 or fewer speakers, pop. 800-1,000.
21- (BC) Sechelt (Coast Salish, Mosan stock?) -40 or fewer speakers, pop. 7-900.
22- (BC, US) Songhee-Saanich-Lummi (Coast Salish, Mosan stock?) -30 or fewer speakers, pop. 5-10,000?
23- (BC) Squamish (Coast Salish, Mosan stock?) -15 or fewer speakers, pop. 2,300.
24- (BC) Tahltan-Tagish (Nahanni Dene, Na-Dene) -40 or fewer speakers, pop. 2,400. {{some Tagish speak Tlingit}
25- (US, into Ontario) Tuscarora (Central Iroquoian, Iroquois-Caddo-Sioux) -15 or fewer speakers, pop. 1,000.

Threatened and Moribund (spoken by few if any youths) Languages:
26- (Quebec, Ontario) Algonquin, Maniwaki (Central Algonkian, Algic) -300 speakers, pop. 2,300. (12%) {{some youths, most prefer French or English}
27- (BC) Babine (East Dene, Na-Dene) -500 speakers, pop. 2,200. (24%) {{some youths, most prefer English}
28- (BC, US) Chinuk-Wawa (Chinook-Nutka-English pidgin) -1-200 speakers?, NW coast trade language. {{a few younger partial speakers; taught again at GrandeRonde Oregon}
29- (BC) Comox-Sliammin (Coast Salish, Mosan stock?) -350 speakers?, pop. 800-1,600. (22-45%) {{a few youths, some middle-aged; Comox dialect nearly extinct}
30- (BC, Alberta) Dunneza-Sekani (East Dene, Na-Dene) -330 speakers, pop. 1,300. (25%) {{some youths, most prefer English}
31- (BC) Gitxsan-Nisga’a (Tsimshian, Penutian) -2,600 speakers, pop. 9,500. (27%) {{a few children, some youths; some elders also speak Tsimshian}
32- (BC) Halkomelem (Coast Salish, Mosan stock?) -200 speakers, pop. 8-10,000. (2%) {{a few middle-aged, younger partial speakers; Musqueam dialect recently extinct}
33- (BC) Hieltsuk/Bellabella (North Wakkash, Mosan stock?) -300 speakers, pop. 2,800. (9%) {(some middle-aged}
34- (BC, Yukon) Kaska-Dena (Nahanni Dene, Na-Dene) -400 speakers, pop. 900. (44%) {{some youths, most prefer English}
35- (BC) Kwak’walla (North Wakkash, Mosan stock?) -240 speakers, pop. 4,900. (4%) {{some middle-aged}
36- (BC) Lilluwat (Interior Salish, Mosan stock?) -200 speakers, pop. 4,700. (4%) {{some middle-aged}
37- (NewBrunswick, US) Malecite-Passamoquody (Atlantic Algonkian, Algic) -650 speakers, pop. 3-4,000. (17-22%) {{some youths, most prefer English; US Passamaquody dialect entirely moribund}
38- (CAN, into US) Mitchif/French Cree (French-Cree creole) -1,000 speakers?, pop. 100-300,000 French Metis? (0.3-1%) {{some middle-aged, some partial speakers}
39- (Ontario, Quebec, US) Mohawk (North Iroquoian, Iroquois-Caddo-Sioux) -3,000 speakers, pop. 25-50,000? (6-12%) {{a few children & youth, some partial speakers}
40- (BC) Nitinaht-Nuchalnuth/Nutka (South Wakkash, Mosan stock?) -200 speakers, pop. 5,700. (3-4%) {{a few middle-aged; Nitinaht dialect nearly extinct}
41- (BC) Ntlakpamuk/Thompson (Interior Salish, Mosan stock?) -600 speakers, pop. 4,700. (13%) {{some middle-aged}
42- (BC, US) Okanagan (Interior Salish, Mosan stock?) -500 speakers, pop. 5-10,000? (5-10%) {{a few youths, some middle-aged}
43- (US, into Ontario) Oneida (North Iroquoian, Iroquois-Caddo-Sioux) -300 speakers, pop. 2-6,000? (5-17%) {{some middle-aged}
44- (Ontario, US) Seneca-Cayuga (North Iroquoian, Iroquois-Caddo-Sioux) -250 speakers, pop. 9-12,000? (2-3%) {{some middle-aged, some partial speakers}
45- (Alberta, US) Siksika-Pikanii/Blackfoot (Blackfoot Algonkian, Algic) -5,100 speakers, pop. 24-30,000? (17-27%) {{some children & youth, most prefer English}
46- (BC) Shuswap/Secwepemc (Interior Salish, Mosan stock?) -500 speakers, pop. 7-10,000. (5-7%) {{a few youths, some middle-aged}
47- (US, into BC) Tlingit (Tlingit, Na-Dene) -850 speakers, pop. 11,000. (8%) {{a few youths, some middle-aged, some partial speakers}
48- (BC, some in US) Tsimshian (Tsimshian, Penutian) -800 speakers, pop. 4,500. (18%) {{some middle-aged; distinct Klemtu dialect nearly extinct}
49- (Yukon) Tutchone (Tu-Taina Dene, Na-Dene) -400 speakers, pop. 2,400. (17%) {{some middle-aged}

Relatively Healthy Language Communities:
50- (Ontario, Quebec) Algonquin, North (Central Algonkian, Algic) -2,000 speakers, pop. 5,000. (40%) {(weaker in Ontario; some elders also speak Eastern Cree}
51- (BC) Carrier/Dakelh (East Dene, Na-Dene) -2,000 speakers, pop. 5-8,000? (25-40%) {{weaker in south}
52- (Ontario) Central Ojibwe-Ojicree (Central Algonkian, Algic) -8,000 speakers, pop. 10,000? (80%?) {{vigorous, all ages; some Saulteaux, Maskegon Cree also spoken}
53- (BC) Chilcotin (East Dene, Na-Dene) -2,000 speakers, pop. 2,500. (80%) {{most youths prefer English, but vigorous some communities}
54- (NWT, Alberta-Manitoba) Chipewyan-Tatsettine (East Dene, Na-Dene) -4,000 speakers, pop. 6-10,000. (40-67%) {{most youths prefer English, but vigorous some communities}
55- (Quebec) Cree, Attikemekw (Central Algonkian, Algic) -3,900 speakers, pop. 4,000. (97%) ((vigorous, all ages}
56- (Quebec) Cree, Eastern (Central Algonkian, Algic) -12,000 speakers, pop. 13,000. (92%) {{vigorous, all ages}
57- (Ontario) Cree, Swampy/Maskegon (Central Algonkian, Algic) -10,000 speakers, pop. 12-15,000? (67-83%) {{vigorous, all ages; some Ojicree also spoken}
58- (Alberta-Manitoba, into US) Cree, Plains-Woods (Central Algonkian, Algic) -70,000 speakers, pop. 130,000. (57%) {{weaker in south}
59- (US, Alberta-Manitoba) Dakota-Lakota/Sioux (Central Siouxan, Iroquois-Caddo-Sioux) - 18-22,000 speakers?, pop. 100-110,000. (16-22%) {{some children, weaker in north; Assiniboin Nakota dialects moribund}
60- (NWT, Yukon, US) Gwichen/Louchoux (East Dene, Na-Dene) -1,000 speakers, pop. 3,000. (33%) {{first language, some isolated communities}
61- (Nunavit, Quebec, Labrador) Inuktitut, Canadian (Inuit, Eskimo-Aleut, distantly related to Siberian Chukotan?) -18,000 speakers?, pop. 25-30,000? (65-72%) {{weakest in Labrador}
62-(Greenland/Nunavit) Inuktitut, Greenlandic/Kaalallisut (Inuit, Eskimo-Aleut, distantly related to Siberian Chukotan?) -48,000 speakers, pop. 50,000. (96%) {{50-100? Thule Inuit still on Ellesmere island}
63- (US, NWT) Inupiatin (Inuit, Eskimo-Aleut, distantly related to Siberian Chukotan?) -4-8,000 speakers?, pop. 18,000. (22-44%) {{some children, most prefer English}
64- (Maritimes-Quebec, US) Mi’kmaq (Atlantic Algonkian, Algic) -8,000 speakers, pop. 16,000. (50%) {{moribund in some communities}
65- (Quebec, Labrador) Montagnais-Naskapi/Innuh (Central Algonkian, Algic) -9,100, pop. 11,000. (89%) {{vigorous, all ages}
66- (Ontario, US) Odawa-Mississauga (Central Algonkian, Algic) -22,000 speakers, pop. 48,000 (43%) {{some children, weaker in south}
67- (Ontario-Saskatchewan) Plains Ojibwa-Saulteaux (Central Algonkian, Algic) -10-15,000 speakers?, pop. 35-60,000? (25-44%?) {{vigorous some communities, weaker in west; some Saulteaux also speak Ojicree}
68- (BC, Alberta, NWT) Slavi-Hare (East Dene, Na-Dene) -2,200 speakers, pop. 5,200. (42%) {{first language, some isolated communities; southern dialects weaker}
69- (NWT) Tlicho-Ndilo/Dogrib (East Dene, Na-Dene) -2,100 speakers, pop. 3,500. (60%) {{first language, most rural communities; some Tatsettine also spoken}
............................................................................................................

So out of some sixty nine native languages once spoken by Canada’s First Nations people, twenty four of them are now in serious danger of being completely forgotten within the next generation or two. Another seventeen are in even worse shape, close to joining the eight already lost, with only a handful of aging speakers left. That’s forty nine in total, over seventy percent of all those once spoken.

Even many of the twenty speech communities I classified as still ‘relatively healthy’ are uncertain of survival that much further into the future; few are heard on a daily basis anywhere in Canada now. And the situation in the States is no better. Only eight of some twenty five ancient language stocks native to North America (north of Mexico) have as much as a single language that could be considered at all vital; three of nine in Canada.

Now, this may not be on the same level of concern as the escalating extinction of plant and animal species, or the daily discrimination and hardship many aboriginal people still face, but it’s still an issue we should all care about. Some would no doubt argue that, although sad, it’s just a part of the ongoing pattern of assimilation. Whole nations have disappeared before, but their surviving descendents eventually adjusted to life in other societies.

There may be some truth to that historically, but there has never been as much cultural homogenization as now. And it’s worth remembering that this process has almost always come at great cost to these communities and individual members. Conquered people, which is what this is really referring to, often remain a disadvantaged if not oppressed minority centuries after their original cultures were abandoned. Learning to speak English in Canada’s old Indian schools, and being discouraged from using their own, has done little to actually integrate Aboriginal peoples into our mainstream. At least not in any sense that anyone is satisfied with.

It has however helped create a sense of dislocation, alienation and loss within what were once highly integrated and self sufficient communities of their own. Language is only part of the picture, but it remains an essential part. Every language not only has unique features that make it a separate language, but are also cultural hothouses of information, historical perspectives, and shared values. They might even affect the way we perceive our world.

It’s fairly well known that Inuit (Eskimo) languages have many more words for snow than English does, while English has more words for things (from high tech to cattle) which reflect our own society’s priorities and background. But it goes beyond that. Although English, French and Spanish have adopted some native words, like squash, moose, tobacco, chocolate, kayak, etc., there are always culture specific terms relating to traditional skills, customs, concepts, memories, sentiments or humour that are difficult to even translate.

Most native languages, like the Algonkian and Sioux, also possess complex “polysynthetic” grammars which can combine a whole sentence within what’s essentially one long multi-morpheme word. Complex to Europeans perhaps, but it allows a wide range of connotations, aspects, orientation and relationships to be ascribed to any natural feature or social situation. Some even describe different subjects and objects based on relative similarities, rather than dividing them into different categories as others generally do.

Whether this means our languages affect our perceptions as much as they reflect them is a question for philosophers and linguists. What anyone can appreciate is that maintaining our mother tongue also means preserving parts of our culture which might otherwise be lost, and loss of culture can mean a loss of social cohesion and personal identity. And that goes as much for others as it does for our own.

Many First Nations are starting to offer courses in their native languages and teach them to their kids again, but more needs to be done and soon. These initial programs could be expanded to more than a few short classes, with support from other Canadians; more comprehensive records can be made of dying tongues before it’s too late; even a few fluent and dedicated elders could immerse more youngsters into languages their parents might have lost.

Maybe someday every First Nation and reserve could have services, signs and media which speak to their particular heritage as well. This wouldn’t resolve everything that’s gone before of course, but it would be a positive step forward and perhaps even encourage greater understanding among all Canadians.

If you're serious about such a project, you can do the following:

(1) request a new language project; and
(2) contact a faculty member in a native studies programme at a Canadian university, and pitch the idea of getting money from SSHRC (or other funding agencies) to put together a Wikipedia in the proposed language; the funding could be used to hire young speakers for summer jobs: they can have the job or writing (or simply translating) articles on both topics particularly related to FN people and topics of general interest.

Turns out it's gone to the printer now anyhow so too late for any corrections after all. Not supposed to send out anywhere else before hand but wasn't sure on a few points and figured the odds of getting plagarized were low.

Brian's idea is excellent I agree, thanks to you too. I don't think languages can be preserved online no, as they need to be spoken around kids when they're young then maintained during course of everyday, but every bit can make a real difference at this point. Decided to learn the old Chinook jargon online myself, fairly simple trade pidgin but soon see how simple it really is....

[ 09 February 2007: Message edited by: EriKtheHalfaRed ]

Native voices going extinct
A few tongues survive in Canada

Feb 18, 2007 04:30 AM
Peter Calamai
Science Writer, Toronto Star

SAN FRANCISCO–Every time a language dies, experts warned here yesterday, the world loses irreplaceable scientific knowledge as well as cultural richness.

The potential toll is immense, with an estimated half of humanity's current 7,000 languages struggling to survive, often spoken by just an elderly few.

A 1996 UN report classed aboriginal languages in Canada as among the most endangered in the world and Statistics Canada concluded that only three out of 50 – Cree, Ojibway and Inuktitut – had large enough populations to be considered secure from extinction in the long run.

"The accumulated knowledge is fragile because most of the world's languages have no writing," said linguist David Harrison, director of research with the Living Tongues Institute.

Harrison said that Western biologists are only now beginning to unravel the diversity of plants and species that local inhabitants have long understood and catalogued in their rich vocabulary.

For example, recent research discovered that a butterfly in Costa Rica wasn't one species but 10. Yet the local Tzeltal people had already called the caterpillars by different names, because they attacked different crops.

"The knowledge that science thinks it is discovering about plants, animals and weather cycles has often been around for a long time," said Harrison, a professor at Pennsylvania's Swarthmore College.

"It is out there, it is fragile and it is rapidly eroding," he said.

Yet recent success in reviving several aboriginal tongues is rousing hope that the tide of language extinction is not inevitable, delegates at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science heard. Some examples:

The language of Miami-Illinois Indians, long classed as extinct, is now spoken daily by at least 50 people after a major "reclamation" effort.
Languages on the brink of extinction are being recorded for future revival – such as that of the Chulym, a tribe of hunters and fishers in Siberia.
A master-apprentice program is rejuvenating some of the 50 threatened aboriginal languages in California.
More than 2,000 schoolchildren are now fluent speakers of Hawaiian, a language banned from schools in Hawaii for almost a century.
"The reason that a lot of indigenous languages went extinct was that they could not be used in school," said William Wilson, a professor of Hawaiian Language and Studies at Hilo, Hawaii.

Despite a policy of official bilingualism, the native Hawaiian language was in its death throes, but that changed dramatically after the state legislature in 1987 scrapped a 90-year-ban on using Hawaiian in the schools. Now, students are taught in their native language from pre-school to college.

Yet Hawaiian-speaking students also study Japanese in the first six grades, Latin in Grades 7 and 8, and English throughout. "We feel children can learn many languages if they have a solid base in English and Hawaiian," the language professor said.

Wilson said in an interview that the architects of language recovery in Hawaii worked closely with aboriginal groups in Canada, including the Squamish in Vancouver and the Six Nations at Brantford. The Hawaiian group also produced a multilingual book in co-operation with the Inuit.

The preservation of aboriginal languages in Canada was dealt a major blow last year when the Harper government scrapped a 10-year, $173 million language revitalization program.

Yet Miami tribe member Daryl Baldwin told a news conference that even a supposedly extinct aboriginal language can be brought back to life. That's what happened with the Miami language previously spoken over a wide region of the lower Great Lakes.

At Miami University in Ohio, Baldwin and colleagues pored over written records to help interested tribe members again speak the language.

There was also a recent article in the Independent on this topic; it goes into some detail about the example of the butterflies in Costa Rica, as well as giving an example from the Musqueam here in BC:

quote:

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Many animals and plants threatened with extinction could be saved if scientists spent more time talking with the native people whose knowledge of local species is dying out as fast as their languages are being lost.

"It seems logical that the biologists should go and talk to the indigenous people who know more about the local environment than anyone else," said David Harrison, an assistant professor of linguistics at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania.

"Most of what humans know about ecosystems and species is not found in databases or libraries or written down anywhere. It's in people's heads. It's in purely oral traditions," Dr Harrison told the American Association for the Advancement of Science in San Francisco. "About 80 per cent of the animals and plants visible to the naked eye have not yet been classified by science. It doesn't mean they are unknown; it just means we have a knowledge gap." ...

Another example of local knowledge was shown by the Musqueam people of British Columbia in Canada, who have fished the local rivers for generations and describe the trout and the salmon as belonging to the same group.

In 2003 they were vindicated when a genetic study revealed that the "trout" did in fact belong to the same group as Pacific salmon, Dr Harrison said. "It seems obvious that knowing more about species and ecosystems would put us in a better position to sustain those species and ecosystems," he said.

"That's my argument, that the knowledge gap is vastly to the detriment of Western science. We know much less than we think we do."

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1) Elders have no to little experience with computers, and they are among the few that do speak the language.
We are having trouble putting into audio and written form (no thx to Harper and his cronies cutbacks last budget), and Elders can press record on a tape recorder.....

2) Who is going to check it for errors - See # 1

3) Some languages have different dialects every 30 km (Algonquin, for example), so how can a group from Kitigan Zibi do this and not recieve appeals from the other Algonquin groups in Quebec to include their dialects.

Language illuminates the past
Click here to find out more!

Jack Knox, Times Colonist
Published: Saturday, February 24, 2007

When Laura Olsen died last week, it was though another light went out. The 91-one-year-old elder was one of perhaps a dozen people who still spoke Sencoten fluently.

The Saanich Peninsula language remains healthier than some others on southern Vancouver Island, though. Klallam has disappeared from Becher Bay, T'sou-ke is no longer heard in Sooke, and there is believed to be just one person left who is comfortable in the Songhees dialect of Victoria.

It's the same story throughout B.C., aboriginal languages vanishing with the few old souls who grew up speaking them. As the languages disappear, so do those slightly different ways of looking at the world, those nuanced perspectives, that are built into them.

Which is why there's a race against time to document and preserve the languages before the window of opportunity closes.

Which is why there's such frustration over the federal government's cancellation of funding for the work.

"If we had appropriate funding, we could have all languages documented within five years," says Tracey Herbert, executive director of the First Peoples' Heritage, Language and Culture Council.

.......

The council gets about $1 million a year from the province's First Citizens Fund. It was also counting on tapping into a big pool of federal money, a $172-million language-revitalization fund announced by Liberal Heritage Minister Sheila Copps in 2002. "That money was the light at the end of the tunnel," Herbert said.

Alas, the remaining $160 million of that fund was yanked off the table by the Conservatives this winter. In its place is a smaller pot that will provide B.C. with just $232,000 a year. Compare that, says Herbert, to the $37 million Ottawa invested in French-language instruction in B.C.

Compounding the frustration is a long-standing grievance over the way federal money is allocated. B.C. is home to two-thirds of Canada's indigenous languages, yet gets just 10 per cent of Ottawa's funding.

There are 40 native languages in B.C., 32 of them still in use and eight described as "sleeping." The council doesn't want to call them dead, the idea being that once a language is documented, it is theoretically possible to infuse it with new life.

Perhaps that's so, and dormant languages can be resurrected. Perhaps it's wishful thinking. Few languages, aboriginal or otherwise, survive more than a generation or two before drowning in a sea of English. Chances are if your grandparents came to B.C. speaking some other language, you don't share their tongue.

But at least your grandparents' language, and therefore their culture, exists back in the old country. Canada's indigenous languages exist nowhere else, and if they disappear, so does the ability to teach history and values in a particular way that cannot be conveyed in English. "If we lose our language, we lose everything," says Deanna Daniels, the council's language programs co-ordinator. "It would be a tragedy."

So the race against time is on. Almost all of those who speak indigenous languages are over 65. Many, perhaps most, are in their eighties. Some efforts are being made to teach new, fluent speakers, but most projects focus on documenting the old voices before those who know them are gone. ....

http://tinyurl.com/29p9gb

[ 26 February 2007: Message edited by: EriKtheHalfaRed ]

Because they are now claiming FN's were conquered people and assimulation needs to be forced.

[ 26 February 2007: Message edited by: remind ]

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