Language Commissioner calls on feds to increase funding for traditional language instructors

GARDEN RIVER—Federal government funding provided to create fluent Indigenous language speakers is not enough, says Anishinabek Nation Language Commissioner Barbara Nolan.

“We need to have more Indigenous people trained as language speakers before it is too late. Our elder speakers of the language are going to pass away,” stated Ms. Nolan on the need for further government funding to train more people in the Ojibwe language. She says it is crucial to get younger people involved, immersed in Anishinaabemowin, to becoming fluent speakers.

“The funds that have been provided are not going to be enough,” stated Ms. Nolan. She was talking about a recent parliamentary committee meeting where witnesses told committee members that if the federal government is serious about revitalizing Indigenous languages, it must provide better funding.

The 2019 federal budget provided $333.7 million over five years and $115.7 million in ongoing funding to support the implementation of the Indigenous Languages Act.

But for Ms. Nolan, who is originally from Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory and who was named language commissioner for the Anishinabek Nation in 2020, the funding “is not going to be enough” to revitalize and strengthen Indigenous languages in Canada.

“We are already going into our third year on this initiative, so we have seven years to create trained language teachers,” Ms. Nolan told The Expositor. “I talked strongly at a…