Reclaiming Language

In the March issue of The Walrus, there is an extended article on the need for, and the

complexities of, teaching indigenous children their nation's language. The task is made

complicated in part because many of Canada's first languages are structured differently than are

the languages of Europe and therefore an entirely different pedagogical approach is required.   

The reasons why indigenous children need to be taught their grandparent's first language within a

formal school system as opposed to being taught by their parents and other adults in the

community are long standing and well known. There is no doubt that the Canadian government's

policy, enacted by direct and indirect agents was to assimilate the indigenous peoples of Canada

into what was then perceived to be the mainstream of Canadian society. Residential schools were

designed to be the primary tool of cultural assimilation/genocide. If only the government

had waited a hundred years, they would not have needed to do anything at all thereby saving not

only money that could have been better spent but more importantly not causing long term

psychological damage to countless communities.

Languages die. That is a fact. No one speaks Sumerian or Sanskrit anymore. Only academics and

priests use Latin, or the language of Bede or Chaucer.  Languages die out because a more

predominant culture or language supersedes it. I can remember growing up in Quebec and

knowing that some French speaking parents wanted to send their children to the English school

system not only because it was a better education but also because it would prepare their children

to compete in an English  speaking world. The fact that French in Quebec is the dominant

language has as much to do with the language protection laws enacted in the last two or three

decades of the 1900s as it does on its natural resurgence.  The increased numbers of speakers of

Gaelic or Welsh in Great Britain are a point of pride for those individuals but do not reflect

the mainstream. Those languages are not used outside relatively small circles. They frequently

appear to be an affection as opposed to a useful addition to the human dialogue. While no point

was made as to the irony of it, the above article from The Walrus in discussing which Indigenous

languages are most used in Canada, briefly mentioned that "major dialects tend to crush minor

ones". Not because the speakers of Cree are mean or colonialist but because it makes life easier

to communicate when we all speak a common language.  It makes more sense to communicate in

the language of the majority.

There is no doubt that the early disappearance/eradication of Indigenous languages in Canada is

a direct result of the interference of the Canadian government in the natural lives of whole

communities. The harsh, abusive techniques used to punish children who spoke their first

language within the Residential School system as operated by the various churches and the

Canadian government were profoundly inappropriate and more importantly - damaged the

psyche of an entire population. But many of those languages would have evolved and some if not

most would have died a natural death.

I accept that it is critically important that Indigenous communities become strong through and

because of their culture. I think that, because of the impact of how the Canadian government

(and all of those who voted for them in the 149 years since confederation), the best, perhaps the

only way that that can occur is for the children and grandchildren of those who were punished

for speaking their language get to learn it and to celebrate it. It saddens me that our mutual

languages did not evolve together. We could have had a language that instead of a few place

names basterdized into English as the only acknowledgement of there being a culture here before

the Europeans arrived, would have been rich in the best of both languages.

And that affects us all.