YELLOWKNIFE - A second Arctic territory is moving to give aboriginal languages equal status with French and English following the release of a new report arguing that Canada's southern language law simply doesn't fit the Northwest Territories.
"Many aboriginal language stakeholders perceived existing language rights as not reflective of the demographic realities of the N.W.T. and the political reality of the N.W.T," says the report on language in the Northwest Territories.
After lengthy hearings throughout the territory, the resulting report also found that federal promotion of French is widely resented.
"The committee heard many concerns from aboriginal people about the inequality of aboriginal language rights versus French language rights," says the report.
The report, which was tabled in the legislature late last week, suggests setting up regional enclaves in which government services would be guaranteed in the local language.
Kevin Menicoche, the member of the legislative assembly in charge of the project, says wherever he went, he heard concerns about the fading of traditional aboriginal languages.
"We're in crisis here," he said. "We're declining and we've got to do something soon."
He says part of the problem is laws that are clear when spelling out the rights of French speakers, but murky on aboriginal languages.
"Because French is an official Canadian language, the support is there," said Menicoche, adding that aboriginal languages and French receive roughly equal support from the federal government, but the aboriginal pot is split between nine different tongues.
Meanwhile, the number of francophones is dwarfed by speakers of Gwich'In, Slavey or Inuvialuktun. Francophones number in the hundreds in the N.W.T., while thousands are "very fluent" in aboriginal tongues, he said.
French language rights have also been enforced by the courts. And many northerners, especially those in smaller communities, feel that French is being promoted at the expense of the language of those who were there first, said Menicoche.
"In the communities, they say, `You're doing all this for French, we're just struggling."'
The report suggests creating designated areas where speakers of various aboriginal languages are concentrated. In those areas, government services would be offered in those tongues. Similar districts would also be created for francophones.
Aboriginal languages would also be recognized in the legislature and the courts.
In addition, the report suggests the N.W.T. take over jurisdiction on language from the federal government to "get away from the federal model of legislation that does not match the demographic, socio-geographic and political realities of the N.W.T."
Nunavut, the only jurisdiction in Canada where the majority language is neither English nor French, now requires Inuktitut service in government, stores, restaurants and other businesses.
Language reform won't go that far in the western Arctic. But Menicoche said the territory has to do something before aboriginal languages are completely lost.
"The research we had done shows the actual decline in aboriginal languages in the Northwest Territories in all our communities."
