Intellectual

Federally, heeding the Truth & Reconciliation Commission's calls to action, Canada now has an Aboriginal Languages Act & an Indigenous Aboriginal Languages Commissioner which hopefully will begin to provide systemic guidance in best practices for public schools across Canada. 

Provincially, in BC the 2016 BC Aboriginal Languages IRP Review Report recommended that the province should appoint a provincial lead to coordinate language learning in public schools, and that each School District "identify a leader in the district with the responsibility of the Aboriginal language program development and implementation. " (BC & FNESC, 2016, 32)

Traditionally, Indigenous leaders, knowledge & language holders were often Elders.   Elders hold immense knowledge and understanding of cultural traditions. Any efforts to teach Indigenous languages must include Elders.  In Desmoulins et al. (2016), when discussing the potential role of institutions as "third spaces", the authors point out the critique that "language  instruction  must move  away  from  book  learning  and  into contextually  rich environments with the guidance and expertise of fluent Elders." (Desmoulins et al, 2019,49)

In urban multi-cultural settings, when it might be difficult to connect with Elders in person, the emerging use of technology to learn from Elders shows great promise for public schools, especially as the Covid pandemic further restricted many Elder's comfort in going into public schools or large gatherings.  (See below) The poster above is an example of a local online learning K'tunaxa language program, led by K'tuanxa Elders and language holders in partnership with CBEEN (local educators) who are starting to learn K'tuanaxa so they can share it with their students.

One important point brought forward in BC's 2016 Aboriginal Languages IRP Review Report, was the need to "develop and implement a plan" to promote the benefits of Indigenous language learning in both settler and Indigenous communities, and "counter the negative view of Aboriginal languages amongst school communities and Indigenous communities."  (BC & FNESC, 2016, p32) They note the persistence of false perceptions such as  "the belief that learning an Aboriginal language can impede learning English, and the belief that the Indigenous languages of Canada are not useful and important to Canada.  (BC & FNESC, 2016, 32)

The video above by Lindsay Morcom (2019) is an example which promotes the benefit of learning Indigenous languages.  She notes that around 70% of Indigenous students attend provincial schools and, as established in the UNDRIP, have a right to education in their traditional languages.  One vital step forward is to develop strong language policies. (Morcom, 2019) 

The First People's Cultural Council has created a document called "Language for Life - Nourishing Indigenous Languages in the Home"  which is a local example of one resource designed to help promote the use of Indigenous languages.   Internationally, the UNESCO declaration of the Decade (2022-2032) of Indigenous Languages holds promise of helping to shift perceptions globally and locally re-learning to value, appreciate & learn Indigenous languages.  Certainly public schools can use this declaration as impetus for the creation of new programs and learning opportunities.

     In exploring best practices for public schools, we must look to Indigenous leaders, teachers and speakers for guidance.  The First Nations Education Steering Committee (FNESC) in BC has created the "First People's Principals of Learning" (2007) which can guide educators in the kinds of pedagogy needed in approaching Indigenous Language learning.  They have developed many resources including recommendations for Authentic First Nations texts and resources . 

      Another example of the development of authentic First Nations language resource is In the video above, where Ojibwe public school teacher Shy-Anne Bartlett talks about how she found grants and partnerships to help develop a series of Ojibwe language and culture books (levelled texts) which can be shared with other schools and communities. 

   The 2016 BC Aboriginal Languages IRP report assessed recent efforts to create accredited Indigenous language programs in BC. One important recommended principal is that Indigenous language teaching needs to be "aligned with the Indigenous world-view, Indigenous language structures, Indigenous instructional patterns and Indigenous values and relationships within communities, land and ancestors " (BC & FNESC, 2016, p32)  With this in mind, the ideas of Hermes et al. (2012) encourage us to reframe our thinking from a model which commodifies language content, to an Indigenous view and design process which asks "how can we make and produce meaning together" in Indigenous languages. (Hermes et al, 2012, p392)