By: Saije Rusimovici, Staff Writer
Content warning: mentions of residential schools and colonialism.
Language inspires connection. Being able to communicate in the language of your culture fosters meaningful engagement within and outside of your community. In high school, students in British Columbia are required to take a language course as a part of their curriculum until grade 11. This is a core part of the public school program, but many discontinue their language learning after graduation. Making language courses free in Canada would be a critical step towards preserving language and culture for many people, and encourage post-secondary students to sign up for additional language courses. Furthermore, implementing Indigenous language programs at post-secondary institutions is crucial. This is more than a step towards reconciliation — it’s a way for Indigenous students to connect with their cultural roots.
Proper language instruction is an important part of Canada’s multicultural landscape. Sustaining language is a necessity. To encourage further study of French, the Canadian government has created the Explore program, a fully-funded French immersion program that allows individuals to learn or improve their language skills in an immersive environment. This includes participating in cultural activities, themed workshops, and weekly events.
But what about Indigenous languages? One might say that you can learn a new language on apps like Duolingo nowadays, but many languages are not accessible on apps like these. Indigenous languages like the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh sníchim and Halkomelem, for example, are not included. Encouraging connection to one’s culture by making language courses more accessible should be a top priority for SFU.
The Sníchim Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing immersive language opportunities for adult learners to raise the number of fluent Sḵwx̱wú7mesh sníchim speakers. They explain that Sḵwx̱wú7mesh sníchim is “historically an oral language without a formal writing system.” They add that the number of reported fluent Sḵwx̱wú7mesh sníchim speakers has risen from 10 to 100 since 2010. It is the Sníchim Foundation’s mission to further increase the number of fluent speakers, as revitalization of Indigenous languages is a necessary component of working towards decolonization and Indigenous cultural resurgence.
Through a partnership with SFU, the Squamish Language Academy teaches Sḵwx̱wú7mesh sníchim for free. This is an excellent step forward for the revitalization of Indigenous languages. SFU has an Indigenous language learning program, but cost shouldn’t be a barrier in connecting with your culture. Making language programs free is a necessary part of reconciliation, especially when language erasure is a painful mark of colonialism. SFU is still in the process of decolonizing.
Part of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s final report places an emphasis on language as a key aspect of reconciliation. The assimilation of Indigenous children into residential schools is one of many colonial injustices responsible for the loss of fluent Indigenous language speakers. Many people’s ties to storytelling, oral histories, music, and everyday speech have been severed by the effects of colonization.
This is a truly devastating fact, as I know the times I’ve felt most connected to my own heritage was through spoken language. In my second year at SFU, I took two consecutive semesters of introductory Italian. Coming from Italian heritage, this wasn’t just a useful tool to help me interact with my family members and coworkers. It strengthened my connections to the community. For this reason, accessible language education is not only a necessary aspect of preserving identities, but a key step towards decolonization.
