Photo credit: the Guardian
Sol Mamakwa a First Nations lawmaker in Ontario has addressed the province’s legislature in Anishininiimowin, an Indigenous language.
The Guardian reports that it as being historic because it repudiates a centuries-long colonial “war” on Indigenous languages.
Mamakwa who belongs to the New Democratic party is from the community of Kingfisher Lake First Nations gave the province’s ever Indigenous language speech in Queen’s Park. He told colleagues the moment left him feeling “thankful and proud.”
He had sought unanimous consent of the house to speak at length in Anishininiimowin, also known as Oji-Cree. He received applause from his colleagues in response.
He said he was speaking for those who couldn’t use their language and for every Indigenous person in Ontario. He delved into history by saying the language was taken from them by the arrival of the settlers, colonisation and residential schools.
He also mentioned that decades of hostile government policies, including forcible removal of Indigenous children from their families and a system of residential schools, stripped many of their culture and, of course, their language.
The Ontario government’s house leader, Paul Calandra, had made a decision to amend the standing order requiring lawmakers to use either English or French.
Members are now allowed to use an Indigenous language spoken in Canada while addressing the speaker or the house.
However although nearly 2 million Canadians identify as Indigenous, only 260,000 can speak an Indigenous language. Most of the 58 Indigenous languages spoken in the country are at risk of going extinct.
