The Indigenous Languages Act came with millions in federal funding attached. But local Anishinaabemowin instructors say short-term grants won't create fluent Indigenous speakers, let alone language teachers
If Ojibwe language instructor Barbara Nolan had it her way, she would build a stronghold for her language — somewhere on a lake, preferably — where people could go and be completely immersed in Anishinaabemowin with the goal of becoming fluent speakers.
The 2019 federal budget provided $333.7 million over five years and $115.7 million in ongoing funding to support the implementation of the Indigenous Languages Act. Nolan is the only fluent speaker currently teaching at the Garden River Child Care Centre. She teaches four hours of language instruction to children each day, splitting her time between four classes.
One of the major roadblocks is the short-term, temporary nature of funding available for Indigenous language programming, says John-Paul Chalykoff, an Anishinaabemowin professor at Shingwauk Kinoomaage Gaming. “I’d like to go over there and just shake them up," Nolan said of her home community on Manitoulin Island. "They don’t know what gift they have, being a fluent speaker.”
“It has to be total immersion, and the students or participants will have to take a leave from their jobs or quit, and we have to put them on a salary,” said Nolan.
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