Towards reconciliation through language planning for Indigenous languages in Canadian universities

Abstract

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) began in June, 2008 as a response to the Indian Residential School legacy. The commission concluded with a 2015 report which includes 94 calls to action. Some of these calls pertain to higher education including the following example “We call upon post-secondary institutions to create university and college degree and diploma programs in Aboriginal languages” [TRC, 2015. Truth and reconciliation commission of Canada: Calls to action (p. 2). Retrieved October 15, 2015, from http://www.trc.ca/websites/trcinstitution/File/2015/Findings/Calls_to_Action_English2.pdf]. These calls to action exist within a broader global context of Indigenous language revitalization policy. What these policies have in common is the declaration of the value of Indigenous languages as well as recommendations for Indigenous language revitalization. This paper responds to these policies through an examination of Indigenous language planning in higher education. We situate this language planning within a broader project of reconciliation between Indigenous and settler peoples in Canada. We consider English dominance in higher education, Indigenous languages in university classrooms and the history of Michif, an Indigenous language spoken by Métis peoples. We describe an initiative which introduces Michif into credit courses in a teacher education programme. This paper’s discussion of the planning of this programme reveals possibilities for greater institutional inclusion of Indigenous languages in higher education.

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