Victoria Native Friendship Centre loses vital funding for language revitalization program
Victoria Native Friendship Centre (VNFC) staff worry they’ll have to scale back a program that teaches hundreds of people Indigenous languages.
Staff learned last month a federal funding contract would not be renewed for the Urban Indigenous Language Hub, which teaches seven languages, including Nuu-chah-nulth and Cree.
“It was really heartbreaking, to be honest, and at this point now I’m just determined to find a way to make it work,” said Lisa Mercure, VNFC’s Indigenous culture and traditions coordinator.
A previous two-year agreement with the federal Department of Canadian Heritage provided $516,600 to the program. The department does not publicly discuss funding requests, a spokesperson said in an email to CTV News.
“What we fear is what a delay or what a gap in this learning and teaching environment will mean for people in their progress as learners,” VNFC executive director Ron Rice said, noting many fluent speakers are nearing the end of their lives.
“When you think in terms of languages going extinct, that means people who speak it are dying.”
The funding — which helped pay for teachers, meals and transport for elders — was likely awarded to another Indigenous organization, Rice said.
“Indigenous language has been part of an assimilation experiment for the last four generations. It’s going to take us a little while to regain those skills,” he said.
“So to think that after three years or four years, you can take the funding and give it to somebody else, is only going to set them up for failure.”
The language hub has not lost all of its funding, however.
Moving forward, the plan is to use funds from the province and the National Association of Friendship Centres to offer a scaled-back version of the program, “including limiting or maybe having to cancel some classes,” Mercure said.
“In late November, I reached out to the federal Minister of Canadian Heritage Pascale St-Onge and stressed B.C.'s commitment to working on long-term, predictable funding in partnership with Canada,” B.C. Indigenous Relations Minister Murray Rankin said in a statement.
“Clearly there is more work to be done as Crown governments to support First Nations language revitalization."
VNFC staff are lobbying elected officials and are seeking community donations to support the language classes.
“It would be great to have some embedded, core funding,” Rice said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Blaine Higgs 'furious' over sexual education presentation
New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs has shared his anger on social media over a presentation in at least four high schools.
Grayson Murray's parents say the two-time PGA Tour winner died of suicide
Grayson Murray's parents said Sunday their 30-year-old son took his own life, just one day after he withdrew from a PGA Tour event.
The dreams of a 60-year-old beauty contestant come to an abrupt end in Argentina
A 60-year-old woman saw her dreams of becoming the oldest Miss Universe contestant in history melt away in a haze of sequins and selfies Saturday at Argentina’s annual beauty pageant.
At least 15 dead after severe weather carves path of ruin across multiple U.S. states in the South
Powerful storms killed at least 15 people and left a wide trail of destruction Sunday across Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas during the latest deadly weather to strike the central U.S.
2 died in plane crash near Squamish, B.C., police confirm
Two people died after a plane went down in a remote area near Squamish, B.C. on Friday, authorities have confirmed.
Driver, 18, gets $3,000 ticket, 32 demerit points after speeding on Laval boulevard
A young driver received a hefty fine from Laval police after they say he was driving nearly 100 km/h over the posted speed limit.
After more than 100 years, Newfoundland's unknown soldier returns home
An unknown Newfoundland soldier, who fought and died on the battlefields in northeastern France during the First World War, is back home this weekend for the first time in more than a hundred years.
Some birds may use 'mental time travel,' study finds
Real quick — what did you have for lunch yesterday? Were you with anyone? Where were you? Can you picture the scene? The ability to remember things that happened to you in the past, especially to go back and recall little incidental details, is a hallmark of what psychologists call episodic memory — and new research indicates that it’s an ability humans may share with birds called Eurasian jays.
Trump confronts repeated boos during raucous Libertarian convention speech
Donald Trump was booed repeatedly while addressing Saturday night’s Libertarian Party National Convention.