Native Languages Funding Cuts Felt By SICC

Native Languages Funding Cuts Felt By SICC

Thursday, November 09, 2006 at 12:59

The interim president of the Saskatchewan Indian Cultural Centre says Ottawa is holding back the promotion of Aboriginal languages.

Dorothy Myo says her facility had expected to receive an upgrade to its $232,000 budget for languages next year.

However, that won’t be the case now that it has been revealed the Conservative government plans to reduce the former Liberal government’s 10-year funding commitment from $160 million to $50 million.

Myo says her group was planning to help start-up programs at the local level before the cuts were announced.

She says First Nations across Canada are a diverse group, and that’s why grassroots programming is so key to language retention.