The rules of Ontario’s legislature have changed to accommodate Indigenous languages.
Government House Leader Paul Calandra moved in the legislature Tuesday morning that the chamber’s Standing Order 24(a) be amended to say members may use English, French “or an Indigenous language spoken in Canada” when addressing the Speaker or chamber.
After some debate, the motion carried in a voice vote.
Standing orders are written rules for proceedings in a parliament that remain in place in its next session unless amended.
Kenora-Rainy River MPP Greg Rickford, who is minister of Indigenous Affairs, spoke in support of the motion and said he hoped “that someday we may have a broader representation of First Nations people” in Ontario’s legislative assembly.
“We’ve got to start somewhere,” he said.
Kiiwetinoong MPP Sol Mamakwa said Indigenous languages are a vital part of First Nations’ heritage.
“If we lose our languages, we lose all of our peoples’ identities,” said the New Democrat, who represents a mostly First Nations electoral district in the province’s North.
To speak Indigenous languages was forbidden in historical Indian residential schools, he noted. It was, he said, “a method of taking the Indian out of the Indian.”
Now, he said, “our people are reclaiming ownership of our language.”
“Here in this building, the standing orders up until today have said every member desiring to speak must rise in his or her place and address the Speaker in either English or French,” Mamakwa said.
That is “a form of forced assimilation right here in this legislature,” he said. “So this is very monumental for me.”
The amended standing order came as welcome news to Chief Lynn Indian of Big Grassy First Nation.
“We should be allowed to speak our first language in the legislature,” she said in a phone interview.
"I think that's good. We're making progress," said Grassy Narrows First Nation Chief Rudy Turtle.
