Native Languages and The Role of Research in Formulating Language Police

Abstract

Ontario has a Native language policy for its schools and this paper will demonstrate how the framework for theoretically-based decision-making in educational language planning as enunciated by Cummins in his posi­ tion paper applies to the development of that policy. This paper is concerned with the aboriginal languages of Ontario. In conformity with current practice, the term "Native" is used to refer to aboriginal people, specifically those people who inhabited North Ameri­ can in about 1500, that is, before the period of significant European migration to this continent, and their descendants. Thus the term "Native languages" refers to their ancestral languages. Schools for Canadian Native peoples have been administered by a variety of agencies since their institution in the early 1800s. Most of these schools have operated through the medium of English. In fact, Native children were in the past subjected to emotional and physical punitive practices, which would not be permitted in today's schools, in attempts to prevent them from speaking their Native language. Since the late 1960s Native language and culture programs have begun to be instituted in schools for status Indian children. The loose administra­ tive structure for providing such programs has been beneficial in some ways, given that different communities have different needs and wishes for these programs. However, the lack of administrative direction has meant that such programs often were offered intermittently, were of uneven quality, and were largely unsupported by supervision, or by the development of curriculum materials and standardization of teacher qualifications. In 1972, the single most influential document on Native education was published by the National Indian Brotherhood, a national Native organi­ zation no longer in operation. That document, Indian Control ofIndian Education, calling for direct responsibility for and control of Indian education by Indian people, was accepted in 1973 by the federal Depart­ ment of Indian and Northern Affairs. It gives details on how its general objectives of reinforcing children's Native identity and providing the training necessary for making a good living in modern society should be carried out. It also made recommendations about administration of education.