OUR LANGUAGE RIGHTS
LANGUAGE KEEPERS
Celebrating Newcomer and Indigenous Language Revitalization and Preservation
February 21, 2024
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Proudly sponsored by
LANGUAGE KEEPERS
 SARAH ONYANGOThe producer and host of the Fontonfrom (Rogers), the Ici l'Afrique, Afrika Revisited and Black on Black (CHUO 89.1FM), translator |  THEA HARRISLanguage Program Manager at First People’s Cultural Centre, member of Snuneymuxw First Nation on Vancouver Island, B.C. |  DR. ELAINE GOLDThe Executive Director of The Canadian Language Museum |  REBEKAH R. INGRAM, PhDProfessor and researcher, The School of Linguistics and Language Studies, Carleton University |  LAILA JOUDCommunications Manager with Refugee 613 and social justice activist |
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ABOUT
February 22 is Language Advocacy Day, recognized unofficially in Canada and worldwide. Starting in 2021, the Language Access Coalition of Canada (LACC) hosted its first ever virtual conferences highlighting the diversity of language access work in Canada and the importance of securing language access for minority language speakers, including newcomers, official language minority communities, and Indigenous language speakers. This year LACC is organized a two-day event:
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On February 21st, LANGUAGE KEEPERS - Celebrating Newcomer and Indigenous Language Revitalization and Preservation, we hosted a celebratory panel about the work being done in Indigenous and newcomer communities to preserve, revitalize, and pass on mother tongues to future generations. In the afternoon, we gathered 60 language advocates from across Canada to contribute to LANGUAGE POLICY HACKATHON 2024 and discuss the topics of advocacy for French language, Indigenous revitalization, the option of "active language offer" in hospitals and the AI adoption in translation and interpretation.
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On February 22nd, our annual day of MOBILIZATION and COLLECTIVE ACTION we invited communities across Canada to contact their representatives to move the needle on language rights in Canada and join us in advocating for language rights as human rights.
Proudly sponsored by MCIS Language Solutions
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Proudly featuring:
SPEAKING THE INUIT WAY
exhibit will introduce viewers to the diversity of the Inuit language. It presents Inuit writing systems, dialect differences, and modern revitalization efforts, and illustrates how the language reflects both historical and contemporary Inuit culture and identity.
ABOUT THE VENUE
Native Women Association of Canada (NWAC) is a National Indigenous Organization representing the political voice of Indigenous women, girls, Two-Spirit,transgender and gender-diverse people in Canada, inclusive of First Nations on and off reserve, status and non-status, disenfranchised, Métis and Inuit. We were founded on the collective goal to enhance, promote and foster the social, economic, cultural and political well-being of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people within their respective communities and Canadian societies.
