Questions and responses 42nd Parliament, 1st session December 3, 2015, to September 11, 2019

With regard to the announced Indigenous Languages Act: (a) which Indigenous experts, communities, leaders, and knowledge keepers have guided the drafting process and set the criteria and outcomes; (b) what is the timeframe and schedule of the drafting of the proposed legislation; (c) what criteria does the government anticipate will be used to determine appropriate funding levels; (d) does the government anticipate the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Call to Action No. 15 for a Language Commissioner will be included in the proposed legislation; and (e) does the government anticipate Indigenous languages will be recognized as official languages as part of the proposed legislation?

With regard to the Prime Minister’s commitment to introduce an Indigenous Languages Act and specific plans the government has to implement this commitment: (a) when will the legislation be introduced in Parliament; (b) what proposals will be contained in the legislation; (c) what is the total amount of funding that will be attached to it; (d) what are the details of all the consultations conducted by the Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs prior to the announcement of the upcoming bill, including for each consultation, the (i) date, (ii) location, (iii) name and title of the First Nations, groups, or individuals consulted, (iv) recommendations that were made to the Minister; and (e) what are the titles of all briefing notes provided to the Minister regarding this proposed legislation between November 4, 2015, and December 13, 2016, from Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada?

With regard to the promised Indigenous languages legislation by the government: (a) what minutes, reports and memos have resulted from meetings, since November 1, 2015 until today, broken down by (i) year, (ii) departments, (iii) date of the minutes, memo or report, (iv) type of documents (v) person, deputy or minister to whom the document was intended; and (b) which Indigenous communities, organizations or experts have been consulted, since November 1, 2015 until today, for an Indigenous Languages Legislation by the departments of Canadian Heritage, Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada and Indigenous Services Canada or any other department, broken down by (i) years, (ii) names of organizations or experts consulted, (iii) departments who have consulted?