GDI Gets Federal Help For Michif Preservation

GDI Gets Federal Help For Michif Preservation

Thursday, April 12, 2007 at 14:54

Ottawa has announced funding to help the Gabriel Dumont Institute with a Michif language initiative.

The federal government is providing $125,000 for a GDI project intended to promote the continued use of the Métis language.

The institute is hoping to increase the number of Michif speakers, expand opportunities for speaking the language, and ensure that that a greater number of young people learn it.

GDI has been active in providing language learning materials, establishing a Michif Speakers Association, and hosting a national Michif conference.

The money is coming out of the government’s Aboriginal Languages Initiative, which provides $5 million per year for the preservation and revitalization of Native tongues.

That fund was originally supposed to provide $172 million over 10 years, but it was cut by Canadian Heritage Minister Bev Oda last year.