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The Ethnologue database lists 94 individual languages in use in Canada. Besides the two official languages English and French, this includes 17 non-indigenous languages and 77 indigenous ones (Lewis et al., 2016). The aboriginal languages themselves come from several distinct language families, including Eskimo-Aleut, Na-Dené, Algic, Iroquoian, Siouan, Salishan, Wakashan, and Tsimshianic. According to the 2011 census, the ten languages spoken most widely are Cree (an Algonquian language, 95165 users), Inuktitut (Eskimo-Aleut, 36240), Ojibway (Algonquian, 24770), Dené/Chipewyan (Athabaskan, 12845), Innu/Montagnais (Algonquian, 11380), Oji-Cree (Algonquian, 10160), Mi’kmaq (Algonquian, 8855), Atikamekw (Algonquian, 5980), Blackfoot (Algonquian, 4360), and Stoney (Siouan, 3475).

Three groups of Aboriginal peoples are commonly distinguished in Canada: the First Nations, the Inuit, and the Métis. The Métis are descendants of early mixed unions between European (typically French) men and Aboriginal women who, over time, developed a distinct cultural and linguistic identity; they are found throughout the country, particularly in Alberta. The Inuit are part of a circumpolar people also found in Greenland and Siberia; in Canada they are found mostly in Nunavut, where they are a majority, and in the Nunavik region of Quebec. There are also smaller groups in the Northwest Territories (Inuvialuit) and Newfoundland and Labrador (Nunatsiavut, northern Labrador). The First Nations comprise all Aboriginals who are neither Métis nor Inuit. They form the largest population (851560) of the three groups, almost twice as large as the Métis (451795), with the Inuit (59445) a distant third.

Figure 2.3: Proportion (percent) of Aboriginal population by language use (National Household Survey 2011).

The 2011 National Household Survey gives information on the language abilities of the three groups. The data, visualised in Figure 2.3, reveal differences between conversational, mother tongue, and home language status, as well as between the three types of Aboriginal peoples. The Inuit have the highest ability, well over 50 % for all three kinds of language use. The Métis do worst, with a maximum of 2.5 % being able to conduct a conversation in an Aboriginal language.1 The First Nations range from 22.4 % conversational ability to 18 % home language use.

The sporadic contact between Aboriginal Canadians and Europeans that took place in pre-Columbian times evolved into prolonged and more intense contact in the seventeenth century, when the first permanent settlements were established. The trade relations between early settlers and the First Nations were instrumental in securing the former’s survival in the new land and in familiarising them with the geography of inland North America. However, even before state-sanctioned attempts at cultural assimilation and the side-effects of wars between colonial powers further reduced their numbers, infectious diseases brought over from Europe decimated thousands (Morton, 2006, 16).

With the insatiable hunger for land among the ever-increasing number of colonists, First Nations were gradually robbed of their hunting grounds and assigned to specific areas – the so-called reserves. The focus, however, was on assimilation, and the residential school system was one way to that end. In this system, passed under the Indian Act in 1884, education of ‘Indian’ children was mandated, often against their will. Boarding schools were constructed, children separated from their parents, and English made the only language allowed on school grounds. Mortality rates were high, physical, psychological, and sexual abuse was rampant, and the collective emotional trauma is still intact. The last residential school closed in 1996, and the government apologised in 2008.

The Indian Act 1876 has been amended several times since its introduction (notably with respect to residential schools). The act provides a framework for state-aboriginal relations, defining legal bases for reserves (ss 18–19), Indian bands (s 2), and actual Indian status (ss 5–17). This last point is important because only ‘status Indians’ (‘registered Indians’) are subject to the Indian Act and may claim the benefits set out in the act (such as the right to reserves, hunting rights, easier access to firearms, exemption from certain taxes, etc.). This excludes Métis and Inuits, as well as several non-registered ‘Non-Status Indians’. Registered Indians are issued identity cards with which they are allowed to cross the border with the USA. Current developments may, however, lead to a breakdown of the distinction between ‘status’ and ‘non-status’ Indians: a Supreme Court decision in April 2016 ruled that ‘non-status Indians’ and Métis are to be considered ‘Indians’ under section 91(24) of the Constitution Act, 1867 (Fontaine, 2016). The change is yet to be fully implemented, but will see a large number (around 600000) of previously non-registered aboriginal people granted access to federal funding and benefits.

There is very little recognition of Aboriginal languages at the official level. At the federal level, there are only two official languages, and the Official Languages Act does not deal with Aboriginal languages – in fact, it excludes band governments and councils from its provisions (which, to put it more positively, gives bands jurisdiction over internal language matters). None of the ten provinces has an official Aboriginal language. Things look brighter in the territories, where Yukon, in its Language Act, recognises as ‘significant’ eight Aboriginal languages. The Northwest Territories makes a distinction between the ‘official languages’ English and French, and nine ‘official aboriginal languages’. Nunavut arguably has the language policy with the most inclusive treatment of Aboriginal languages: all of Inuktitut, Inuinnaqtun, French, and English are equally official.

The number of speakers involved is likely a factor explaining the virtual absence of Aboriginal languages from the official political scene beyond territorial or local government. The decline in speakers means that language policies in education are geared towards revitalisation or at best, in the case of Nunavut, maintenance.2 The English language, in particular, holds a powerful status within communities, in provinces and territories, at the federal level, and, of course, at the continental and global levels. Few aboriginals, regardless of their strong affection for their ancestral languages, would like to deprive themselves of the advantages that English affords. Education policies tend to take this into account, and shy away from sidelining English in their curricula.