$15M funding commitment will help preserve 'critically endangered' Michif language: Manitoba Métis Federation

A five-year, $15-million funding commitment from the federal government will help give the Michif language "a chance to survive and to prosper," the Manitoba Métis Federation says.

The federation and the federal government formally announced the funding agreement at the Manitoba Métis Federation office in Winnipeg on Thursday afternoon.

Michif, a Métis language spoken in parts of Canada and the U.S. that combines elements of Cree, French and other languages, is "critically endangered," the Métis Federation says.

Andrew Carrier, who is the federation's vice-president and its minister for language protection, said the funding is essential for the development and preservation of Métis language and culture.

"With the funding, we're looking for developing our curriculum more on the mature language," he said.

"We have approximately less than 1,000 Michif speakers in the province, and with the help of the federal government, we're able to give Michif language a chance to survive and to prosper."

The MMF is also proposing a community gathering between elders and youth members who want to speak the language, said Carrier.

"We bring them together and they learn from each other, and we hope to inspire further learning opportunities through these gatherings." 

Taleeb Noormohamed, the parliamentary secretary to Minister of Canadian Heritage Pascale St-Onge, said Thursday the funding is part of the government's efforts to fully implement the Indigenous Languages Act, and that the Manitoba Métis Federation will be critical partners in the project.

"The preservation, protection and the support for the Michif language has been something that the federal government has been very keen to ensure happens under the direction of the MMF," Noormohamed said.

The funding will go directly to MMF over a five-year period, which began in 2023-24 but was formally announced Thursday, under a new federal funding model for Indigenous languages that aims to allow greater Métis, First Nations and Inuit control over funding decisions, the federal government says.

Having a five-year commitment is both sustainable and transformative, said Noormohamed.

"One of the challenges that we've seen in the past is that there have been arrangements that have been done on [an] ad hoc, short-term basis, that have never given the federation and other organizations the time and the capacity to be able to plan properly," he said.

The aim of the funding is "to enhance and preserve the local language among the future generations, in a way that suits the people of this nation and to give them what is rightfully theirs," said Noormohamed.

He also said that one positive sign is that in the last number of years, there has been a 45 per cent increase in the number of people able to carry on a conversation in the Michif language.

"That shows that these types of efforts, these types of initiatives have a profound impact," Noormohamed said. "And that is something that we must all strive to really do in a meaningful and thoughtful way."