Including Indigenous languages in education: An analysis of Canadian policy documents

Language policy may promote or reduce the use and acquisition of languages. Indigenous languages in Canada are endangered and the number of speakers of these languages is declining. In this thesis, I examine a number of Canadian language policies in order to analyse whether provisions exist for including Indigenous languages within educational programmes. Previous studies of Canadian language policies have often only briefly addressed Indigenous languages. My analysis considers some of the policy documents discussed in earlier studies (e.g. the 1969 Official Languages Act), some recent policy documents (e.g. the 1991 Canadian Heritage Languages Institute Act), as well as proposed legislation that failed to be enacted (e.g. the 2005 Kelowna Accord). Two of the important themes that emerged from this analysis are the general exclusion of Indigenous languages from Canadian language policy and limited local, Indigenous consultation and control within those policies that do include Indigenous languages.