Liberal MP Robert-Falcon Ouellette is calling for indigenous translators in Parliament after he was forced to translate his own speech from Cree to English in the House of Commons last week.
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The MP for Winnipeg Centre told CTV’s Your Morning on Thursday that he chose to deliver his speech in Cree because he wanted indigenous youth to hear one of their languages being used in symbolic places, such as Parliament.
“It’s not to take away from others, English-speakers or French-Canadians, it’s to add to the social fabric of what makes this country truly great,” Ouellette said.
Ouellette said he also wanted to deliver a direct message to Aboriginals by speaking in Cree after two violent attacks against women by indigenous youth.
“This is not something that’s traditional,” he said. “It’s not how we’re supposed to act and we have certain values.”
According to the 2011 census, almost 213,500 Canadians cite an indigenous language as their mother tongue. That number is compared to 19 million English speakers and 7 million French speakers.
Ouellette said he thinks that indigenous languages should be represented in Parliament so that aboriginal Canadians can participate fully in debates.
Ouellette said he plans to make a point of order to the Speaker of the House of Commons within the next week to clarify what his rights are as a parliamentarian wishing to use Cree.
“If we don’t use these languages, if they’re not used in Parliament, at some point most of them are going to die out,” he said.
