Minister won't say when he ordered audit of Indigenous languages office

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Minister Marc Miller arrives to a caucus meeting on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

OTTAWA — Canadian Heritage Minister Marc Miller won’t say when his department ordered a financial audit of the Office of the Commissioner of Indigenous Languages after it received anonymous complaints.

The Canadian Press reported earlier this week an audit is being conducted on the office tasked with helping to preserve at-risk Indigenous languages.

Half a dozen sources, including former employees, told The Canadian Press that over the five years of its existence, the commissioner’s office has failed to move the needle on strengthening Indigenous languages and supporting research.

Instead, they say, the office has focused on extensive travel and hosting one big conference in Ottawa that cost $10 million. They also allege a toxic work environment, bullying, uncompleted projects and staff quitting in frustration.

The sources spoke on the condition they not be named due to fear of reprisals.

Miller said Wednesday the allegations brought forward against the office are serious enough to warrant the audit and people need to be held accountable.

“But part of holding people to account is giving people the benefit of the doubt, and that includes making sure the due process is respected,” he said.

He said he won’t speculate on potential changes to the office’s governance structure or mandate, adding a mandatory review of the Indigenous Languages Act is underway.

Indigenous languages in Canada

Commissioner Ronald Ignace told The Canadian Press he is proud of the work done to establish the office.

In a media statement, Ignace said the office has faced challenges but “we succeeded in laying the foundation for an office capable of carrying forward this significant work.”

UNESCO considers nearly all Indigenous languages spoken in Canada to be at risk or endangered. That’s due in part to the legacy of residential schools, where Indigenous children were barred from speaking their own languages.

In 2021, roughly 240,000 Indigenous people reported to Statistics Canada that they could speak conversationally in an Indigenous language -- a drop of about four per cent since 2016.

In British Columbia, many Indigenous languages had fewer than 1,000 speakers. Tlingit, for example, was spoken by 20 people.

Indigenous languages speakers and politicians told The Canadian Press this week that while the languages office is undergoing an audit, the buck really stops with the federal government.

‘Indigenous people speaking about and for Indigenous people’

Miller said his government has to respect the independence of the Indigenous languages office.

“I think it’s important to respect the nature of he commission itself. Why it was set up was to make sure that it is Indigenous people speaking about and for Indigenous people,” he said.

“The level of my scrutiny into it has to to reflect that sensitivity and that realization that I’m part of a series of historical governments that have taken those languages from Indigenous people.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 3, 2026.

-- Written by Alessia Passafiume in Ottawa and Brittany Hobson in Winnipeg