International Mother Language Day Bill
Third Reading
June 17, 2021
Moved third reading of Bill S-211, An Act to establish International Mother Language Day.
She said: Honourable senators, I am really proud today to rise to speak to the third reading of Bill S-211, an Act to establish International Mother Language Day.
I want to take this opportunity to thank Senator Petitclerc and the Social Affairs Committee for really working hard and even sitting on a Friday to study this bill. I truly appreciate all the work you did to make this possible.
This day is a way to celebrate, honour and recognize Canadians across the country who proudly speak their mother language.
Honourable senators, all this bill will be doing is declaring February 21 as the mother language day.
International Mother Language Day is a day dedicated to celebrating and acknowledging the value and importance of being able to communicate freely, openly and proudly in the mother language of our choice.
Last week, as the sponsor of Bill S-211, I was so delighted to testify alongside Dr. Monjur Chowdhury, founding Executive Director at Pro-active Education for All Children’s Enrichment, and Jocelyn Formsma, Executive Director at the National Association of Friendship Centres.
In my testimony at committee, I shared from briefings submitted to the committee. I read the powerful words of Anushua Nag, legislative assistant to Senator Dalphond, who spoke about being a child of immigrants from Bangladesh and how the French, English and Sylheti languages formed key parts of her identity, and that she is proud of all those identities and celebrates them.
I also shared the sentiments from a Grade 9 student, Ayaan Jeraj, who speaks French, English, Spanish and Gujarati. Ayaan spoke about the importance of this bill, in that it will allow young people to carry forward the fight for recognition and celebration of all mother tongue languages in Canada.
Honourable senators, at its core, Bill S-211 is about acknowledging the ways mother tongue languages and multilingualism strengthen Canada’s diverse and multicultural society. As we strive for this idea, it is important that we remember, in the 2011 census, more than 60 Indigenous languages were reported, but only 14.5% of First Nations members still had Indigenous language as their mother tongue. In 2016, the number of Indigenous languages reported was more than 70. More than 33 of those languages were spoken by at least 500 individuals. Some were spoken by as few as six people.
It is truly heart-rending to see so many Indigenous languages disappear. Every time a language disappears, we lose a part of our identity.
Honourable senators, you have heard me speak about the mother language bill over many years. It has now reached third reading. At the end of third reading, may I humbly ask you to support this bill. Thank you very much, senators.
Honourable senators, I rise today to speak to Bill S-211, an Act to establish International Mother Language Day.
This bill was introduced by our colleague, Senator Jaffer. During second reading, she remarked:
At its heart, this bill is one way to honour and recognize Canadians from coast to coast to coast who proudly speak their mother tongues, which amount to over 200 languages, from Spanish to Gujarati to Punjabi to Tagalog and many others.
Senators, I believe that this is a worthy objective because it recognizes that Canada is a multi-ethnic and multicultural country that houses people from diverse backgrounds. As we all know, multiculturalism is the thread that weaves our national fabric. In Canada, our diversity should continue to be celebrated.
Of course, international mother language day will not be a legal holiday. Rather, it will be a day, among many, recognized by Parliament and the federal government because of the significance for Canada.
It may surprise many to learn that as of 2017, there were 69 nationally recognized days or other observances in Canada. These days were created by federal statute, orders-in-council or parliamentary resolutions. Quite often, I think we fail to remember the significance of many of these days and observances. For instance, in the month of June alone, there are more than 10 official federal days or observances.
Regrettably, far too many of these national days, which have been established in remembrance of something of significance, have been neglected or completely forgotten by most, but senators, we need to remember that these noteworthy days and national observances are very important for so many communities and people in Canada. They serve to signify and honour aspects of our history and our people.
Bill S-211 will honour and recognize Canada’s linguistic diversity. This is a valuable objective. Speaking to the importance of language, when my colleague Senator Ataullahjan spoke to this bill at second reading, she quoted Professor Wade Davis, who said:
A language, of course, is not just a set of grammatical rules or a vocabulary; it’s a flash of the human spirit, the vehicle by which the soul of a particular culture comes into the material world. Every language is an old-growth forest of the mind, a watershed of thought, an ecosystem of social, spiritual and psychological possibilities. Each is a window into a universe, a monument to the specific culture that gave it birth and whose spirit it expresses.
These very elegant remarks speak to the richness that diversity has brought to Canada. This richness is sustained through languages and the remarkable cultural inheritance languages convey.
Senator Ataullahjan said, “I know first-hand the correlation between my mother language and my identity.” I can testify to that fact as well. In the Oh family, our mother tongue of Mandarin is important to us and is a large part of our identity.
As a child in Singapore, my parents spoke to me and my siblings in Mandarin. When I became a father to my boys, who were born in an English-speaking, multicultural part of Canada, I felt it crucial to instill a connection through language to their family’s culture and history. To this day, we speak Mandarin at home. Even though I am trilingual, there is a cultural vitality that comes from communicating in my first language.
Even though my grandchildren are currently less familiar with Mandarin, I still choose to teach them words and phrases in my mother tongue. Hearing them repeat words back to me warms my heart, and without a doubt, strengthens our connection. This, senators, is the power of mother tongues. They are an artery of cultural spirit connecting past and future.
I believe, in a way, that this bill is also about so much more than language. For our immigrants, it recognizes the fact that while adjustment to life in Canada often requires learning new languages, having the ability to retain and protect one’s own unique culture is an important part of what it means to be Canadian. For others, such as our Indigenous people, who have fought tirelessly to preserve their native languages in often very difficult circumstances, this day will also honour their continued efforts.
For these reasons, I very much believe in the worth and substance of this bill. With dialects and languages lost around the world every day, this is a very modest way in which we can symbolically honour and recognize the diversity of mother tongues in Canada. I ask all senators to credit the influence of your native languages and to support this legislation.
Thank you, xie xie.
Is it your pleasure, honourable senators, to adopt the motion?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
(Motion agreed to and bill read third time and passed.)
