B.C. Liberal MLA Mike Morris is questioning the province’s decision to put $50 million into preserving Indigenous languages. The former public safety minister says the province should instead be putting money toward more police officers in First Nations communities.
“We have people suffering every day from alcohol abuse, domestic violence, sexual abuse and preserving languages is a higher priority than putting that money into additional policing resources,” said Morris in the B.C. legislature. “From a risk management perspective, I think this really needs to be re-examined.”
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The provincial funding is for the preservation and revitalization of Indigenous languages across the province. Morris later clarified his comments outside the legislature, explaining it was a matter of priority and not an “either-or” issue.
“The language issue is important, but the violence against children and women is a far greater need out there,” he said in an interview.
But Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation Minister Scott Fraser says Morris’ comments are “ignorant” and “deeply concerning.” The money provided by the province, he said, honours a main recommendation in the Truth and Reconciliation report.
“Every community, every Indigenous organization I have met with expressed deep concern about the loss of the language,” Fraser said. “Having more police wherever you are is a reaction. It’s not addressing the root problem. Investing in a culture, in their pride, that’s part of the solution towards some of the key problems we see in First Nations communities.”
According to the B.C. government, there are less than 6,000 fluent speakers of Indigenous languages left in B.C. First Nations communities were forced to give up their languages as part of the country’s residential school programs.
That history leaves Saanich and the Islands Green MLA Adam Olsen troubled by Morris’ comments. Olsen, who was born and raised on Tsartlip First Nation in Brentwood Bay, says many First Nations communities have a distrust in police forces and that the issues of language and policing are vastly different.
“It is tone deaf,” Olson said. “When we are talking about the restoration of Indigenous languages, what we are talking about is investing in our culture of people. You can’t replace that with the addition of more police officers.”