Northwest Territories Literacy Council

The NWT has eleven official languages—nine of these are Aboriginal: Gwich’in, Inuktitut, Inuvialuktun, Inuinnaqtun, North Slavey, South Slavey, Tlicho, Chipewyan and Cree.  The health of these languages varies greatly, but most are endangered.

Our language is immensely important to us, because it symbolizes, in a very concrete way, the cultural group we belong to.  Language embodies culture:  we use it to define our world and make sense of it.  It shapes the way we look at the world, giving us our worldview.  We use language to transmit our culture and worldview from one generation to the next.  (Multiple Literacies, NWTLC)

The NWT Literacy Council’s mandate is to support literacy development in all the official languages of the NWT.  We have done this by working in partnerships with Aboriginal language groups to produce a variety of material in Aboriginal languages.  

You can:

• Develop Aboriginal language books and resources.
• Use storytelling in your program and community.
• Create fun games in your language and teach them to families.
• Develop Aboriginal language radio programs.
• Encourage local teachers, early childhood workers to speak to the children and young people in your language on the play ground and in the halls of the school.
• Develop posters with positive messages about speaking your Aboriginal language.
• Create a language committee that promotes culture and language in your community.
• Develop a plan for maintaining and/or revitalizing your Aboriginal language.
• Encourage parents to speak their language in the family.

No language is too hard for a child to learn. Children can easily learn more than one language or dialect at a time. A child can master up to 90% of a language in the first four years!

For many years, Aboriginal parents and educators were told that education in an Aboriginal language, whether through immersion or bilingual education, would be harmful to the children’s education. As linguists and specialists in education now know, the opposite is actually true.  Learning an Aboriginal language from an early age in the home, daycare, pre-school or community enhances the social, emotional and intellectual development as well as the academic achievement of children. 

Gwich’in
Manager of Language Programs
Gwich’in Social & Cultural Institute
P.O. Box 54
Fort McPherson, NT  X0E 0J0
Phone:  (867) 952-2377
Fax:  (867) 952-2433
Email:  wgfirth@learnnet.nt.ca

Inuvialuktun
Manager, Inuvialuit Cultural Resource Centre
292 Mackenzie Road
Bag Service 21
Inuvik, NT  X0E OT0
Phone:  (867) 777-2595
Fax:  (867) 678-2597
Email:  icrc@irc.inuvialuit.com

North Slavey
Executive Director
Sahtu Secretariat Inc.
P.O. Box 155
Deline, NT  X0E 0G0
Phone:  (867) 589-4719
Fax:  (867) 589-4908
Email:  Freda_Taniton@gov.deline.ca

South Slavey
Language Coordinator
Deh Cho First Nations
P.O. Box 89
Fort Simpson, NT  X0E 0N0
Phone:  (867) 695-2355
Fax:  (876) 695-2038
Email:  admin@dehcho.org

• Inuvialuit Regional Corporation
• Gwich’in Tribal Council
• Tlicho government