March 31, 2026
Across the country, Indigenous Peoples are continuing to stand their languages up in their rightful places on their homelands. Our languages carry within them our traditional knowledges and distinct worldviews, which connect us to our homelands, each other, and our shared responsibilities. Each language spoken in classrooms, in homes, and on the land reconnects us to our ancestors and to the future.
Today on National Indigenous Languages Day, the Office of the Commissioner of Indigenous Languages is proud to celebrate and contribute to the ongoing language revitalization efforts of Indigenous Peoples by sharing its Fluency and Immersion Teacher Education Roadmap. Part of the broader national Fluency and Immersion Teacher Education Initiative, the Roadmap outlines the conditions required for transformative changes, so that Indigenous languages are on equal footing with other subjects and are meaningfully implemented as teachable subjects.
The Roadmap identifies pathways to educate, train, certify, and accredit immersion teachers, with the goal of supporting Indigenous Peoples in building a critical mass of speakers. It fundamentally reflects what the Commission heard from Indigenous Peoples through a series of engagement sessions across the country: to centre the creation of accredited and certified immersion teachers as the foundation for producing as many fluent and proficient Indigenous language speakers as possible.
“The vision that guides this work is clear: fluency and proficiency are the heartbeat of revitalization. Without fluent speakers, there can be no teachers. Without teachers, there can be no new speakers. This initiative is about rebuilding the intergenerational transmission of knowledges, because our languages are a collective right, and as such, they call for a united, collective response.”
-Commissioner Stsmel’qen Ronald E. Ignace
Read the Full Report
More details about the Fluency and Immersion Teacher Education Initiative will be made available soon on commissionforindigenouslanguages.ca