Steven Nitah, MLA, was Chair of the Special Committee on the Review of the OLA, which also included David Krutko, Roger T. Allen, Brendan Bell, and Michael McLeod.

The guiding questions of the Special Committee were: Do people understand the OLA; is the Act working to protect and preserve all of the official languages; are the needs of all of the OLs being met; what can be done to improve the Act?; and, what can be done to improve the delivery of language programs and services in the NWT? (4)

At the time of writing, the committee was still working and intended to publish a follow-up final report. The interim report goes over some general points about language revitalization, language history in the NWT, and the condition of NWT languages today. They suggest several directions for change and improvement, including greater accountability, a stronger role for the Languages Commissioner, curriculum development, teacher training, evaluation, improved funding, community support, and improved I/T training and services. They also suggest that the GWNT “make one government body or agency accountable for the Act” (8), to prevent diffusion of responsibility.

Access this Resource:

Read this report on the Canadian Parliamentary Review website.

Nitah, Steven. “One Land—Many Voices: Report of the NWT Special Committee on the Review of the Official Languages Act.” Canadian Parliamentary Review Autumn 2002 (2002): 4-9.