Lost Language of Canada

As you know, I love the Welsh language. Last month I was looking into taking some classes related to Welsh history and language. My mom ~ the practical voice of reason ~ asked what I could do with that schooling job-wise. There are actually several organizations/societies in North America dedicated to Welsh history and language, and so I suppose there could possibly be some kind of opportunities there; but I'm not 100% sure. Anyway, I decided to nix the idea of taking formal Welsh courses, and started thinking of what I could study that was similar (since that's such an area of interest for me), but that had roots in Canada. And that's when I came across Scottish Gaelic. I've always loved what I thought was a typical Celtic language spoken in Ireland ~ Gaelic. When I was younger I absolutely loved The Rankin Family, and all of their albums had at least one or two songs sung in Gaelic. I always assumed their ancestry must have been Irish; in fact, I thought the Gaelic of Nova Scotia was all rooted back from Ireland. Well, I was wrong! Canadian Gaelic is not Irish at all ~ it's Scottish Gaelic, and it was once the 3rd most spoken language in Canada (after English and French). Now it is a dying language; though there are lots of people out there doing what they can to keep it alive.

I did some research about it on my own for fun and it was really interesting to read about the history of the language, and the people. I'm amazed sometimes at how diverse Canada is, and how much different history is found throughout the country.
Reading about this, I learned quite a bit, and thought I'd quickly blog some of what I learned.

First off, there's a few names for this "branch" of Gaelic ~ Scottish Gaelic (Gàidhlig): a Celtic language native to Scotland; Canadian Gaelic or Cape Breton Gaelic (Gàidhlig Chanada, A' Ghàidhlig Chanèideanach, Gàidhlig Cheap Bhreatainn): dialects of Scottish Gaelic that have been spoken continuously for more than 200 years on Cape Breton Island and in isolated enclaves on the Nova Scotia mainland.
The second (Canadian/Cape Breton Gaelic) is locally just called Gaelic, and along with Nova Scotia, it is also (to a lesser extent) spoken on Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Ontario (Glengarry, Stormont, Bruce and Grey Counties), The Red River Valley, Assiniboia, and by Gaels living in Toronto.

Gaelic was at its peak in the 19th Century in Canada. By 1850 it was the third most-common mother tongue in British North America and was believed to have been spoken by more than 200,000 British North Americans at that time. And at the time of Confederation in 1867 the most common mother tongue among the Fathers of Confederation was Gaelic.

Unfortunately, after 1850 the fluent population of Gaelic in Canada started to decline. The decline was a result of prejudice, aggressive dissuasion in school and government, and the perceived prestige of English. When a politician (Thomas Robert McInnes) proposed a Gaelic bill, a Senator said that the Gaelic language was only "well suited to poetry and fairy tales," and it was a growing phenomenon to shun the language. Then, with the outbreak of WWII, the Canadian government attempted to prevent the use of Gaelic on public telecommunication systems. The government believed Gaelic was used by subversives affiliated with Ireland ~ a neutral country perceived by some to be tacit supporters of the Nazis. In PEI and Cape Breton where the Gaelic language was the strongest, it was actively discouraged in schools with corporal punishment. Children were beaten with the "maide-crochaidh" (hanging stick) if caught speaking Gaelic.

Job opportunities were then few and restricted to the dwindling Gaelic-communities, compelling most Gaels into the mines or the fishery. Many saw English fluency as the key to success, and for the first time in Canadian history Gaelic-speaking parents were teaching their children to speak English en masse. 

The sudden stop of Gaelic intergenerational transmission, caused by shame and prejudice, was the immediate cause of the drastic decline in Gaelic fluency in the 20th century. 

There are no longer entire communities of Canadian Gaelic-speakers, although the language is relatively commonplace in the afore mentioned places in Canada. And in the past twenty years interest in the language has grown considerably. In the government there have been concrete steps taken to recognize the language's decline and to reverse this trend. There was a report done called "The Gaelic Preservation Strategy" in relation to this. And most recently ~ and the most significant step initiated by the government ~ there has been created the Oifis Iomairtean na Gàidhlig (Office of Gaelic Affairs), which is a provincial department charged with promoting and engaging the province's Gaelic-speaking community.

Additionally, over a dozen public institutions in Canada offer Gaelic courses ~ to learn the language, and also offer courses such as Canadian History taught in Gaelic.

Pretty neat eh? I had no idea Canada had such a language in its history; and not just history, but is being revived today. I can't help but find that fascinating!