Deline chief wants North Slavey to be language of community government

New powers may give Deline, N.W.T., a new tool in the struggle to keep its language alive.

Deline becomes a self-governing community in September andChief Leonard Kenny wants to propose a law requiring North Slavey to be spoken inthe new Deline Gotine Government.

"If you work in the offices and stuff like that or work with the government, you can pass a law that says you have to speak the language, or use it, or you have to learn it, or make sure that it's used at your meetings," he said.

The newDelinegovernment will be funded by the federal and territorial government andwill deliver services such as health care, education and housing to its roughly 650 members. It will also have the authority to collect income tax from people inDelineor on Settlement Lands.

Kenny did not specify exactly what or who would be covered by the law or how much of the language government employees would need to speak.

He says about70 per cent of the community speaks North Slavey andthat number is dropping due to outside English-speaking influences.

"I think it's due to a lot of things like the media, radio, their iPhones that they carry around, televisions. Everything you do today is technology. And all of it is English."

Kenny said he would like to put forth the suggestion after self-government comes into effect on Sept.1.