As early as 1998, the Chiefs mandated the AFNQL to defend our languages and cultures—an issue further complicated by inadequate funding from governments. Over the years, several resolutions have reaffirmed this priority and strengthened a commitment that has never wavered.
In 2023, the Chiefs established the Regional Committee on Ancestral Languages (RCAL), followed in 2024 by the adoption of the Declaration on First Nations Rights to Ancestral Languages.
Today, while many of our languages are in a critical state, the AFNQL continues its work to ensure their survival, their transmission, and the flourishing of our cultures.
Our languages and cultures are not folklore; they carry our ways of being and determine our relationship with the world.
Throughout the years, the Chiefs have established organizations that support the AFNQL in this fundamental mandate. The Regional Committee on Ancestral Languages coordinates, advises, and mobilizes First Nations to protect, revitalize, and promote their ancestral languages at a regional level.
For its part, the Tshakapesh Institute, founded in 1978 and thus established before the AFNQL, works specifically in service to the Innu Nation by supporting, developing, and promoting culture, language, and the arts, to ensure their transmission, vitality, and influence.
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