Vancouver grants $75k for language revitalization amid cost concerns

(Image courtesy of CBC)

Last month, the City of Vancouver announced that it was awarding $75,000 towards Indigenous language revitalization. This was part of a broader $1.18 million package by the city to “advance cultural vitality, equity and [r]econciliation” and includes grants towards Cultural Equity and Accessibility Funding, Cultural Indigenous Funding, cultural redress commitments, among many other areas in the realm of arts and culture.

"Arts and culture are essential to Vancouver’s identity and quality of life, especially as we work to build a more fun, exciting and vibrant city,” said Mayor Ken Sim. “These grants reflect our ongoing commitment to sustaining cultural programs and spaces so that creativity and community can thrive."

Tens of millions provincially have been distributed

Looking at the council report outlining the full expenditures dated December 10, 2025, the $75,000 was distributed evenly to the Tsleil-Waututh Nation, Squamish Nation, and Musqueam Indian Band. The stated purpose in the document was to “support self-determined language revitalization priorities.”

The funding joins provincial efforts towards Indigenous language revitalization, with BC in 2018 granting $50 million to the First Peoples’ Cultural Council (FPCC) to help revitalize Indigenous languages in British Columbia.

According to a 2018 FPCC fact sheet, there were 13,997 active learners of Indigenous languages. A 2022 FPCC fact sheet shows that this number increased to 17,103 over the following four years. In effect, approximately $50 million in government funding resulted in 3,106 additional learners, an average cost of $16,098 per learner.

According to the Tsleil-Waututh Nation’s webpage for its language revitalization program, the stated goal is to develop “five fluent, proficient second-language speakers” of the Tsleil-Waututh language (commonly known as hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓). Based on available funding figures, this would amount to a minimum expenditure of approximately $5,000 per fluent speaker by the City of Vancouver. The program reports having “three community members who are mid to high-level conversant speakers” and “four language interns who are beginning to mid-level conversant speakers.” Coastal Front also contacted the Squamish Nation and the Musqueam Indian Band for comparable information, but had not received responses at the time of publication.

The federal government has also awarded language revitalization grants to Indigenous groups, with the Métis Nation of Alberta among the largest recipients.

Information courtesy of the Government of Canada.

Outcomes not clearly defined

Together, municipal, provincial, and federal governments continue to fund Indigenous language revitalization through a mix of targeted grants and broader cultural funding programs. While these investments have supported the expansion of language programming, publicly available data on outcomes and cost-effectiveness remains limited.