SUMMARY OF OBSERVATIONS, LESSONS LEARNED AND RECOMMENDATIONS AT THE SYMPOSIUM (APRIL 30, 2018)

Indigenous Peoples of the world have contributed to humanity by bringing the importance of cultural and spiritual rights to the attention of the UN, legal frameworks, and humanity as a whole. [...] ● Racialization and discrimination continue to threaten the use and promotion of Indigenous languages; perhaps focus should shift from the duties of Indigenous Peoples to value and use their languages to the dominant society and changing the mindsets that perpetuate discrimination and judgement of Indigenous language speakers. [...] ● The establishment of immersion schools that have seen intergenerational success in revitalizing and passing on indigenous languages Symposium speakers emphasized that the vital force for the revitalization of Indigenous languages resides with the will of the Indigenous Peoples themselves. [...] Drawing from the standards of the UNDRIP, the Symposium stresses the importance of Indigenous languages in a) legal and judicial proceedings; b) the education system; and c) media. [...] ● In the education arena, efforts to build Indigenous education can use a framework that has come to be known as “The Epistemologies of the South”: respect for indigenous cognitive styles; respect for Indigenous forms of language and cultural transmission or local literacies, all in a spirit of autonomy and sovereignty.  ● Turning to the UN system, participants recommended that the UN’s Special Re.