ABSTRACT
Indigenous people, who have been stewards of the land since time immemorial, pose a threat to the security of the settler colonial project. In Canada, one strategy to eliminate this threat is cultural genocide through assimilation. Assimilation requires the disruption of the intergenerational transmission of Indigenous cultures and traditions. This disruption may be accomplished through efforts toward linguicide enacted in school settings. Linguicidal efforts are apparent in the history of the Indian residential school system, but they also persist into the present day. This chapter investigates how the tactics of linguicide have changed over time and what those tactics look like today. Findings demonstrate a shift in tactics from coercive violence to acculturation to subtractive language learning in integrated schools. The reproduction of linguicide in contemporary school curricula and the lack of government commitment to Indigenous language revitalization indicate that linguicide is an ongoing state project in Canada.
