Editing Michif (section)

=== Loss of language ===
In 2011, Statistics Canada reported 640 Michif speakers located mainly in Saskatchewan (40.6%), Manitoba (26.6%), and Alberta (11.7%). In the cross-reference provided by Statistics Canada, it is shown that of these 640 speakers, only 30 are below 24 years of age. Furthermore, only 85 people declared Michif to be their main home language (45 their sole language); and of these, 65 were 50 or older. Unfortunately, these numbers do not reflect the actual number of speakers of the mixed variety of Michif in Canada, since the statistical survey did not differentiate between regional differences, including Michif Cree, Michif French, or mixed Michif.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mazzoli |first=Maria |title=Challenges and opportunities for collaborative language research: The Michif case study. |journal=Journal of Postcolonial Linguistics}}</ref>

In 2021, the number of Michif speakers in Canada was reported to be 1,845. However, the number of fluent Michif speakers is estimated at fewer than 1,000.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Michif |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/michif |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210411025550/https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/michif |archive-date=2021-04-11 |access-date=2024-04-15 |website=www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca |language=en}}</ref> It was probably double or triple this number at the close of the 19th century, but never much higher. Currently, Michif is spoken in scattered Métis communities in the [[Canadian Prairies|Canadian prairie provinces]] of [[Saskatchewan]], [[Manitoba]], and [[Alberta]], and in [[North Dakota]] in the U.S.. There are about 50 speakers in [[Alberta]], all over age 60.<ref>{{cite news |last=Ma |first=Kevin |date=2013-03-13 |title=Researcher digs into near-extinct Métis language |url=http://www.stalbertgazette.com/article/20130313/SAG0801/303139972/-1/sag0801/local-researcher-digs-into-near-extinct-m-tis-language |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303221036/http://www.stalbertgazette.com/article/20130313/SAG0801/303139972/-1/sag0801/local-researcher-digs-into-near-extinct-m-tis-language |archive-date=2016-03-03 |access-date=2013-03-24 |work=St. Albert Gazette}}</ref> There are some 230 speakers of Michif in the United States (down from 390 at the 1990 census),<ref>{{Cite web |title=Michif |url=https://www.ethnologue.com/language/crg |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210309141102/https://www.ethnologue.com/language/CRG |archive-date=2021-03-09 |access-date=2021-02-13 |website=Ethnologue}}</ref> most of whom live in North Dakota, particularly in the [[Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Data Center States Results<!-- Bot generated title --> |url=http://www.mla.org/map_data_states%26mode%3Dlang_tops%26lang_id%3D816 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110522224016/http://www.mla.org/map_data_states%26mode%3Dlang_tops%26lang_id%3D816 |archive-date=2011-05-22 |access-date=2020-04-02}}</ref> There are around 300 Michif speakers in the [[Northwest Territories]], northern [[Canada]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Fort Smith man wants Michif made an official language of N.W.T. |url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/michif-metis-nwt-official-language-1.3475320 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211031115051/https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/michif-metis-nwt-official-language-1.3475320 |archive-date=2021-10-31 |access-date=2021-11-30 |website=Cbc.ca}}</ref>

In Metis communities’, there has been a clear shift towards the European languages. Today, all Michif speakers are also fluent (if not dominant) in English, and Metis adult and youth speak English (or French and English) as their first language(s).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mazzoli |first=Maria |date=2019 |title=Michif loss and resistance in four Metis communities. Kahkiyaw mashchineenaan,“All of us are disappearing as in a plague” |journal=Zeitschrift für Kanada-Studien |pages=96–117 |via=Google Scholar}}</ref> The reason why Michif has so few speakers and is in need of active revitalization efforts is a direct result of [[Colonization of Canada|colonization]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Tricia Logan |date=2015 |title=Settler colonialism in Canada and the Métis |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/14623528.2015.1096589 |url-status=live |journal=Journal of Genocide Research |volume=17 |issue=4 |pages=433–452 |doi=10.1080/14623528.2015.1096589 |s2cid=74114618 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240526093625/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14623528.2015.1096589 |archive-date=2024-05-26 |access-date=2023-06-23}}</ref> Judy Iseke, an Albertan Metis scholar, argues that “language shift towards English and other colonial languages in Indigenous communities was not a ‘natural’ process but rather was a shift towards the decline of Indigenous languages, propelled by colonial schooling designed to ‘civilize’ Indigenous children and turn them into citizens conforming to 'white' standards."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Iseke |first=Judy M. |date=2013 |title=Negotiating Métis culture in Michif: disrupting Indigenous language shift. |journal=Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society |volume=2 |issue=2}}</ref>