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Heritage Matters 6 © 2017 Ontario Tourism Marketing Partnership Corporation Emancipation Day is celebrated on August 1st each year to mark the abolition of slavery throughout the British Empire in 1834. Such commemorations and festivals provide a vibrant link to our intangible heritage, celebrating traditions of dance, music, song and storytelling and the connection of community to place. Children and youth compete for recognition. The Franco-Festival Thunder Bay, the Temagami Canoe Festival, the Muslim celebration of Eid, the Nawash Pow Wow, the Royal Winter Fair, the Dragon Boat Race Festival, Kitchener-Waterloo's Oktoberfest and so many more celebrations teach and carry forward expressions of cultural identity and also share those expressions with a broader public. The public attends in significant numbers to gain understanding of the original peoples of this land and the cultural mosaic that Canada has become. Language, too, is vital in its ability to convey history, to relate story, to distinguish world view and share values. If you lose language, you lose identity. In order to be preserved, language must be passed from generation to generation and in everyday use. When we communicate ideas in 140 characters and through emojis, how does that affect meaning – does it bring us together as it crosses traditional language boundaries or does it isolate us and drive us apart? The important role that language plays in carrying tradition and cultural identity has been underlined most recently by the work of the Truth & Reconciliation Commission, which identifies the serious threat of extinction of many of the almost 90 surviving Aboriginal languages in Canada. The TRC warns that "if the preservation of Aboriginal languages does not become a priority both for governments and for Aboriginal communities, then what the residential schools failed to accomplish will come about through a process of systematic neglect." The important work of programs at places like the Six Nations Polytechnic, Algonquin College and Willowbank School for Restoration Arts teach traditional skills and provide apprentice and mentoring opportunities. The Métis Nation of Ontario's Canoe Expedition, the Hodinohso:ni Ambassador Program at Six Nations Polytechnic, the Moose Cree Elder Project – in different ways all of these teach youth leaders to be advocates for their cultural heritage. These different fabrics weave together our living heritage, the intangible expressions of our culture. All are vital to our understanding of who we are, our connection to the land around us and our place in the universe. As you read through the articles that follow, I invite you to consider your own life, that of your family, your community. How is your heritage being carried forward to shape and inform the next generation? Are identity and intangible cultural expressions that are important to you protected, reflected in society, connected in vital ways to places of meaning in your life? If not, what's next? Beth Hanna is the CEO of the Ontario Heritage Trust.