Scottish Gaelic in Cape Breton - Reversing the Decline

Dr. Emily McEwan-Fujita, a Research Associate at the Gosebrook Research Insitute for Atlantic Canada Studies at Saint May's University in Nova Scotia, has published a study on the history, current state and on-going efforts to reverse the decline of the Scots Gaelic language in the Candian Province of Nova Scotia. The article is entitled "Gaelic Revitalization Efforts in Nova Scotia: Reversing Language Shift in the 21st Century" and will appear in an upcoming publication "Celts in the America's", edited by Michael Newton. The article details the efforts under way to "revitalise" the Scottish tongue in Nova Scotia.

From the article we are given the following: " Scottish immigrants and their ancestors have ben been speaking Gaelic in Nova Scotia since the last quarter of the 18th century.  Scottish Gaelic speakers began immigrating to Nova Scotia in the last quarter of the 18th century; the main period of immigration lasted 1740-1820.  They came over largely in chain migration of families and entire communities, adapting to the New World while maintaining and developing their culture and oral traditions through the twentieth century."  

Dr. James McKillop, former Visiting Fellow in Celtic Languages at Harvard University, decribes Scottish immigration to Nova Scotia in his 2005 book "Myths and Legends of the Celts: "Large numbers of impoverished, landless Gaelic-speaking Highlanders were settled there (Nova Scotia). They came from the former shires of Inverness, Argyll and Ross, both the Mainland and the Hebrides Islands. Some were victims of the Clearances. Official disdain (Provincial Government) helped suppress the language until late twentieth century when most native speakers had died off." 

http://academia.edu/3300840/Gaelic_Revitalization_Efforts_in_Nova_Scotia_Reversing

http://www.smu.ca/administration/gorsebrook