See the original press release on the GALA Global blog.

Toronto, Ontario – Following in the footsteps of the Joint National Committee for Languages and Canadian Language Advocacy Day, the Global Coalition for Language Rights (GCLR) is coordinating a day of action on the global stage for February 22, 2022. Dubbed #GLAD22 or Global Language Advocacy Day 2022, this is a worldwide event coordinated by GCLR and is designed to inspire a change of attitudes, behaviors, and beliefs around language rights and linguistic justice.

The objectives of #GLAD22 are:

• To connect with public and private sector language industry organizations and language professionals and generate awareness about their work concerning language advocacy;
• To use the power of participation as ‘advocacy commitment’, pledging support for the cause, and creating a dialogue about language as a human right;
• To generate media buzz around the cause by reaching out and engaging governments, academia, tech, and public and private sector organizations.

Get involved!

Sign the #GLAD22 pledge, register your activity and commit. Your commitment can also be a continuation of your existing initiatives related to language rights and linguistic justice.

Organize an advocacy initiative!

• Create an alliance of individuals and organizations who share common objectives related to language rights and linguistic justice.
• Connect with your political representative(s) whose agenda includes, or has the potential to include, language rights and linguistic justice and talk to them about the issues that matter to you.
• Create an event to raise awareness about language rights and linguistic justice. Some ideas include: movie screening, panel discussion, free translation clinic, human library event introducing interpreters and translators, book launch, online gathering, mini-conference, poetry reading in minority languages.
• Link (and reschedule) your existing or already planned language rights and linguistic justice event to #GLAD22 on February 22, 2022.
• Publish and blog or vlog portraying language advocates from your part of the world and the work they do.
• Display the pledge and logo on your website prominently and promote #GLAD22.

There are many different ways that you can commit, and there are no minimum requirements to be able to successfully raise awareness and advocate for language rights and linguistic justice in your country.

For more information on Global Language Advocacy Day 2022 and how you can participate, visit: https://coalitionforlanguagerights.org/