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Living language

It wasn’t too long ago that Canada’s Indigenous children were beaten, discriminated against and abused for speaking their traditional languages. Now, at one St.

It wasn’t too long ago that Canada’s Indigenous children were beaten, discriminated against and abused for speaking their traditional languages.

Now, at one St. Albert school and one organization, students are embracing opportunities to learn about Indigenous language and culture.

Initiatives like those happening at Sir George Simpson School and St. Albert Further Education are an important step on the long road to reconciliation. Last year and this year, some Simpson students have been learning about First Nations culture and the Cree language in particular through the Iskwes Ohcaskihk (Girl of the Earth) club, which meets most Wednesdays.

Instructor Laura Auger told the Gazette Cree is one of the strongest Indigenous languages in Canada: “Our values are embedded in the language,” she said.

Language is often described as a living thing, and language and culture cannot be separated. That’s as true for Indigenous languages as it is for English and French. As students study the nuts and bolts of alphabet, grammar and sentence structure, they inevitably open themselves up to the culture that germinated and cultivated that language. That’s evident through this club, where the two intersect through traditional Indigenous crafts.

Student Ella Hagen, who joined the club to learn more about her Métis roots, said it best: "I feel like I’m part of a community.”

That is the power of language and culture, and clubs and courses provide an avenue for people who otherwise may not have the opportunity to learn.

The club at Simpson came about in part because of a powwow singers and drum group aimed at boys. That group, too, plays a vital role in teaching this generation of Indigenous youths they no longer have to feel the shame about Indigenous ancestry that their forebears were made to feel – and in teaching non-Indigenous youths about cultures that were once shunned.

Meanwhile, at St. Albert Further Education – which also offers a Cree language and culture class – instructor Graham Andrews is bringing Michif to St. Albertans.

As the traditional language of the Métis, Michif is spoken by vanishingly few Canadians, thanks in large part to the impacts of residential schooling, but Andrews believes it could be coming back.

St. Albert Further Education executive director Cheryl Dumont says the language course is a way for her organization to help implement the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 94 calls to action, many of which involve language and culture.

Some Indigenous languages are often described as dying, endangered or extinct. But these courses and groups show that’s not entirely true. Despite the best efforts of residential schools and country leaders at the time, these languages survived – and as Andrews says, “Language is culture ... This is who we are.”

Whether your goal is to learn the language of your grandparents or to learn about a culture you have never experienced, these courses are a way to do that. These efforts will hopefully continue to spread and be picked up by other organizations in the future.

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