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[Music]

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I'm fascinated with the way language

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is central to our world view [br]as indigenous people.

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I'm a Naheo artist and curator living on[br]Lekwungen territory in Victoria, BC.

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My personal research centers [br]around language revitalization

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and how it connects us[br]to our cultures and lands.

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Over the past few years I've been [br]on a journey to learn

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the Cree language.

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It's been a challenging and [br]incredibly rewarding experience.

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Now I want to travel to Alberta, [br]where my ancestors are from

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to discover the ways that [br]different communities

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are revitalizing their languages.

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My mother and I both grew up [br]not knowing anything

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about our Cree family because [br]she was adopted out at birth

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as part of the '60s scoop.

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Twelve years ago, [br]we met our Cree family,

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and since then I have been

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in a process of connecting [br]with the community

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in Wabasca, Alberta, [br]the place where my kokum,

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my grandmother Florence, [br]was born.

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I recently met Nora Yellowmee,[br]an administrator

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at the local school,[br]Oski Pskiknowew Kamik.

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After realizing that we [br]were second cousins

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she offered to help[br]me learn about my family tree.

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(Nora) You have your grandmother, [br]Florence.

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and her mother is Isabelle, and then,

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I'm here. And your [br]grandmother. And your mom.

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(Narrator) Um, Fancine.

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(Nora) Your first cousins or

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second cousins.[br](Narrator) Ok.

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(Nora) And you're down here.[br](Narrator) I'm down there.

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Yeah, this is more than,

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a lot more than I knew before [br]I met you, before I came up.

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(Nora) Yea, that's Isabelle.

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Nohkom Isabelle.

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(Narrator) This means a lot to me [br]to see this.

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Again, um, because[br]the more that I see it the more that I

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hear about this, and [br]talk about it

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it's going to stick and [br]I know

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I'll understand more and [br]know more through that process

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(Nora) My dream for the language here,

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starting with the school, is to have

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our people who speak [br]the language, speak it

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everyday, because we are not getting that.

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There are many Cree speakers working here,

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but they are not speaking it.

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For people, the young families now[br]the young mothers

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speak Cree to their children

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and all the rest of it all follow.

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Seeing a photo of my kukom Florence

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as a young woman created a sense of [br]healing and re-connection

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after feeling disconnected [br]for most of my life

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Knowing more about my family's history

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has allowed me to connect [br]deeper with my ancestors

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There is so much more to discover

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but, like learning the language,

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this will take time.

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The Kapaskwatinak [br]Cultural Education Center

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is a place for the Children of Wabaska

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to connect to the land and their culture.

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Knowledge Keeper Lorraine Cardinal

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helps guide the children [br]through land based education

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including coming of age ceremonies.

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I'm excited to learn about these teachings

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since I didn't have the opportunities [br]to experience them

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Growing up disconnected[br]from community and family.

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The reason that I do these things,

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like the coming of age because

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it's also my responsibility [br]as a Naheo School

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to protect the children,

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creator's children. [br]And when I'm protecting creator's children

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we need to teach them those protocols.

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We need to teach those values.

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They need to know them so that they don't

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end up getting hurt in the future.

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And that shame of our language

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and who we are, and our ceremonial ways.

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Losing those has caused big destruction

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in our communities

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Because our children, [br]as they're growing up,

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they know who they are,

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they came with the gift [br]of knowing who they are.

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I have a responsibility to [br]pass those teachings

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on to other children too,

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because they will experiment, [br]they will explore

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and we want to prevent them

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from hurting each other or [br]hurting themselves, right?

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(Singing and drums)

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(Lorraine) They call that [br]oskeskwew (?) oskinîkiskwew (?)

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young manhood and young womanhood.

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I want to thank you and honor you for

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coming into this world.

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You are a blessing to us.

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We are so very honored to have you

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as part of us, Naheo school.

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Always remember to hold your head up, [br]don't be ashamed

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and always accept yourself for who you are

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and honor those gifts you brought with you

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And welcome into womanhood

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Welcome.

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It truly is a blessing [br]and an honor to have you

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as a young Naheo iskwew (?),

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A young Naheo woman. Welcome.

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(children talking)

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(Lorraine) Somehow, someway

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fear got instilled in us [br]as indigenous people.

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Shame got instilled in us [br]as indigenous people.

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Our children, what they [br]experienced here today

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taught them how sacred they are,

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how important they are,

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how beautiful they are and that

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they're not just [br]beautiful in physical form.

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that they're beautiful [br]in spiritual form too.

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All we need to do is believe in them,

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to love them, and to tell them that

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they're important [br]and they'll start feeling

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good about themselves.

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I'm proud of them. [br]Their spirit is still alive and well.

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(Narrator) What do you see being [br]the way forward

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so that these young ones in the[br]community

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can not only understand the language

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and its relationship to their spirit

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and their relationship, to the land

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and each other and themselves,

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but be speaking it? [br]How do you feel about

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the future of the language in these

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next generations to come?

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We have to believe in ourselves [br]to be able to do it

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and we need to set our goal

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and if it's revitalizing the language, [br]then let's do that.

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How did we learn Cree?

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We learnt it sitting around [br]with the old people,

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visiting each other and

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our parents speaking to us, you know?

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So we can get it back. [br]We just need to do it.

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John Bigstone is a Wabiskaw elder

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who carries vast spiritual and[br]ceremonial knowledge

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He invited me to the land where [br]he holds sweat lodge ceremonies

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to share teachings about the spirit[br]within our languages.

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[Music]

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[inhales deeply]

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It clears your mind when [br]you breathe in this smudge

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English language is inadequate

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if you're going to describe spirit.

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Anything of spirit.

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Its inadequate.

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They named it according to their[br]connection to that plant.

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because they spoke to the plant

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They had a connection.

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They had a connection to all of life.

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They understood their environment.

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They understood that everything was alive,

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and your spirtit has a connection [br]with that spirit

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of mother earth, and everything[br]that grows on her body.

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Prior to contact, everything was[br]described in a more spiritual way.

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Mitos (?) you know, [br]has a spiritual meaning.

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Sifta (?) as in spiritual meaning[br]that's the poplar and the spruce.

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(...?) coming back to the language where [br]our families have had these interruptions

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of residential school, the 60s' scoop

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I'm curious what your thoughts are about[br]those of us with this blood in us

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and whose ancestors have [br]spoken the language

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and whether you think that [br]we have it inside of us

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just waiting to come out,

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this bone memory or blood memory[br]of the language.

0:11:12.060,0:11:14.072
Yeah, it's in yur DNA.

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It's programmed in there already.

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You just have to wake up that programming.

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That's why you're here.[br]See?

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It's that programming, [br]and your spirit guide -

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you've got to remember there's [br]a spiritual aspect to this

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You're never alone. [br]You never walk alone,

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your ancestors, your Cree [br]ancestors, walk with you,

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they're assigned to you to guide you[br]where you need to be

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That's the beauty if this [br]understanding of spirit

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It happens in spirit

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We are the result of spirit in action.[br]We become material.

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That's a deeper teaching.

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But the reality is (that) everyone of us[br]have spirit guides around us.

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I was on kind of a lost path[br]before I found my way to my first lodge.

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And it's interesting to think of these

0:12:16.402,0:12:21.701
European modalities or academic [br]ways of describing

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how things are working.

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And the way that I explain it to people is

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I don't know how it's working,[br]I just know it is working for me.

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And it's not something I'm trying [br]to figure out up here ,

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I just know it's working[br]down here.

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And I think it has connected [br]my heart and my spirit

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in ways that weren't happening before.

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When I say a prayer [br]in the social gathering,

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I say it in Cree

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because it's an insult to my ancestors[br]if I pray in English.

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It's the very thing [br]that oppressed me as a child.

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I can't do that.

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I have to speak and pray in Cree.

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That's what I do and [br]I explain, you know, why.

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Because I'm not praying to the people.

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I'm praying to the spirits [br]that are guiding me.

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They don't have to understand [br]what I'm saying.

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Because as long as a spirit hears, [br]the Spirit will come.

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And they understand my language,[br]the Cree language.

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Once I identify myself, they say,

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"Huh, our grandson is playing. [br]Let's go support him."

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That's the beauty of our language.

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What happened to our language --

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came from the time of [br]the residence in school,

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the first time it was introduced, --

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not only the Cree[br]but the many tribes themselves.

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When they took away the children, --

0:14:09.843,0:14:12.573
they took the children away[br]from the land, --

0:14:14.605,0:14:17.636
the language, their ancestors,

0:14:17.705,0:14:19.573
their grandfathers, their grandmothers,

0:14:19.573,0:14:23.803
their teachers, their parents, [br]their aunts and uncles.

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That's when the separation happened.

0:14:28.677,0:14:30.577
They broke that connection.

0:14:30.659,0:14:33.746
So when he took us away, --

0:14:35.171,0:14:38.192
they severed that connection [br]to all of those things.

0:14:38.473,0:14:42.496
We were taught a foreign way of thinking.

0:14:42.748,0:14:44.993
I was programmed as a child.

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Now, I have to deprogram myself, [br]sometimes referred to as decolonization,

0:14:50.252,0:14:53.049
as they gave us that colonized mentality.

0:14:53.290,0:14:59.757
And it just did not fit with our paradigm,[br]how we saw our place in creation.

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At some point, somebody's got to wake up.

0:15:04.415,0:15:07.475
One day, you've got to say,[br]"Hey, there's something wrong here."

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This is the time.

0:15:09.712,0:15:10.915
That's why we're here.

0:15:11.391,0:15:12.839
To wake the people up.

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To wake ourselves up.

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Still be the guiding light, you know.

0:15:20.342,0:15:22.236
There is a different way.

0:15:22.236,0:15:24.303
So, it's about connection.

0:15:24.445,0:15:26.156
That's what was severed --

0:15:27.218,0:15:29.422
in the time of the residential school.

0:15:30.211,0:15:34.089
We lost connection to our spirit.

0:15:34.307,0:15:39.400
It replaced the creator [br]outside of us instead of in here.

0:15:40.600,0:15:42.843
We're trying to mend that rift.

0:15:45.012,0:15:46.324
That's what you're doing.

0:15:46.324,0:15:48.262
That rift that was caught;

0:15:48.633,0:15:53.486
you are the stitch that is bringing [br]those two worldviews --

0:15:55.143,0:16:00.096
but to where they start [br]respecting our way,

0:16:00.834,0:16:02.116
the Cree way.

0:16:03.404,0:16:06.340
When you have love, when you feel love --

0:16:07.821,0:16:12.328
and somebody tells you something [br]that your spirit is looking to hear

0:16:12.489,0:16:14.242
like, "Welcome home."

0:16:14.242,0:16:15.830
Where do you feel it?

0:16:16.399,0:16:19.227
Right here. You're connecting.

0:16:19.505,0:16:21.834
You'll always have[br]that sense of belonging --

0:16:22.437,0:16:25.036
because you come home. Yeah.

0:16:25.875,0:16:28.317
So once you come home, [br]you know where to come

0:16:28.317,0:16:30.596
next time you're out there, wandering, --

0:16:30.929,0:16:34.522
you have a connection there.

0:16:34.626,0:16:37.263
You've made some connections already here.

0:16:38.782,0:16:40.365
You're no longer disconnected.

0:16:41.944,0:16:45.368
I left my conversation with John [br]feeling like I belong

0:16:45.720,0:16:47.764
in a way that I've never felt before.

0:16:48.794,0:16:50.816
It was an incredibly [br]powerful experience

0:16:50.816,0:16:54.032
that made me feel more [br]connected to my spirit.

0:16:57.835,0:17:02.606
Tell me again, like, [br]your family story with Wabasca.

0:17:02.830,0:17:06.280
My mother grew up there, [br]my father grew up in Grouard, --

0:17:07.304,0:17:08.430
a couple hours away,

0:17:08.430,0:17:11.066
and she didn't want[br]to raise me on the reserve.

0:17:11.197,0:17:13.963
So as soon as they found out [br]about me, they moved away.

0:17:14.254,0:17:16.355
And when we move to Edmonton,[br]through the teen years,

0:17:16.355,0:17:19.446
through my adult years, that's when [br]the reconnection really started to happen,

0:17:19.446,0:17:20.948
going home more happen.

0:17:21.075,0:17:25.332
Before that, I would only visit, [br]like, holidays, few times a year.

0:17:27.167,0:17:32.262
Dusty Legrand is the creator of[br]the clothing label Mobilize Waskawēwin.

0:17:32.662,0:17:36.387
Using the ancient writing system[br]of Cree syllabics and his designs,

0:17:36.579,0:17:39.378
he's making the language [br]visible to a new generation.

0:17:42.066,0:17:43.815
Yeah, so this was the --

0:17:45.793,0:17:47.471
- it has the -- [br]- Oh yeah,

0:17:47.471,0:17:51.227
the different languages, [br]tribes of the north.

0:17:51.672,0:17:53.333
Yeah, it tells the story of --

0:17:53.882,0:17:55.759
a bunch of people. [br]And it was really special to hear, like,

0:17:55.759,0:17:58.623
the feedback from different people[br]that had never seen

0:17:58.623,0:18:01.055
their nation represented on a ....

0:18:01.288,0:18:04.739
There were certain people that;[br]this was like their first time.

0:18:04.739,0:18:08.200
They're like, "I'm just buying this just because[br]I've never seen my nation represented."

0:18:08.200,0:18:12.206
Yeah, then I put revolution down the arm [br]just to let them know what's going on.

0:18:12.206,0:18:13.303
[Laughs]

0:18:14.104,0:18:15.782
I've been always wanting [br]to create a clothing brand.

0:18:15.782,0:18:19.507
So to be able to create something that [br]can empower indigenous youth

0:18:19.507,0:18:22.749
and educate them [br]on the indigenous history,

0:18:22.749,0:18:27.300
on the future, on values [br]and what it means to be indigenous.

0:18:28.998,0:18:32.833
So Mobilize was a way that [br]I could give voice to the voiceless.

0:18:33.130,0:18:34.856
I could give a voice to the youth.

0:18:35.017,0:18:37.884
To do it in a different way [br]than I had seen being done, --

0:18:38.481,0:18:39.899
it was very important to me.

0:18:39.971,0:18:41.995
To do it completely different,

0:18:41.995,0:18:45.399
to represent the funky people, [br]to represent the different people,

0:18:45.399,0:18:48.628
to represent everybody [br]that's ostracized that way

0:18:48.628,0:18:51.695
and especially as indigenous people,[br]like, that's been done to us.

0:18:52.786,0:18:53.725
Okay.

0:18:53.725,0:18:58.963
So this is the first drawing of this shirt.

0:18:59.109,0:19:02.390
So, a lot of, like, the pieces will come,

0:19:02.390,0:19:04.743
and they'll come at certain times, [br]when I'm driving,

0:19:04.743,0:19:06.437
when I'm listening to certain things.

0:19:06.676,0:19:09.125
And they'll come and if I don't write it[br]the way it's supposed to be,

0:19:09.125,0:19:10.634
the idea won't stay.

0:19:11.266,0:19:14.334
I want to try to encompass all of Canada

0:19:14.334,0:19:17.218
and I'm gonna try to reach[br]as many as I can.

0:19:17.218,0:19:20.156
So for me this was like a lot of studying,

0:19:20.156,0:19:24.849
a lot of research to try to see [br]as far east as I could go

0:19:24.849,0:19:26.717
and see what nations are there.

0:19:27.073,0:19:29.247
And that's what is special[br]about the language I find.

0:19:29.247,0:19:36.206
It's that the stories, and the purpose, [br]and everything exists within the language.

0:19:36.206,0:19:38.695
That's in kind of a place [br]that it's been locked.

0:19:38.695,0:19:41.445
And it remains, and even though --

0:19:41.833,0:19:44.450
the assimilation [br]has taken a lot of, like, --

0:19:44.647,0:19:49.350
our connection to community,[br]our ceremonies, our practices.

0:19:49.350,0:19:51.457
The language has kept all of that.

0:19:52.395,0:19:54.138
How did you get the Cree word?

0:19:54.138,0:19:58.103
Yes, well, the Cree word is [br]on the back of this one here.

0:19:58.297,0:19:59.103
Okay.

0:20:00.270,0:20:03.817
So I just keep it as like <i>Mobilize</i>[br]is the English version

0:20:03.817,0:20:05.310
and then <i>Waskawēwin</i>,

0:20:05.648,0:20:09.536
which is the Cree word for movement,[br]is the Cree element that comes in.

0:20:11.074,0:20:14.631
Mobilize didn't have a translation.

0:20:15.141,0:20:18.228
But I also didn't want to [br]just translate mobilize,

0:20:18.228,0:20:21.784
I wanted to use movement [br]as the word.

0:20:22.308,0:20:34.557
So one thing that I really liked about the word was Kui when was was the the presence of the triangular symbols and for me he's represented like two teepees and represented the tribe that way.

0:20:34.786,0:20:43.178
Being apart of Reubens class was really special to understand the fundamentals of and to learn the history of the star chart and to learn the history of syllabics.

0:20:43.710,0:20:49.757
And yeah I was like learning indigenous history through the through the spirit mechanism that's a it was really special.

0:20:49.918,0:21:01.095
He kind of just takes you back and he tells you the stories and he takes you through a journey through story of the significance of the numbers of the grandfather directions the grandmother directions.

0:21:13.228,0:21:14.644
yeah he knew.

0:21:17.758,0:21:20.421
and what what does that mean you.

0:21:20.721,0:21:26.861
it's a collapsed word you know actually is the way I'd say it you know see.

0:21:31.544,0:21:42.808
from what I understand talk a little bit about colonization and taking over lands the lands of original people

0:21:43.308,0:21:52.780
what I understand first thing you got to do is you got to get rid of those peoples deity that name and replace it with yours when you're colonizing people.

0:21:53.842,0:22:05.054
so our name for nihilo people was ie and we have a different paradigm as far as a dogma is concerned.

0:22:06.787,0:22:18.773
you are is I am is so a diminutive of ie so is II know so that's it yeah so that's it's a

0:22:20.578,0:22:27.195
but it this is a collapse version of that you know II knew ya

0:22:29.703,0:22:36.855
o3d is until this Goodell

0:22:38.008,0:22:50.346
fantastic so we have a relationship with the earth and that relationship is that we relate to her as mother.

0:22:51.531,0:23:06.203
so she when she brings forth those different people that plant the plant people the different once that's soggy bug all coming order the trees out of the grass.

0:23:06.440,0:23:09.282
And so she's showing us what love is.

0:23:10.823,0:23:12.602
It's a it's practical.

0:23:12.891,0:23:14.718
So she'll give us all of this.

0:23:15.232,0:23:23.661
We will be nurtured by it the dandelion somewhere and different grasses.

0:23:23.661,0:23:27.565
The four-legged people will eat from it from that.

0:23:27.748,0:23:36.874
We will in turn get our sustenance from the four-legged people but she's giving us all of that showing us that love.

0:23:36.874,0:23:42.416
now soggy is the morpheme of that word.

0:23:42.789,0:23:48.050
And if I were to say to you I love you I would say it soggyt didn't.

0:23:49.258,0:23:55.517
Some people say key soggy it didn't and and I say kissaki it didn't.

0:23:55.884,0:24:01.362
that's how I've been taught Kisaragi it then I love you or you are loved by me.

0:24:01.963,0:24:08.138
so that's a good word to learn to say to your to your loved ones.

0:24:09.001,0:24:10.732
That's one of the only if.

0:24:10.732,0:24:15.024
that's one of the only words that I know to say to my partner.

0:24:16.286,0:24:32.098
yes and see how that it's coming into bloom it's gonna start blossoming it'll continue to grow and then it'll go through its cycle just like we will come into a relationship with others.

0:24:34.353,0:24:51.342
yeah cuz I know just this really sticks out to me when I got to when I came here last summer as a special place not only Amy's piece but the other artwork and it's kind of perch over the river.

0:25:01.858,0:25:09.603
when did you begin learning about Slovaks and the spirit marker system.

0:25:10.154,0:25:17.215
when we were liberated from residential school probably 1970 or 71 I don't remember.

0:25:17.582,0:25:27.125
I was just young and the late Rosana whole and late Caroline hunter would come in and teach us about them me and my peers.

0:25:29.141,0:25:33.023
so that's when I started learning the system that I was that I know about.

0:25:33.498,0:25:49.757
And into a soul mate so simply for me to learn it that I pass it on the weight I was taught to me and I guarantee that people will master that writing system.

0:25:50.574,0:26:01.979
So always tell us tell the ones that are coming in to learn like this

0:26:01.979,0:26:06.308
take your page and go to the center I tell them that's where we're gonna start off

0:26:06.308,0:26:12.490
because we're used to writing from the top to the right left to right left to right

0:26:12.490,0:26:18.505
but in this one it's you go from the center and you start from inside.

0:26:18.704,0:26:25.833
So there's the center there I'll go to left the center and right the first one and that's this one here.

0:26:27.816,0:26:29.611
This one is a phonetic language.

0:26:29.976,0:26:32.048
So that one says ah.

0:26:33.348,0:26:45.869
And it's all sort of sound the first sound that people will make when they're when they're praying and worshiping.

0:26:46.285,0:26:50.179
they'll say something like ah you say I'm on earth or

0:26:50.587,0:27:00.133
they'll describe that Supreme Being and the supreme beings name this part of this as well ah

0:27:00.810,0:27:07.057
i'm summonin will say ah ma ma da oui ma describing again.

0:27:09.304,0:27:16.277
they'll endear themselves to that Supreme Being by calling that Supreme Being father of all

0:27:16.277,0:27:18.359
ah mom won't bow mo

0:27:18.815,0:27:24.581
So I say ah hi and recognition nurse you me and the Supreme Being.

0:27:24.686,0:27:31.656
I love people say hi hi that's why that's probably how you've heard it quite a bit.

0:27:32.003,0:27:37.463
So it I don't near says ah this one says baa there's that poppet.

0:27:38.781,0:27:50.181
So who's ah ba la and there's fordham like I said going off into the east Miki nice ET wreath

0:27:50.616,0:28:00.699
and there's seven of them like I said there's seven tectonic plates going off into the South is the same vowel sound and then into the southwest

0:28:00.917,0:28:03.795
this what I like to call the anomaly

0:28:04.290,0:28:16.962
it's a a balsamic yeah man yeah say yeah yeah

0:28:16.962,0:28:18.626
a vowel sound ooh

0:28:18.626,0:28:23.018
and thank you dr. James McCool cos for correcting me on that

0:28:23.018,0:28:28.551
I used to go all borrowing from English

0:28:28.551,0:28:37.020
he said it oh isn't it ooh and I said yeah that's right boo boo - Lulla.

0:28:37.020,0:28:45.512
and then they're smaller smaller and these are way smaller than the big ones big spirit marker

0:28:45.512,0:28:59.564
small spirit markers here to complete the what dr. Marilyn shirt has called the star chart.

0:29:03.876,0:29:06.570
So the one I talked told you

0:29:21.075,0:29:29.486
kissaki hittin that's how you are loved by me or I love you

0:29:32.551,0:29:36.751
you suck yeah then yeah okay I guess I did it then

0:29:38.240,0:29:40.226
so that's the writing system there.

0:29:40.963,0:29:49.580
my hope is that it will help to instill pride and those for those young people Missy not like

0:29:49.866,0:29:56.431
because this is a racist country and it was born out of racism

0:29:56.431,0:30:04.344
and of course racism disconnects people this one connects us from exes

0:30:04.432,0:30:19.508
And all all have access to whatever whatever ethnicity or from yeah we all have that it all makes sense to everybody it can make sense to everyone and we can start connecting.

0:30:22.346,0:30:32.992
what they taught us in the residential schools is that we were worth worth less then than Europeans

0:30:33.383,0:30:48.519
and this one teaches us that Papa went deeper on measured will have the same measurements as far as humanity our DNA says that we're all the same.

0:30:53.898,0:31:09.435
I want to thank you so much for sharing about this because I can see the the brilliance and sophistication lifts within this the way you've you know shown and explained

0:31:09.813,0:31:16.587
and it piques my interest and makes me want to learn more it makes me want to move out here so I could take one of your classes.

0:31:16.820,0:31:18.090
yeah

0:31:20.433,0:31:22.078
thank you so much for sharing this.

0:31:23.019,0:31:24.404
honor and a privilege.