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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
as indigenous people.
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I'm a Naheo artist and curator living on
Lekwungen territory in Victoria, BC.
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My personal research centers
around language revitalization
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and how it connects us
to our cultures and lands.
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Over the past few years I've been
on a journey to learn
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the Cree language.
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It's been a challenging and
incredibly rewarding experience.
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Now I want to travel to Alberta,
where my ancestors are from
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to discover the ways that
different communities
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are revitalizing their languages.
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My mother and I both grew up
not knowing anything
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about our Cree family because
she was adopted out at birth
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as part of the '60s scoop.
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Twelve years ago,
we met our Cree family,
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and since then I have been
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in a process of connecting
with the community
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in Wabasca, Alberta,
the place where my kokum,
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my grandmother Florence,
was born.
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I recently met Nora Yellowmee,
an administrator
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at the local school,
Oski Pskiknowew Kamik.
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After realizing that we
were second cousins
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she offered to help
me learn about my family tree.
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(Nora) You have your grandmother,
Florence.
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and her mother is Isabelle, and then,
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I'm here. And your
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.
(Narrator) Ok.
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(Nora) And you're down here.
(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
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
to see this.
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Again, um, because
the more that I see it the more that I
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hear about this, and
talk about it
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it's going to stick and
I know
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I'll understand more and
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
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
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
healing and re-connection
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after feeling disconnected
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
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
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
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
to experience them
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Growing up disconnected
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
as a Naheo School
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to protect the children,
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creator's children.
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,
as they're growing up,
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they know who they are,
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they came with the gift
of knowing who they are.
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I have a responsibility to
pass those teachings
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on to other children too,
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because they will experiment,
they will explore
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and we want to prevent them
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from hurting each other or
hurting themselves, right?
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(Singing and drums)
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(Lorraine) They call that
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,
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
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
as indigenous people.
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Shame got instilled in us
as indigenous people.
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Our children, what they
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
beautiful in physical form.
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that they're beautiful
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
and they'll start feeling
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good about themselves.
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I'm proud of them.
Their spirit is still alive and well.
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(Narrator) What do you see being
the way forward
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so that these young ones in the
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?
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
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,
then let's do that.
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How did we learn Cree?
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We learnt it sitting around
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.
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
ceremonial knowledge
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He invited me to the land where
he holds sweat lodge ceremonies
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to share teachings about the spirit
within our languages.
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[Music]
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[inhales deeply]
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It clears your mind when
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
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
with that spirit
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of mother earth, and everything
that grows on her body.
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Prior to contact, everything was
described in a more spiritual way.
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Mitos (?) you know,
has a spiritual meaning.
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Sifta (?) as in spiritual meaning
that's the poplar and the spruce.
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(...?) coming back to the language where
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
those of us with this blood in us
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and whose ancestors have
spoken the language
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and whether you think that
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
of the language.
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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.
See?
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It's that programming,
and your spirit guide -
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you've got to remember there's
a spiritual aspect to this
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You're never alone.
You never walk alone,
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your ancestors, your Cree
ancestors, walk with you,
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they're assigned to you to guide you
where you need to be
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That's the beauty if this
understanding of spirit
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It happens in spirit
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We are the result of spirit in action.
We become material.
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That's a deeper teaching.
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But the reality is (that) everyone of us
have spirit guides around us.
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I was on kind of a lost path
before I found my way to my first lodge.
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And it's interesting to think of these
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European modalities or academic
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,
I just know it is working for me.
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And it's not something I'm trying
to figure out up here ,
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I just know it's working
down here.
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And I think it has connected
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
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
if I pray in English.
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It's the very thing
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
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
that are guiding me.
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They don't have to understand
what I'm saying.
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Because as long as a spirit hears,
the Spirit will come.
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And they understand my language,
the Cree language.
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Once I identify myself, they say,
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"Huh, our grandson is playing.
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
the residence in school,
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the first time it was introduced, --
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not only the Cree
but the many tribes themselves.
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When they took away the children, --
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they took the children away
from the land, --
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the language, their ancestors,
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their grandfathers, their grandmothers,
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their teachers, their parents,
their aunts and uncles.
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That's when the separation happened.
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They broke that connection.
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So when he took us away, --
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they severed that connection
to all of those things.
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We were taught a foreign way of thinking.
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I was programmed as a child.
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Now, I have to deprogram myself,
sometimes referred to as decolonization,
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as they gave us that colonized mentality.
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And it just did not fit with our paradigm,
how we saw our place in creation.
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At some point, somebody's got to wake up.
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One day, you've got to say,
"Hey, there's something wrong here."
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This is the time.
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That's why we're here.
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To wake the people up.
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To wake ourselves up.
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Still be the guiding light, you know.
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There is a different way.
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So, it's about connection.
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That's what was severed --
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in the time of the residential school.
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We lost connection to our spirit.
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It replaced the creator
outside of us instead of in here.
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We're trying to mend that rift.
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That's what you're doing.
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That rift that was caught;
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you are the stitch that is bringing
those two worldviews --
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but to where they start
respecting our way,
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the Cree way.
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When you have love, when you feel love --
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and somebody tells you something
that your spirit is looking to hear
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like, "Welcome home."
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Where do you feel it?
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Right here. You're connecting.
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You'll always have
that sense of belonging --
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because you come home. Yeah.
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So once you come home,
you know where to come
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next time you're out there, wandering, --
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you have a connection there.
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You've made some connections already here.
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You're no longer disconnected.
253
00:16:41,944 --> 00:16:45,368
I left my conversation with John
feeling like I belong
254
00:16:45,720 --> 00:16:47,764
in a way that I've never felt before.
255
00:16:48,794 --> 00:16:50,816
It was an incredibly
powerful experience
256
00:16:50,816 --> 00:16:54,032
that made me feel more
connected to my spirit.
257
00:16:57,835 --> 00:17:02,606
Tell me again, like,
your family story with Wabasca.
258
00:17:02,830 --> 00:17:06,280
My mother grew up there,
my father grew up in Grouard, --
259
00:17:07,304 --> 00:17:08,430
a couple hours away,
260
00:17:08,430 --> 00:17:11,066
and she didn't want
to raise me on the reserve.
261
00:17:11,197 --> 00:17:13,963
So as soon as they found out
about me, they moved away.
262
00:17:14,254 --> 00:17:16,355
And when we move to Edmonton,
through the teen years,
263
00:17:16,355 --> 00:17:19,446
through my adult years, that's when
the reconnection really started to happen,
264
00:17:19,446 --> 00:17:20,948
going home more happen.
265
00:17:21,075 --> 00:17:25,332
Before that, I would only visit,
like, holidays, few times a year.
266
00:17:27,167 --> 00:17:32,262
Dusty Legrand is the creator of
the clothing label Mobilize Waskawēwin.
267
00:17:32,662 --> 00:17:36,387
Using the ancient writing system
of Cree syllabics and his designs,
268
00:17:36,579 --> 00:17:39,378
he's making the language
visible to a new generation.
269
00:17:42,066 --> 00:17:43,815
Yeah, so this was the --
270
00:17:45,793 --> 00:17:47,471
- it has the --
- Oh yeah,
271
00:17:47,471 --> 00:17:51,227
the different languages,
tribes of the north.
272
00:17:51,672 --> 00:17:53,333
Yeah, it tells the story of --
273
00:17:53,882 --> 00:17:55,759
a bunch of people.
And it was really special to hear, like,
274
00:17:55,759 --> 00:17:58,623
the feedback from different people
that had never seen
275
00:17:58,623 --> 00:18:01,055
their nation represented on a ....
276
00:18:01,288 --> 00:18:04,739
There were certain people that;
this was like their first time.
277
00:18:04,739 --> 00:18:08,200
They're like, "I'm just buying this just because
I've never seen my nation represented."
278
00:18:08,200 --> 00:18:12,206
Yeah, then I put revolution down the arm
just to let them know what's going on.
279
00:18:12,206 --> 00:18:13,303
[Laughs]
280
00:18:14,104 --> 00:18:15,782
I've been always wanting
to create a clothing brand.
281
00:18:15,782 --> 00:18:19,507
So to be able to create something that
can empower indigenous youth
282
00:18:19,507 --> 00:18:22,749
and educate them
on the indigenous history,
283
00:18:22,749 --> 00:18:27,300
on the future, on values
and what it means to be indigenous.
284
00:18:28,998 --> 00:18:32,833
So Mobilize was a way that
I could give voice to the voiceless.
285
00:18:33,130 --> 00:18:34,856
I could give a voice to the youth.
286
00:18:35,017 --> 00:18:37,884
To do it in a different way
than I had seen being done, --
287
00:18:38,481 --> 00:18:39,899
it was very important to me.
288
00:18:39,971 --> 00:18:41,995
To do it completely different,
289
00:18:41,995 --> 00:18:45,399
to represent the funky people,
to represent the different people,
290
00:18:45,399 --> 00:18:48,628
to represent everybody
that's ostracized that way
291
00:18:48,628 --> 00:18:51,695
and especially as indigenous people,
like, that's been done to us.
292
00:18:52,786 --> 00:18:53,725
Okay.
293
00:18:53,725 --> 00:18:58,963
So this is the first drawing of this shirt.
294
00:18:59,109 --> 00:19:02,390
So, a lot of, like, the pieces will come,
295
00:19:02,390 --> 00:19:04,743
and they'll come at certain times,
when I'm driving,
296
00:19:04,743 --> 00:19:06,437
when I'm listening to certain things.
297
00:19:06,676 --> 00:19:09,125
And they'll come and if I don't write it
the way it's supposed to be,
298
00:19:09,125 --> 00:19:10,634
the idea won't stay.
299
00:19:11,266 --> 00:19:14,334
I want to try to encompass all of Canada
300
00:19:14,334 --> 00:19:17,218
and I'm gonna try to reach
as many as I can.
301
00:19:17,218 --> 00:19:20,156
So for me this was like a lot of studying,
302
00:19:20,156 --> 00:19:24,849
a lot of research to try to see
as far east as I could go
303
00:19:24,849 --> 00:19:26,717
and see what nations are there.
304
00:19:27,073 --> 00:19:29,247
And that's what is special
about the language I find.
305
00:19:29,247 --> 00:19:36,206
It's that the stories, and the purpose,
and everything exists within the language.
306
00:19:36,206 --> 00:19:38,695
That's in kind of a place
that it's been locked.
307
00:19:38,695 --> 00:19:41,445
And it remains, and even though --
308
00:19:41,833 --> 00:19:44,450
the assimilation
has taken a lot of, like, --
309
00:19:44,647 --> 00:19:49,350
our connection to community,
our ceremonies, our practices.
310
00:19:49,350 --> 00:19:51,457
The language has kept all of that.
311
00:19:52,395 --> 00:19:54,138
How did you get the Cree word?
312
00:19:54,138 --> 00:19:58,103
Yes, well, the Cree word is
on the back of this one here.
313
00:19:58,297 --> 00:19:59,103
Okay.
314
00:20:00,270 --> 00:20:03,817
So I just keep it as like Mobilize
is the English version
315
00:20:03,817 --> 00:20:05,310
and then Waskawēwin,
316
00:20:05,648 --> 00:20:09,536
which is the Cree word for movement,
is the Cree element that comes in.
317
00:20:11,074 --> 00:20:14,631
Mobilize didn't have a translation.
318
00:20:15,141 --> 00:20:18,228
But I also didn't want to
just translate mobilize,
319
00:20:18,228 --> 00:20:21,784
I wanted to use movement
as the word.
320
00:20:22,308 --> 00:20:34,557
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.
321
00:20:34,786 --> 00:20:43,178
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.
322
00:20:43,710 --> 00:20:49,757
And yeah I was like learning indigenous history through the through the spirit mechanism that's a it was really special.
323
00:20:49,918 --> 00:21:01,095
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.
324
00:21:13,228 --> 00:21:14,644
yeah he knew.
325
00:21:17,758 --> 00:21:20,421
and what what does that mean you.
326
00:21:20,721 --> 00:21:26,861
it's a collapsed word you know actually is the way I'd say it you know see.
327
00:21:31,544 --> 00:21:42,808
from what I understand talk a little bit about colonization and taking over lands the lands of original people
328
00:21:43,308 --> 00:21:52,780
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.
329
00:21:53,842 --> 00:22:05,054
so our name for nihilo people was ie and we have a different paradigm as far as a dogma is concerned.
330
00:22:06,787 --> 00:22:18,773
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
331
00:22:20,578 --> 00:22:27,195
but it this is a collapse version of that you know II knew ya
332
00:22:29,703 --> 00:22:36,855
o3d is until this Goodell
333
00:22:38,008 --> 00:22:50,346
fantastic so we have a relationship with the earth and that relationship is that we relate to her as mother.
334
00:22:51,531 --> 00:23:06,203
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.
335
00:23:06,440 --> 00:23:09,282
And so she's showing us what love is.
336
00:23:10,823 --> 00:23:12,602
It's a it's practical.
337
00:23:12,891 --> 00:23:14,718
So she'll give us all of this.
338
00:23:15,232 --> 00:23:23,661
We will be nurtured by it the dandelion somewhere and different grasses.
339
00:23:23,661 --> 00:23:27,565
The four-legged people will eat from it from that.
340
00:23:27,748 --> 00:23:36,874
We will in turn get our sustenance from the four-legged people but she's giving us all of that showing us that love.
341
00:23:36,874 --> 00:23:42,416
now soggy is the morpheme of that word.
342
00:23:42,789 --> 00:23:48,050
And if I were to say to you I love you I would say it soggyt didn't.
343
00:23:49,258 --> 00:23:55,517
Some people say key soggy it didn't and and I say kissaki it didn't.
344
00:23:55,884 --> 00:24:01,362
that's how I've been taught Kisaragi it then I love you or you are loved by me.
345
00:24:01,963 --> 00:24:08,138
so that's a good word to learn to say to your to your loved ones.
346
00:24:09,001 --> 00:24:10,732
That's one of the only if.
347
00:24:10,732 --> 00:24:15,024
that's one of the only words that I know to say to my partner.
348
00:24:16,286 --> 00:24:32,098
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.
349
00:24:34,353 --> 00:24:51,342
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.
350
00:25:01,858 --> 00:25:09,603
when did you begin learning about Slovaks and the spirit marker system.
351
00:25:10,154 --> 00:25:17,215
when we were liberated from residential school probably 1970 or 71 I don't remember.
352
00:25:17,582 --> 00:25:27,125
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.
353
00:25:29,141 --> 00:25:33,023
so that's when I started learning the system that I was that I know about.
354
00:25:33,498 --> 00:25:49,757
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.
355
00:25:50,574 --> 00:26:01,979
So always tell us tell the ones that are coming in to learn like this
356
00:26:01,979 --> 00:26:06,308
take your page and go to the center I tell them that's where we're gonna start off
357
00:26:06,308 --> 00:26:12,490
because we're used to writing from the top to the right left to right left to right
358
00:26:12,490 --> 00:26:18,505
but in this one it's you go from the center and you start from inside.
359
00:26:18,704 --> 00:26:25,833
So there's the center there I'll go to left the center and right the first one and that's this one here.
360
00:26:27,816 --> 00:26:29,611
This one is a phonetic language.
361
00:26:29,976 --> 00:26:32,048
So that one says ah.
362
00:26:33,348 --> 00:26:45,869
And it's all sort of sound the first sound that people will make when they're when they're praying and worshiping.
363
00:26:46,285 --> 00:26:50,179
they'll say something like ah you say I'm on earth or
364
00:26:50,587 --> 00:27:00,133
they'll describe that Supreme Being and the supreme beings name this part of this as well ah
365
00:27:00,810 --> 00:27:07,057
i'm summonin will say ah ma ma da oui ma describing again.
366
00:27:09,304 --> 00:27:16,277
they'll endear themselves to that Supreme Being by calling that Supreme Being father of all
367
00:27:16,277 --> 00:27:18,359
ah mom won't bow mo
368
00:27:18,815 --> 00:27:24,581
So I say ah hi and recognition nurse you me and the Supreme Being.
369
00:27:24,686 --> 00:27:31,656
I love people say hi hi that's why that's probably how you've heard it quite a bit.
370
00:27:32,003 --> 00:27:37,463
So it I don't near says ah this one says baa there's that poppet.
371
00:27:38,781 --> 00:27:50,181
So who's ah ba la and there's fordham like I said going off into the east Miki nice ET wreath
372
00:27:50,616 --> 00:28:00,699
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
373
00:28:00,917 --> 00:28:03,795
this what I like to call the anomaly
374
00:28:04,290 --> 00:28:16,962
it's a a balsamic yeah man yeah say yeah yeah
375
00:28:16,962 --> 00:28:18,626
a vowel sound ooh
376
00:28:18,626 --> 00:28:23,018
and thank you dr. James McCool cos for correcting me on that
377
00:28:23,018 --> 00:28:28,551
I used to go all borrowing from English
378
00:28:28,551 --> 00:28:37,020
he said it oh isn't it ooh and I said yeah that's right boo boo - Lulla.
379
00:28:37,020 --> 00:28:45,512
and then they're smaller smaller and these are way smaller than the big ones big spirit marker
380
00:28:45,512 --> 00:28:59,564
small spirit markers here to complete the what dr. Marilyn shirt has called the star chart.
381
00:29:03,876 --> 00:29:06,570
So the one I talked told you
382
00:29:21,075 --> 00:29:29,486
kissaki hittin that's how you are loved by me or I love you
383
00:29:32,551 --> 00:29:36,751
you suck yeah then yeah okay I guess I did it then
384
00:29:38,240 --> 00:29:40,226
so that's the writing system there.
385
00:29:40,963 --> 00:29:49,580
my hope is that it will help to instill pride and those for those young people Missy not like
386
00:29:49,866 --> 00:29:56,431
because this is a racist country and it was born out of racism
387
00:29:56,431 --> 00:30:04,344
and of course racism disconnects people this one connects us from exes
388
00:30:04,432 --> 00:30:19,508
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.
389
00:30:22,346 --> 00:30:32,992
what they taught us in the residential schools is that we were worth worth less then than Europeans
390
00:30:33,383 --> 00:30:48,519
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.
391
00:30:53,898 --> 00:31:09,435
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
392
00:31:09,813 --> 00:31:16,587
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.
393
00:31:16,820 --> 00:31:18,090
yeah
394
00:31:20,433 --> 00:31:22,078
thank you so much for sharing this.
395
00:31:23,019 --> 00:31:24,404
honor and a privilege.