0:00:06.494,0:00:38.190
♪[Music]♪

0:00:44.253,0:00:47.043
I'm fascinated with the way language

0:00:47.043,0:00:50.913
is central to our world view [br]as indigenous people.

0:00:50.913,0:00:54.874
I'm a Naheo artist and curator living on[br]Lekwungen territory in Victoria, BC.

0:00:56.451,0:00:59.291
My personal research centers [br]around language revitalization

0:00:59.291,0:01:02.067
and how it connects us[br]to our cultures and lands.

0:01:03.742,0:01:06.475
Over the past few years I've been [br]on a journey to learn

0:01:06.475,0:01:07.395
the Cree language.

0:01:08.227,0:01:11.116
It's been a challenging and [br]incredibly rewarding experience.

0:01:12.465,0:01:15.468
Now I want to travel to Alberta, [br]where my ancestors are from

0:01:15.468,0:01:18.444
to discover the ways that [br]different communities

0:01:18.444,0:01:20.518
are revitalizing their languages.

0:01:25.757,0:01:28.217
My mother and I both grew up [br]not knowing anything

0:01:28.217,0:01:31.277
about our Cree family because [br]she was adopted out at birth

0:01:31.277,0:01:33.267
as part of the '60s scoop.

0:01:34.008,0:01:35.990
Twelve years ago, [br]we met our Cree family,

0:01:35.990,0:01:37.243
and since then I have been

0:01:37.243,0:01:39.452
in a process of connecting [br]with the community

0:01:39.452,0:01:41.683
in Wabasca, Alberta, [br]the place where my kokum,

0:01:41.683,0:01:43.403
my grandmother Florence, [br]was born.

0:01:47.477,0:01:49.721
I recently met Nora Yellowmee,[br]an administrator

0:01:49.721,0:01:53.297
at the local school,[br]Oski Pskiknowew Kamik.

0:01:55.292,0:01:57.399
After realizing that we [br]were second cousins

0:01:57.399,0:01:59.988
she offered to help[br]me learn about my family tree.

0:02:01.254,0:02:05.254
(Nora) You have your grandmother, [br]Florence.

0:02:09.707,0:02:12.567
and her mother is Isabelle, and then,

0:02:12.567,0:02:20.279
I'm here. And your [br]grandmother. And your mom.

0:02:20.949,0:02:23.066
(Narrator) Um, Fancine.

0:02:23.066,0:02:24.541
(Nora) Your first cousins or

0:02:24.541,0:02:26.095
second cousins.[br](Narrator) Ok.

0:02:26.476,0:02:30.476
(Nora) And you're down here.[br](Narrator) I'm down there.

0:02:30.730,0:02:33.480
Yeah, this is more than,

0:02:33.480,0:02:37.139
a lot more than I knew before [br]I met you, before I came up.

0:02:37.716,0:02:41.716
(Nora) Yea, that's Isabelle.

0:02:42.233,0:02:46.233
Nohkom Isabelle.

0:02:47.499,0:02:50.049
(Narrator) This means a lot to me [br]to see this.

0:02:50.049,0:02:55.271
Again, um, because[br]the more that I see it the more that I

0:02:55.271,0:02:57.177
hear about this, and [br]talk about it

0:02:57.177,0:03:00.307
it's going to stick and [br]I know

0:03:00.307,0:03:05.337
I'll understand more and [br]know more through that process

0:03:09.447,0:03:12.327
(Nora) My dream for the language here,

0:03:12.565,0:03:14.685
starting with the school, is to have

0:03:14.819,0:03:16.929
our people who speak [br]the language, speak it

0:03:17.043,0:03:20.863
everyday, because we are not getting that.

0:03:21.004,0:03:23.104
There are many Cree speakers working here,

0:03:23.133,0:03:25.082
but they are not speaking it.

0:03:26.012,0:03:29.382
For people, the young families now[br]the young mothers

0:03:29.437,0:03:32.414
speak Cree to their children

0:03:33.168,0:03:36.578
and all the rest of it all follow.

0:03:38.286,0:03:40.509
Seeing a photo of my kukom Florence

0:03:40.587,0:03:43.817
as a young woman created a sense of [br]healing and re-connection

0:03:43.874,0:03:46.500
after feeling disconnected [br]for most of my life

0:03:47.681,0:03:50.211
Knowing more about my family's history

0:03:50.288,0:03:52.708
has allowed me to connect [br]deeper with my ancestors

0:03:52.931,0:03:55.111
There is so much more to discover

0:03:55.175,0:03:56.769
but, like learning the language,

0:03:56.773,0:03:58.293
this will take time.

0:04:02.881,0:04:05.241
The Kapaskwatinak [br]Cultural Education Center

0:04:05.276,0:04:07.149
is a place for the Children of Wabaska

0:04:07.174,0:04:09.664
to connect to the land and their culture.

0:04:10.142,0:04:11.982
Knowledge Keeper Lorraine Cardinal

0:04:12.027,0:04:14.587
helps guide the children [br]through land based education

0:04:14.645,0:04:17.234
including coming of age ceremonies.

0:04:17.872,0:04:20.052
I'm excited to learn about these teachings

0:04:20.052,0:04:22.752
since I didn't have the opportunities [br]to experience them

0:04:22.802,0:04:25.972
Growing up disconnected[br]from community and family.

0:04:27.136,0:04:31.236
The reason that I do these things,

0:04:32.077,0:04:35.197
like the coming of age because

0:04:35.199,0:04:39.269
it's also my responsibility [br]as a Naheo School

0:04:39.300,0:04:42.760
to protect the children,

0:04:43.238,0:04:46.838
creator's children. [br]And when I'm protecting creator's children

0:04:48.190,0:04:52.140
we need to teach them those protocols.

0:04:52.225,0:04:54.915
We need to teach those values.

0:04:54.982,0:04:57.162
They need to know them so that they don't

0:04:57.162,0:04:59.977
end up getting hurt in the future.

0:05:00.502,0:05:02.544
And that shame of our language

0:05:02.573,0:05:06.013
and who we are, and our ceremonial ways.

0:05:06.064,0:05:10.494
Losing those has caused big destruction

0:05:10.494,0:05:11.878
in our communities

0:05:12.969,0:05:15.729
Because our children, [br]as they're growing up,

0:05:15.730,0:05:17.290
they know who they are,

0:05:17.290,0:05:20.375
they came with the gift [br]of knowing who they are.

0:05:20.375,0:05:23.662
I have a responsibility to [br]pass those teachings

0:05:23.726,0:05:26.346
on to other children too,

0:05:26.390,0:05:29.740
because they will experiment, [br]they will explore

0:05:29.950,0:05:33.070
and we want to prevent them

0:05:33.121,0:05:37.531
from hurting each other or [br]hurting themselves, right?

0:05:38.287,0:05:42.717
(Singing and drums)

0:05:54.688,0:06:00.868
(Lorraine) They call that [br]oskeskwew (?) oskinîkiskwew (?)

0:06:01.484,0:06:05.344
young manhood and young womanhood.

0:06:07.600,0:06:10.490
I want to thank you and honor you for

0:06:10.551,0:06:12.329
coming into this world.

0:06:12.892,0:06:15.375
You are a blessing to us.

0:06:15.432,0:06:17.509
We are so very honored to have you

0:06:17.524,0:06:20.064
as part of us, Naheo school.

0:06:21.239,0:06:25.069
Always remember to hold your head up, [br]don't be ashamed

0:06:25.705,0:06:28.725
and always accept yourself for who you are

0:06:29.305,0:06:31.583
and honor those gifts you brought with you

0:06:32.760,0:06:35.141
And welcome into womanhood

0:06:35.141,0:06:36.122
Welcome.

0:06:37.441,0:06:40.621
It truly is a blessing [br]and an honor to have you

0:06:40.654,0:06:44.024
as a young Naheo iskwew (?),

0:06:44.056,0:06:47.815
A young Naheo woman. Welcome.

0:06:48.746,0:06:50.376
(children talking)

0:06:50.843,0:06:53.313
(Lorraine) Somehow, someway

0:06:54.185,0:06:59.655
fear got instilled in us [br]as indigenous people.

0:07:00.343,0:07:04.403
Shame got instilled in us [br]as indigenous people.

0:07:04.968,0:07:08.612
Our children, what they [br]experienced here today

0:07:08.726,0:07:11.156
taught them how sacred they are,

0:07:11.321,0:07:12.971
how important they are,

0:07:13.558,0:07:16.408
how beautiful they are and that

0:07:16.732,0:07:21.282
they're not just [br]beautiful in physical form.

0:07:21.340,0:07:25.370
that they're beautiful [br]in spiritual form too.

0:07:25.489,0:07:27.919
All we need to do is believe in them,

0:07:27.933,0:07:30.513
to love them, and to tell them that

0:07:30.546,0:07:32.794
they're important [br]and they'll start feeling

0:07:32.811,0:07:34.413
good about themselves.

0:07:34.415,0:07:38.635
I'm proud of them. [br]Their spirit is still alive and well.

0:07:40.085,0:07:44.236
(Narrator) What do you see being [br]the way forward

0:07:44.422,0:07:48.502
so that these young ones in the[br]community

0:07:50.049,0:07:52.379
can not only understand the language

0:07:53.463,0:07:55.893
and its relationship to their spirit

0:07:56.066,0:07:58.356
and their relationship, to the land

0:07:58.470,0:08:01.076
and each other and themselves,

0:08:02.414,0:08:05.794
but be speaking it? [br]How do you feel about

0:08:06.331,0:08:09.091
the future of the language in these

0:08:09.157,0:08:10.567
next generations to come?

0:08:11.070,0:08:14.580
We have to believe in ourselves [br]to be able to do it

0:08:16.087,0:08:22.637
and we need to set our goal

0:08:23.523,0:08:28.632
and if it's revitalizing the language, [br]then let's do that.

0:08:29.192,0:08:31.094
How did we learn Cree?

0:08:32.847,0:08:36.397
We learnt it sitting around [br]with the old people,

0:08:36.438,0:08:37.747
visiting each other and

0:08:38.065,0:08:41.125
our parents speaking to us, you know?

0:08:42.700,0:08:48.836
So we can get it back. [br]We just need to do it.

0:09:03.047,0:09:05.137
John Bigstone is a Wabiskaw elder

0:09:05.168,0:09:08.028
who carries vast spiritual and[br]ceremonial knowledge

0:09:09.425,0:09:12.565
He invited me to the land where [br]he holds sweat lodge ceremonies

0:09:12.595,0:09:15.570
to share teachings about the spirit[br]within our languages.

0:09:16.605,0:09:18.065
[Music]

0:09:29.751,0:09:33.821
[inhales deeply]

0:09:34.620,0:09:37.930
It clears your mind when [br]you breathe in this smudge

0:09:44.087,0:09:46.217
English language is inadequate

0:09:47.489,0:09:49.451
if you're going to describe spirit.

0:09:50.053,0:09:51.105
Anything of spirit.

0:09:51.774,0:09:52.844
Its inadequate.

0:09:55.808,0:10:00.677
They named it according to their[br]connection to that plant.

0:10:00.677,0:10:02.729
because they spoke to the plant

0:10:03.730,0:10:05.258
They had a connection.

0:10:05.754,0:10:07.744
They had a connection to all of life.

0:10:07.777,0:10:09.393
They understood their environment.

0:10:09.696,0:10:11.868
They understood that everything was alive,

0:10:12.406,0:10:15.614
and your spirtit has a connection [br]with that spirit

0:10:15.877,0:10:19.225
of mother earth, and everything[br]that grows on her body.

0:10:22.394,0:10:26.906
Prior to contact, everything was[br]described in a more spiritual way.

0:10:26.952,0:10:30.906
Mitos (?) you know, [br]has a spiritual meaning.

0:10:31.612,0:10:35.732
Sifta (?) as in spiritual meaning[br]that's the poplar and the spruce.

0:10:37.682,0:10:43.459
(...?) coming back to the language where [br]our families have had these interruptions

0:10:44.730,0:10:46.753
of residential school, the 60s' scoop

0:10:47.657,0:10:54.749
I'm curious what your thoughts are about[br]those of us with this blood in us

0:10:55.385,0:10:58.845
and whose ancestors have [br]spoken the language

0:10:59.073,0:11:04.733
and whether you think that [br]we have it inside of us

0:11:04.826,0:11:07.217
just waiting to come out,

0:11:07.293,0:11:11.354
this bone memory or blood memory[br]of the language.

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

0:11:15.782,0:11:18.202
It's programmed in there already.

0:11:18.312,0:11:20.674
You just have to wake up that programming.

0:11:22.825,0:11:24.971
That's why you're here.[br]See?

0:11:24.971,0:11:27.265
It's that programming, [br]and your spirit guide -

0:11:27.265,0:11:30.143
you've got to remember there's [br]a spiritual aspect to this

0:11:31.382,0:11:33.642
You're never alone. [br]You never walk alone,

0:11:33.648,0:11:37.270
your ancestors, your Cree [br]ancestors, walk with you,

0:11:38.148,0:11:41.134
they're assigned to you to guide you[br]where you need to be

0:11:41.673,0:11:44.824
That's the beauty if this [br]understanding of spirit

0:11:46.283,0:11:48.036
It happens in spirit

0:11:48.719,0:11:53.740
We are the result of spirit in action.[br]We become material.

0:11:54.566,0:11:55.978
That's a deeper teaching.

0:11:57.290,0:12:02.265
But the reality is (that) everyone of us[br]have spirit guides around us.

0:12:03.420,0:12:10.700
I was on kind of a lost path[br]before I found my way to my first lodge.

0:12:13.454,0:12:16.402
And it's interesting to think of these

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

0:12:21.817,0:12:23.678
how things are working.

0:12:24.378,0:12:28.280
And the way that I explain it to people is

0:12:28.280,0:12:31.564
I don't know how it's working,[br]I just know it is working for me.

0:12:33.131,0:12:36.630
And it's not something I'm trying [br]to figure out up here ,

0:12:36.136,0:12:38.816
I just know it's working[br]down here.

0:12:42.413,0:12:46.503
And I think it has connected [br]my heart and my spirit

0:12:46.550,0:12:50.100
in ways that weren't happening before.

0:12:51.195,0:12:53.784
When I say a prayer [br]in the social gathering,

0:12:53.784,0:12:55.136
I say it in Cree

0:12:55.186,0:13:00.468
because it's an insult to my ancestors[br]if I pray in English.

0:13:02.109,0:13:05.051
It's the very thing [br]that oppressed me as a child.

0:13:05.660,0:13:06.869
I can't do that.

0:13:06.869,0:13:11.569
I have to speak and pray in Cree.

0:13:12.075,0:13:16.163
That's what I do and [br]I explain, you know, why.

0:13:16.988,0:13:19.112
Because I'm not praying to the people.

0:13:19.274,0:13:22.902
I'm praying to the spirits [br]that are guiding me.

0:13:23.354,0:13:26.382
They don't have to understand [br]what I'm saying.

0:13:26.826,0:13:31.290
Because as long as a spirit hears, [br]the Spirit will come.

0:13:32.378,0:13:35.361
And they understand my language,[br]the Cree language.

0:13:35.676,0:13:37.903
Once I identify myself, they say,

0:13:37.903,0:13:41.718
"Huh, our grandson is playing. [br]Let's go support him."

0:13:42.732,0:13:44.427
That's the beauty of our language.

0:13:48.232,0:13:50.705
What happened to our language --

0:13:52.158,0:13:54.547
came from the time of [br]the residence in school,

0:13:54.547,0:13:56.993
the first time it was introduced, --

0:13:59.294,0:14:03.131
not only the Cree[br]but the many tribes themselves.

0:14:04.878,0:14:07.431
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.

0:14:25.473,0:14:28.025
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.

0:14:44.993,0:14:49.847
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.

0:15:01.302,0:15:03.714
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."

0:15:07.562,0:15:08.853
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.

0:15:13.710,0:15:15.244
To wake ourselves up.

0:15:17.487,0:15:20.342
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.

0:20:22.113,0:20:25.162
So one thing that I really liked [br]about the word waskawēwin

0:20:25.611,0:20:28.648
was the presence of [br]the triangular symbols,

0:20:28.648,0:20:31.824
and for me these represented, [br]like, two tipis

0:20:32.241,0:20:34.297
and kind of represented [br]the tribe that way.

0:20:34.442,0:20:37.103
Being a part of Reuben's class [br]was really special to understand

0:20:37.103,0:20:40.812
the fundamentals of and to learn [br]the history of the star chart

0:20:40.812,0:20:43.178
and to learn the history of syllabics.

0:20:43.494,0:20:45.793
Yeah, it was like learning [br]indigenous history

0:20:45.793,0:20:47.854
through the spirit mechanism.

0:20:47.854,0:20:49.548
That was really special.

0:20:49.548,0:20:52.319
He kind of just takes you back[br]and he tells you the stories.

0:20:52.598,0:20:55.445
And he takes you [br]through a journey through story

0:20:55.635,0:20:59.547
of the significance of the numbers [br]of the grandfather directions,

0:20:59.547,0:21:01.095
the grandmother directions.

0:21:12.673,0:21:14.683
Yeah, înîw.

0:21:17.545,0:21:20.358
And what does that mean, înîw?

0:21:20.482,0:21:22.475
It's a collapsed word.

0:21:23.239,0:21:26.861
... actually is the way it's said.

0:21:31.544,0:21:33.448
From what I understand; --

0:21:35.076,0:21:37.798
talk a little bit about colonization --

0:21:38.808,0:21:42.949
and taking over lands, [br]the lands of original people; --

0:21:43.308,0:21:46.044
what I understand,[br]first thing you got to do is

0:21:46.044,0:21:49.412
you got to get rid of [br]those people's deity, the name,

0:21:49.412,0:21:52.780
and replace it with yours [br]when you're colonizing people.

0:21:53.685,0:21:58.735
So our dename for Néhiyaw people was aî, --

0:21:59.369,0:22:05.083
and we have a different paradigm [br]as far as a dogma is concerned.

0:22:06.652,0:22:10.193
You are aîs, I am aîs,

0:22:10.193,0:22:12.746
so a diminutive of aî.

0:22:13.270,0:22:16.679
So aîsînîw.

0:22:20.363,0:22:25.665
But this is a collapsed version [br]of that ??? înîw.

0:22:29.703,0:22:32.520
o3d ???

0:22:37.495,0:22:39.051
Fantastic.

0:22:41.754,0:22:44.562
So we have a relationship with the earth,

0:22:44.893,0:22:50.346
and that relationship is that [br]we relate to her as mother.

0:22:51.531,0:22:58.249
So she when she brings forth [br]those different people --

0:22:59.439,0:23:01.906
the plant people, the different ones,

0:23:01.906,0:23:06.203
that's ??? coming [br]out of the trees, out of the grass.

0:23:06.440,0:23:09.342
And so she's showing us what love is.

0:23:10.666,0:23:12.602
It's practical.

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

0:23:15.232,0:23:17.778
We will be nurtured by it.

0:23:18.415,0:23:23.689
The dandelion somewhere [br]and different grasses.

0:23:23.689,0:23:27.353
The four-legged people will eat from that.

0:23:27.353,0:23:33.123
We will, in turn, get our sustenance[br]from the four-legged people,

0:23:33.123,0:23:36.874
but she's giving us all of that, [br]showing us that love.

0:23:36.874,0:23:42.416
Now, ??? is the morpheme of that word.

0:23:42.496,0:23:48.050
And if I were to say to you, [br]"I love you," I would say ???.

0:23:49.258,0:23:52.070
Some people say ???,

0:23:52.499,0:23:55.517
and I say ???.

0:23:55.736,0:23:58.744
That's how I've been taught: ???.

0:23:58.744,0:24:01.362
I love you or you are loved by me.

0:24:01.855,0:24:08.138
So that's a good word to learn [br]to say to your loved ones.

0:24:10.575,0:24:13.763
That's one of the only words [br]that I know to say to my partner.

0:24:13.763,0:24:14.763
[Laughs]

0:24:15.939,0:24:19.671
Yes, and see how that [br]it's coming into bloom.

0:24:20.156,0:24:22.046
It's gonna start blossoming.

0:24:22.046,0:24:26.391
It'll continue to grow and then [br]it'll go through its cycle, --

0:24:26.752,0:24:32.118
just like we will come into [br]a relationship with others.

0:24:38.956,0:24:42.820
This really sticks out to me,[br]when I came here last summer, --

0:24:44.616,0:24:45.632
as a special place.

0:24:45.632,0:24:51.419
Not only Amy's piece, but the other artwork[br]and it's kind of perched over the river.

0:25:01.698,0:25:09.603
When did you begin learning about [br]syllabics and the spirit marker system?

0:25:10.521,0:25:13.189
When we were liberated [br]from residential school,

0:25:13.189,0:25:16.986
probably 1970 or 1971, [br]I don't remember.

0:25:17.177,0:25:18.281
I was just young.

0:25:18.677,0:25:23.455
and the late Rosana Hole and [br]late Caroline Hunter would come in

0:25:23.455,0:25:27.175
and teach us about them, me and my peers.

0:25:28.970,0:25:33.023
So that's when I started learning [br]the system that I know about.

0:25:33.389,0:25:38.543
And it was made so simply [br]for me to learn it --

0:25:38.950,0:25:42.395
that I passed it on [br]the way that was taught to me,

0:25:42.395,0:25:49.757
and I guarantee that people [br]will master that writing system.

0:25:54.527,0:25:59.271
I always tell the ones [br]that are coming in to learn,

0:26:01.979,0:26:04.124
"Take your page and go to the center."

0:26:04.124,0:26:06.188
I tell them, "That's where [br]we're gonna start off."

0:26:06.188,0:26:09.841
because we're used to writing [br]from the top to the right,

0:26:09.841,0:26:11.692
left to right, left to right.

0:26:12.434,0:26:13.646
But in this one, --

0:26:14.784,0:26:18.505
you go from the center [br]and you start from inside.

0:26:18.571,0:26:20.142
So there's the center there.

0:26:20.142,0:26:23.343
I'll go left of center [br]and write the first one, --

0:26:24.282,0:26:25.920
and that's this one here.

0:26:27.576,0:26:29.611
This one is a phonetic language.

0:26:29.834,0:26:32.066
So that one says ah.

0:26:33.264,0:26:35.868
And it's also the sound.

0:26:36.782,0:26:39.922
The first sound that people will make --

0:26:42.842,0:26:45.869
when they're praying and worshiping.

0:26:46.285,0:26:50.179
They'll say something like, "ah ???."

0:26:50.474,0:26:54.469
They'll describe that supreme being --

0:26:54.922,0:27:00.133
and the supreme being's name, [br]this part of this as well. ā.

0:27:00.810,0:27:05.027
Ā someone then will say, "???", --

0:27:05.771,0:27:07.057
describing again.

0:27:08.976,0:27:12.236
They'll endear themselves [br]to that supreme being

0:27:12.236,0:27:15.453
by calling that supreme being father of all.

0:27:15.453,0:27:18.359
Ā ???.

0:27:18.590,0:27:24.581
So I say, "???" in recognition. [br]There's you, me and the supreme being.

0:27:24.686,0:27:26.121
???.

0:27:26.121,0:27:28.303
A lot of people say, "???"

0:27:28.303,0:27:31.486
That's what I've learned. [br]That's probably how you've heard it quite a bit.

0:27:31.486,0:27:35.413
So that one near says, "???", [br]this one says "???"

0:27:35.413,0:27:37.462
There's that ???.

0:27:38.668,0:27:41.702
So who's ah ba la

0:27:43.117,0:27:46.649
And there's four of them, like I said, [br]going off into the east:

0:27:46.649,0:27:50.219
Miki nice ET wreath

0:27:50.219,0:27:54.041
And there's seven of them, like I said.[br]There's seven tectonic plates --

0:27:54.862,0:27:58.667
going off into the south, [br]is the same vowel sound.

0:27:58.802,0:28:03.696
And then into the southwest,[br]there's what I like to call the anomaly.

0:28:04.290,0:28:05.876
It's a a vowel sound.

0:28:05.876,0:28:16.374
???

0:28:16.764,0:28:18.626
A vowel sound ooh.

0:28:18.626,0:28:23.018
And thank you Dr. James Makokis [br]for correcting me on that.

0:28:23.018,0:28:27.480
I used to go o, borrowing from English.

0:28:28.551,0:28:31.052
He said that, "Oh isn't it ooh?"

0:28:31.052,0:28:35.254
and I said, "Hey yeah, that's right."[br]???.

0:28:36.979,0:28:39.026
And then they're smaller --

0:28:41.586,0:28:45.512
and these are way smaller [br]than the big ones, big spirit markers,

0:28:45.512,0:28:47.618
small spirit markers here.

0:28:49.089,0:28:50.340
To complete --

0:28:53.518,0:28:59.586
what Dr. Marilyn Shirt [br]has called the star chart.

0:29:03.749,0:29:06.570
So the one I told you --

0:29:20.568,0:29:23.517
??? --

0:29:24.478,0:29:29.686
that's, "You are loved by me or I love you."

0:29:30.618,0:29:31.618
???

0:29:32.272,0:29:35.229
Yeah, ???

0:29:38.059,0:29:40.207
So that's the writing system there.

0:29:40.963,0:29:45.250
My hope is that it will help [br]to instill pride in those --

0:29:45.705,0:29:49.580
for those young people --

0:29:49.866,0:29:52.550
because this is a racist country --

0:29:53.686,0:29:56.431
and it was born out of racism.

0:29:57.067,0:30:00.705
And of course racism disconnects people.

0:30:01.329,0:30:02.902
This one connects us.

0:30:04.432,0:30:07.282
And all have access to it, --

0:30:08.660,0:30:11.890
whatever ethnicity you are from.

0:30:13.271,0:30:15.256
It all makes sense to everybody.

0:30:15.256,0:30:19.508
It can make sense to everyone [br]and we can start connecting.

0:30:22.176,0:30:25.223
What they taught us [br]in the residential schools

0:30:25.223,0:30:32.255
is that we were worth less than Europeans.

0:30:33.271,0:30:37.652
And this one teaches us that ??? --

0:30:40.895,0:30:45.209
will have the same measurements [br]as far as humanity.

0:30:45.209,0:30:48.591
Our DNA says that we're all the same.

0:30:53.898,0:30:58.265
I want to thank you so much [br]for sharing about this because --

0:30:59.054,0:31:02.827
I can see the the brilliance [br]and sophistication --

0:31:03.744,0:31:09.435
within the way you've shown and explained,

0:31:09.813,0:31:13.279
and it piques my interest [br]and makes me want to learn more.

0:31:13.279,0:31:16.489
It makes me want to move out here[br]so I could take one of your classes.

0:31:16.489,0:31:17.705
Yeah.

0:31:20.272,0:31:22.078
Thank you so much for sharing this.

0:31:22.861,0:31:24.404
An honor and a privilege.

0:31:26.872,0:31:27.902
♪[Music]♪