[Music]
I'm fascinated with the way language
is central to our world view
as indigenous people.
I'm a Naheo artist and curator living on
Lekwungen territory in Victoria, BC.
My personal research centers
around language revitalization
and how it connects us
to our cultures and lands.
Over the past few years I've been
on a journey to learn
the Cree language.
It's been a challenging and
incredibly rewarding experience.
Now I want to travel to Alberta,
where my ancestors are from
to discover the ways that
different communities
are revitalizing their languages.
My mother and I both grew up
not knowing anything
about our Cree family because
she was adopted out at birth
as part of the '60s scoop.
Twelve years ago,
we met our Cree family,
and since then I have been
in a process of connecting
with the community
in Wabasca, Alberta,
the place where my kokum,
my grandmother Florence,
was born.
I recently met Nora Yellowmee,
an administrator
at the local school,
Oski Pskiknowew Kamik.
After realizing that we
were second cousins
she offered to help
me learn about my family tree.
(Nora) You have your grandmother,
Florence.
and her mother is Isabelle, and then,
I'm here. And your
grandmother. And your mom.
(Narrator) Um, Fancine.
(Nora) Your first cousins or
second cousins.
(Narrator) Ok.
(Nora) And you're down here.
(Narrator) I'm down there.
Yeah, this is more than,
a lot more than I knew before
I met you, before I came up.
(Nora) Yea, that's Isabelle.
Nohkom Isabelle.
(Narrator) This means a lot to me
to see this.
Again, um, because
the more that I see it the more that I
hear about this, and
talk about it
it's going to stick and
I know
I'll understand more and
know more through that process
(Nora) My dream for the language here,
starting with the school, is to have
our people who speak
the language, speak it
everyday, because we are not getting that.
There are many Cree speakers working here,
but they are not speaking it.
For people, the young families now
the young mothers
speak Cree to their children
and all the rest of it all follow.
Seeing a photo of my kukom Florence
as a young woman created a sense of
healing and re-connection
after feeling disconnected
for most of my life
Knowing more about my family's history
has allowed me to connect
deeper with my ancestors
There is so much more to discover
but, like learning the language,
this will take time.
The Kapaskwatinak
Cultural Education Center
is a place for the Children of Wabaska
to connect to the land and their culture.
Knowledge Keeper Lorraine Cardinal
helps guide the children
through land based education
including coming of age ceremonies.
I'm excited to learn about these teachings
since I didn't have the opportunities
to experience them
Growing up disconnected
from community and family.
The reason that I do these things,
like the coming of age because
it's also my responsibility
as a Naheo School
to protect the children,
creator's children.
And when I'm protecting creator's children
we need to teach them those protocols.
We need to teach those values.
They need to know them so that they don't
end up getting hurt in the future.
And that shame of our language
and who we are, and our ceremonial ways.
Losing those has caused big destruction
in our communities
Because our children,
as they're growing up,
they know who they are,
they came with the gift
of knowing who they are.
I have a responsibility to
pass those teachings
on to other children too,
because they will experiment,
they will explore
and we want to prevent them
from hurting each other or
hurting themselves, right?
(Singing and drums)
(Lorraine) They call that
oskeskwew (?) oskinîkiskwew (?)
young manhood and young womanhood.
I want to thank you and honor you for
coming into this world.
You are a blessing to us.
We are so very honored to have you
as part of us, Naheo school.
Always remember to hold your head up,
don't be ashamed
and always accept yourself for who you are
and honor those gifts you brought with you
And welcome into womanhood
Welcome.
It truly is a blessing
and an honor to have you
as a young Naheo iskwew (?),
A young Naheo woman. Welcome.
(children talking)
(Lorraine) Somehow, someway
fear got instilled in us
as indigenous people.
Shame got instilled in us
as indigenous people.
Our children, what they
experienced here today
taught them how sacred they are,
how important they are,
how beautiful they are and that
they're not just
beautiful in physical form.
that they're beautiful
in spiritual form too.
All we need to do is believe in them,
to love them, and to tell them that
they're important
and they'll start feeling
good about themselves.
I'm proud of them.
Their spirit is still alive and well.
(Narrator) What do you see being
the way forward
so that these young ones in the
community
can not only understand the language
and its relationship to their spirit
and their relationship, to the land
and each other and themselves,
but be speaking it?
How do you feel about
the future of the language in these
next generations to come?
We have to believe in ourselves
to be able to do it
and we need to set our goal
and if it's revitalizing the language,
then let's do that.
How did we learn Cree?
We learnt it sitting around
with the old people,
visiting each other and
our parents speaking to us, you know?
So we can get it back.
We just need to do it.
John Bigstone is a Wabiskaw elder
who carries vast spiritual and
ceremonial knowledge
He invited me to the land where
he holds sweat lodge ceremonies
to share teachings about the spirit
within our languages.
[Music]
[inhales deeply]
It clears your mind when
you breathe in this smudge
English language is inadequate
if you're going to describe spirit.
Anything of spirit.
Its inadequate.
They named it according to their
connection to that plant.
because they spoke to the plant
They had a connection.
They had a connection to all of life.
They understood their environment.
They understood that everything was alive,
and your spirtit has a connection
with that spirit
of mother earth, and everything
that grows on her body.
Prior to contact, everything was
described in a more spiritual way.
Mitos (?) you know,
has a spiritual meaning.
Sifta (?) as in spiritual meaning
that's the poplar and the spruce.
(...?) coming back to the language where
our families have had these interruptions
of residential school, the 60s' scoop
I'm curious what your thoughts are about
those of us with this blood in us
and whose ancestors have
spoken the language
and whether you think that
we have it inside of us
just waiting to come out,
this bone memory or blood memory
of the language.
Yeah, it's in yur DNA.
It's programmed in there already.
You just have to wake up that programming.
That's why you're here.