Voices on the Rise: Indigenous Language Revitalization in Alberta - Episode 1

[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.
See?

It's that programming,
and your spirit guide -

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

You're never alone.
You never walk alone,

your ancestors, your Cree
ancestors, walk with you,

they're assigned to you to guide you
where you need to be

That's the beauty if this
understanding of spirit

It happens in spirit

We are the result of spirit in action.
We become material.

That's a deeper teaching.

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

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

And it's interesting to think of these

European modalities or academic
ways of describing

how things are working.

And the way that I explain it to people is

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

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

I just know it's working
down here.

And I think it has connected
my heart and my spirit

in ways that weren't happening before.

When I say a prayer in the (...?)
gathering I say it in Cree.