A community centre in Toronto is hosting creative classes to teach locals how to speak Anishinaabemowin, as one local expert raises an alarm on disappearing Indigenous languages.
Membership-based, non-for-profit organization Native Canadian Centre of Toronto has been a meeting spot for First Nations people in the city since it was founded in 1962. Since then, the centre offers not only a community for people to connect but multiple programs and services that are based on Indigenous traditions, culture and teachings.
One of these initiatives is the Anishinaabemowin program, which offers interactive classes that teach a range of people from different ages and backgrounds about the language through creative activities.
The program, which hosted its first Fall/Winter session on Wednesday, offers 38 classes with both online and in-person components, with sessions on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 6–8 p.m. at the Talking Room on 16 Spadina Rd.
Lena Recollet, a Wikwemikong First Nation member, born and raised on Manitoulin Island in Northern Ontario, is the program manager and teacher.
She tells Now Toronto that her background in art, web design and education, as well as her familiarity with the language, have shaped the program’s diverse and creative components. Besides conducting the classes, she is also responsible for shaping the curriculum and class materials.
“A lot of Indigenous language teachers do [this], we kind of create our own resources, we create our own curriculum. So, it was something I was also confident and familiar with,” she said.
Growing up surrounded by Anishinaabemowin, Recollet says she was able to pick up on the language, but confesses that she isn’t as fluent as her mother.
“When you’re in it, you don’t realize how much of a blessing it is, especially when you’re young, and especially if you’re from a small town. It wasn’t until I moved to [Toronto] that I missed it,” she said.
“When I was 21 and I was studying theatre, I was learning and then I got into writing my own scripts, which led me to writing songs and short films and poetry. And then, I started combining arts and the Anishinaabemowin because I was trying to get in the habit of learning it myself and speaking it myself.”
Now, Recollet uses her familiarity with the language, teaching skills, and creative abilities to pass on the knowledge to other generations.
The Anishinaabemowin program involves much more than vocabulary building and writing on the chalk board. The manager says they often engage in creative activities from writing their own scripts based on Shakespearean sonnets, which help them practice pronunciation, to sewing traditional clothing.
“I started to include this in my language teaching to get students confident and to feel the rhythm of the language that way. And some of them told me that…it makes it easier for them to read,” she said.
Classes are inclusive and welcome students from different backgrounds and ability levels, while most of them are adults. Recollet says that non-Indigenous learners are also welcome, but says that their classes are altered to preserve some crafts and teachings for Indigenous speakers only.
“We have a mixed group. I have one elder that comes in and he looks forward to it, and I think he just likes being around it, and I’ve had some fluent speakers attend,” she said.
“When there’s non-Indigenous people in my class, I don’t talk about sacred teachings, but what I find when people are attending my class that are non-Indigenous…they’re respectful towards the cultural side of it, and they don’t overstep from the other language learners.”
INDIGENOUS LANGUAGES DISAPPEARING
Recollet revealed that while doing research for her program, she found that some local communities have been missing the language. Most of the people that still speak it fluently were mostly older, which also generates concerns over being able to pass on the knowledge to next generations.
“I’m finding that sometimes they only have one or two fluent speakers in the community, and sometimes they might not be comfortable being documented or interviewed, or they just like to keep to themselves. So, I found that’s a little bit sad too.”
Dr. Wendy Makoons Geniusz, a professor at York University’s Sociology Department, tells Now Toronto that across the globe, there seems to be a concerning trend of Indigenous languages disappearing.
Growing up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Geniusz, who is a Red River Métis citizen, has long been working with Ojibwe language revitalization projects. According to her, although there is growing concern, some projects in Canada and abroad have been seeing progress in bringing these languages back to life.
“In Indigenous communities around the world, there are some communities, some languages, even that… are sleeping because they don’t have living speakers today,” she said.
“There’s some communities that have actually made a lot of progress in not just revising but awakening languages that hadn’t been spoken for a few decades…But we’re no place out of the dark with Indigenous languages. We’re certainly at a time when we really need everyone working on reviving them and revitalizing them.”
WHY ARE LANGUAGES IMPORTANT?
According to Geniusz, for Indigenous people, language is not only an important means for communication with community members, but also a vital aspect of their cultural identity.
The expert adds many communities are left without being able to perform certain rituals and ceremonies, for which these dialects are essential.
“[Languages] are tied to our health, they’re tied to our healing. They’re the only way that we can communicate with other beings on the planet. Our religions are centered around our languages…They are like a conduit to our ancestors. That’s how we not only can communicate with our ancestors, but it’s the way that we can try to see the world like our ancestors thought,” she said.
“There are some ceremonies in some communities that simply can’t be done, there is not a speaker that can do them. There are some places where you can’t bury a person in the culture, you can’t do that kind of funeral if you can’t speak.”
Moreover, Geniusz explains that languages also have the power to shape people’s view of the world, and give them the possibility of thinking about creative perspectives and solutions to common problems. Hence, the loss of these perspectives also constitutes another concern over this loss.
“If everyone speaks the same, like, four or five languages, which is kind of where we’re getting at in the world, we’re only going to have one way, or two, or maybe four ways of looking at things,” she said. “It’s not just an issue for the community that’s trying to revive their language, it’s really a global, human, and I would say just all-life encompassing thing.”
Meanwhile, the professor says that projects that encourage people to practice Indigenous languages, and spark interest in them, are very important to make sure the language doesn’t disappear.
For the Anishinaabemowin program, Recollet hopes to be able to expand, bringing more fun activities, digital components, and maybe even inspire some of her students to also become teachers.
“It’s a lot of work, but it’s also very fulfilling work. I feel very blessed, where at the end of the day I am thankful, because even when I’m teaching, I learn too,” she said.
“I always tell people to be the next Anishinaabemowin teacher, because we have to pass this down and building our confidence and speaking and supporting, supporting that is very important.”
