Hear Indigenous Languages

One of the core messages NCCIE regional teams have heard in their workshops and collaborations with communities is the central importance of languages for and as part of Indigenous education. Languages are integrally connected to the land and need to be strengthened across the country.

To support People’s efforts to reclaim and strengthen Indigenous languages, NCCIE initiated a pilot project in its second year to have more Indigenous languages heard on the website. The aim of this project was to make available ten stories about Indigenous education programs in different Indigenous languages (plus French and English), coinciding with the goals of the United Nations declaration of 2019 as ‘The Year of Indigenous Languages’ to raise people’s awareness of:

• Indigenous languages’ contribution to the world’s cultural diversity, and
• Indigenous languages’ central importance for Indigenous ways of knowing.

While aiming to represent as many languages as possible, the pilot project began with five. These recordings can be used as educational resources by language instructors in their lessons with language learners. Here is the list of languages you may hear when you click on the stories to the right:

• Dene
• Inuktitut
• Kanien’kéha (Mohawk)
• Michif
• Nehiyawak (Plains Cree)
• Plus French and English

These dialects represent languages found in different geographic areas across the country. Due to the technical challenges associated with this pilot project, it was not feasible to include all of the approximately 60 Indigenous languages still spoken in Canada today.

Deepest gratitude is extended to the following language speakers for their contributions to the ‘Hear Indigenous Languages’ Pilot Project:

• Dene
  • Allan Adam
  • Jessie Sylvestre
• Inuktitut
  • Alexander Alook
  • David Arngnasungaaq
  • Carmen Ikuutaq
• Kanien’kéha (Mohawk)
  • Denise McQueen
  • Frank Miller
• Michif
  • Verna De Montigny
• Nehiyawak (Plains Cree)
  • Dorothy Myo
• French
  • Catherine Charest
  • Guy Michaud