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Story Topic: Community

Community

Mini Cree Language Lesson by Doreen Oakes

Posted on January 26, 2021 by Steffany Salloum

Doreen Oakes offers a mini language lesson for audience members at the Regina Elders Gathering.

Doreen Oakes was a Cree language educator at the First Nations University of Canada in the Department of Indigenous Languages, Arts, and Cultures until June 30th, 2016. In February 2020, at the Regina Elders Gathering, Oakes shared a brief Cree language lesson in this video clip. Oakes invites the audience to introduce themselves by saying hello, my name is and I am from, in Cree. For example, tânisi Doreen Oakes niya Nekaneet First Nation nitocin. Watch the clip for correct pronunciation!

Significance of the Number Four in Indigenous Worldviews

Posted on by Steffany Salloum

Lynn Cote discusses a circular worldview model and discusses the meaning of the sacred number four. 

Lynn Cote was a guest speaker at the Regina Elders Gathering held in February 2020. Cote spoke about the importance of stories and language learning. Lynn Cote is a Saulteaux woman and educator from Cote First Nation, located north of Kamsack, Saskatchewan. In this clip, Cote discusses the importance of the number four in Saulteaux worldview and the importance of the circular worldview model. The worldview defines our relationship with the spirit land and all spirits that inhabit it.

The Seven Sacred Rites of the Lakota Oyate

Posted on by Steffany Salloum

In Lakota ceremonies we pray for good health, happiness, help, and understanding.

Tim Poitras is from Muskowpetung First Nation and is the Sundance Chief of Woptura and the Tiospaye of Pine Ridge South Dakota. At the Regina Elders Gathering held in February 2020, Poitras shares his knowledge and experiences in order to create an awareness of good health, happiness, help, and understanding. In his presentation he discusses the people of the Seven Council Fires, the Seven Sacred Rites of the Lakota Oyate, and the Creation Story. The history and knowledge Poitras shares reminds us to honour those that have left us to the spirit world and respect the knowledge and traditions of our people.

At the Regina Elders Gathering held in February 2020, Tim Poitras, from Muskowpetung First Nation, shared about his role in his community and his understanding of Lakota ceremonies. Poitras provides an overview of the Seven Sacred Rites of the Lakota Oyate including the following ceremonial rights:

  • Canupa: The Sacred Pipe Ceremony
  • Inipi: The Sweat Lodge;
  • Hanblecha: The Vision Quest
  • Wiwangwacipi: The Sun Dance;
  • Hunkapi: The Making of Relatives; The Keeping of The Soul;
  • Ishna Ta Awi Cha Lowan: Preparing a Girl for Womanhood and a Man for Manhood.

Dene Culture and the Catholic Church

Posted on by Steffany Salloum

Comparing and recognizing similarities between Dene beliefs and the beliefs of the Catholic Church.

Margaret Reynolds, a Dene woman from English River First Nation, shares about the differences in Dene beliefs compared to the beliefs of the Catholic Church, with an audience at the Prince Albert Elders Gathering in March 2020. Reynolds explains how the Catholic Church was domineering in the north and people have lived without their traditional culture for a long time. She understands that the Cree, Dene, Saulteaux in Saskatchewan all believe in the same way and these beliefs have parallels  beliefs of the Catholic Church. Thankfully though, a lot of Dene traditional ceremonies, songs, and drum are coming back after being suppressed for so long.

Dene Language Lesson

Posted on by Steffany Salloum

Margaret Reynolds shares a quick Dene language lesson focusing on the t-dialect.

Margaret Reynolds, a Dene woman from English River First Nation, shares the Dene language with an audience at the Prince Albert Elders Gathering in March 2020. First, she explains that Saskatchewan has 2 dialects the k-dialect (Black Lake, Fond du Lac, Stony) and the t-dialect (English River, etc.). She discusses the Denesuline language, sharing some words and meanings between dialects, acknowledging that there are over twenty Denesuline dialects across the country!

History and Timeline of the Dene People on Turtle Island

Posted on by Steffany Salloum

A sharing of the history of Dene people and the progression of losing language and culture since contact.

Margaret Reynolds, a Dene woman from English River First Nation, shares the history of Dene people on Turtle Island at the Prince Albert Elders Gathering in March 2020. Reynolds describes how life changed for the Dene people in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta during contact with Europeans. She discusses how the Dene people lived and the nature of trade relations with trading posts before small pox. 

Dene Hand Games

Posted on by Steffany Salloum

Elders and Knowledge Keepers from northern Saskatchewan demonstrate how to play a Dene Hand Game.

Elder Martin Broussie and Daniel Alphonse from Black Lake First Nation with Allan Adam and George MacDonald from Fond du Lac demonstrate how to play a Dene Hand Game at the Prince Albert Elders Gathering in March 2020. The Dene Hand Game is a guessing game where individual players or teams of players hide objects in one of their hands. The other team must guess which hand the object is in in order to score points – be careful though, points can be stolen!

A Case Study and an Assessment Framework for Land-Based Learning

Posted on by Steffany Salloum

Cree immersion and culture camps offer participants a culturally responsive education.

Founder of kâniyâsihk Culture Camps and initiator of the Cree Immersion School at Ministikwin Lake Cree Nation, Kevin Lewis is an Indigenous academic who has brought what he has learned about educating back to his community. Lewis is committed to land-based learning and Cree education and hopes to ensure his programs provide people, young and old, with a culturally responsive education. In order to evaluate these programs, he enlisted a colleague as an external reviewer who has experience establishing Maori schools and language centres in New Zealand. By evaluating both the school and the culture camps Lewis is learning about what students and parents are feeling, wanting, and thinking about these programs, which has informed how the program changes and adapts over time. The case study is considered a snapshot of the programs at a particular moment in time, and when the case study is combined with the Structured Assessments Framework for Land-Based Learning at kâniyâsihk Culture Camps, it becomes a model for evaluating such programs.

Dancing Circles: Strong Hoop, Strong Spirit

Posted on November 18, 2020 by Steffany Salloum

Bringing hoop dancing to life through an instructional video.

The video, Dancing Circles: Strong Hoop, Strong Spirit (2003), is a Cree/English Instructional Resource on Hoop Dancing. The Hoop Dance is the accompanying Teacher Resource and both are aligned with Saskatchewan Learning curriculum. These resources are shared with permission from the writer, Anna-Leah King, Division Tech Media at the University of Saskatchewan, and the Greater Saskatoon Catholic School Division.

Sacred Stories and Sacred Songs by Joseph Naytowhow

Posted on October 6, 2020 by Steffany Salloum

Guest speaker, Joseph Naytowhow conveys the importance of learning and sharing language through story and song. 

At the Saskatoon Elders Gathering in January 2020, Joseph Naytowhow shared stories and songs with the accompaniament of the drum. Naytowhow is a singer, songwriter, storyteller, voice and stage film actor, from Sturgeon Lake First Nation. He was invited to share Cree stories and songs at the Saskatoon Elder’s Gathering, hosted by First Nations University of Canada. Naytowhow beautifully weaves stories from his experiences with songs that he has written or has come to know and, in doing so, leads participants in singing and chanting along in Cree. He reminds us that, “we are from the Earth, and the land is our mother.”