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Story Topic: Language

Interview Language(s)

The Seven Sacred Rites of the Lakota Oyate

Posted on January 26, 2021 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 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.

Elements of Art – Textures in Our Environment

Posted on November 22, 2020 by Alina Perrault

Elements of Art – Textures in Our Environment explores the connection between art and life. It links Indigenous values, such as our connection to water and our protection of Mother Earth, to artistic representations. In this lesson, Sara Leah Hindy, a Mi’kmaw teacher, introduces the significance of place and explores textures in one of her […]

Elements of Art – Textures in Our Environment explores the connection between art and life. It links Indigenous values, such as our connection to water and our protection of Mother Earth, to artistic representations. In this lesson, Sara Leah Hindy, a Mi’kmaw teacher, introduces the significance of place and explores textures in one of her favourite places, the beach. Using a rock collected on the beach, Marcus Gosse, a Mi’kmaw artist, then guides students on an artistic journey that weaves together a story of people and place through petroglyph-inspired rock art. Following the lesson, students are encouraged to explore their own special places and create a story that they would like to share through an art piece, uniquely theirs.

The complete lesson, Elements of Art – Textures in Our Environment, can be found in NCCIE’s Teaching Resource Centre at https://www.nccie.ca.

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.”

Art Petahtegoose – Thinking in Our Language and Our Role in Creation

Posted on May 7, 2020 by John Vallely

An Elder, who is preparing Anishinaabe people to be responsible, knowledgeable about their culture, creation and to show us our own personal role in Creation.

An Elder, who is preparing Anishinaabe people to be responsible, knowledgeable about their culture, creation and to show us our own personal role in Creation.

Délina Petit Pas, Chair and Director, Mi’kmaw Language and Culture Programs, Mi’kmaw Heritage Research and Restoration Association

Posted on April 16, 2020 by Lisa Jodoin

Délina Petit Pas is the Chair and Director of the Mi’kmaw Language and Culture Programs with the Mi’kmaw Heritage Research and Restoration Association (MHRRA), which is a not-for-profit society based in Nova Scotia.  In the interview, she describes the culture and language revitalization camps and classes offered by MHRRA in several Newfoundland communities. At the […]

Délina Petit Pas is the Chair and Director of the Mi’kmaw Language and Culture Programs with the Mi’kmaw Heritage Research and Restoration Association (MHRRA), which is a not-for-profit society based in Nova Scotia.  In the interview, she describes the culture and language revitalization camps and classes offered by MHRRA in several Newfoundland communities. At the camps, participants learn the basics of the Smith-Francis Mi’kmaw orthography and gain a deeper understanding of their language in relation to Mi’kmaw culture and traditions. Videos of esteemed Elders Bernie Francis and Curtis Michael at the camps can be found at http://vimeo.copm/channels/mhrra

Making Cree Resources and Traditional Stories Accessible

Posted on April 14, 2020 by Steffany Salloum

Solomon Ratt is an educator who has dedicated his life to teaching, while also creating and translating resources into Cree.

Solomon Ratt is an Associate Professor of Indigenous Languages at First Nations University of Canada. Ratt has been teaching Cree and creating Cree language learning and teaching resources since the 1970’s. He says, growing up there was no access to Indigenous literature and now, because of some key players like Freda Ahenikew and the Saskatchewan Indigenous Cultural Centre (SICC), there has been significant progress in writing both traditional stories and other stories in Cree. Despite what some people say about writing and sharing traditional Cree stories in written form, Ratt believes in order for the language to survive we need to be able to write our stories in our languages so that they are available for the next generation. More and more of our people are isolated without a community of mentors who will teach us the language – writing it and creating ways online for people to access it is crucial to its survival and the survival of our cultures. Ratt suggests a number of resources that are effective in language learning and most of them are accessible through SICC.

Resources: 

– SayITFirst Books

– Cree Literacy Network

– Saskatchewan Indigenous Cultural Centre