A new program for Indigenous families in the area looks to help restore a language that was taken away from them during colonization.
The Upper Grand District School Board in collaboration with the Dufferin-Peel Catholic School board and Peel District School Board will be launching Anishinaabemowin Nanda-gikendan - “Seeking to Learn the Language,” in September.
The program will teach participants the basics of the Anishinaabemowin (Ojibway) language while also sharing aspects of the Anishinaabek culture with community guests and hands-on activities. There will be no age limit to join and no prior knowledge of the language is required.
Jodie Williams, an Indigenous education consultant for the DPCDSB, explains the program aims to help address challenges in providing language programs for Indigenous families part of the DPCDSB and the UGDSB.
“Listening to families in our area all requesting the same thing, which is access to language,” she said, “We are currently running a night school secondary program, which some students are attending ... the reality is, it’s very, very hard to find secondary language teachers.”
By having parents learn alongside their children, it also encourages the language to be spoken at home outside of the program.
Williams mentions the program is a hybrid model with courses online with occasional in-person sessions in Brampton, which they hope will turn the program into a sustainable concept.
“The flexibility and accessibility it has to offer gives us more possibilities as well,” said Williams.
Colinda Clyne, the UGDSB curriculum lead for First Nation, Metis and Inuit education, said the school boards are participating as part of their responsibilities to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls To Action.
“There are very specific calls to action, so school boards are showing this is a way we support that,” said Clyne, “So here’s an action the school board can say ‘this is what we’re doing.’”
For urban Indigenous students, Clyne mentions this is a beautiful opportunity to help them build a sense of community.
“I’m excited to see who comes as families rather than individuals,” she said, “It is about creating this hub, or a language nest, for folks.”
Unlike other languages where people can travel to different countries to learn them, there is nowhere else for people to go to learn Indigenous languages.
“Where are you going to send someone to learn Anishinaabemowin? It’s right here, it’s the language of right here.” said Clyne.
As a result, language programs like this one are important for restoring identities that had been taken away from Indigenous peoples during colonization.
“With the loss of language, the structures of community were taken away,” said Michelle Coutinho, an equity, diversity and inclusive education officer for the DPCDSB.
“There is a fracture in the timeline and now we have to start to restore that.”
While the program ends May 2022, Williams said the eventual goal is to see a language immersion program for Ojibway in schools in the future.
“The language is beautiful, it’s beautiful, it’s so complex with the depth of understanding knowing our connection to all of creation, it’s a spiritual language,” she said, “I want to see everyone accessing this language.”
Clyne said she really wants to see this program move into a day program as well.
“There’s a demand from the community in a way that there was not five years ago,” said Clyne.
“Now we’re starting to see those conversations where families are saying, ‘Where’s the opportunity for me to learn?’”
A registration form for the program can be filled out here.
