FIRST STORIES

In a brightly-lit classroom, the teacher speaks with the seven millennial adults forming a semi-circle. One by one, the teacher asks them questions in Mohawk, and they respond – not without struggle – in their ancestral language.

 

This is no ordinary lesson, and it is no ordinary institute. The students are enrolled in a two-year program at the Onkwawenna Kentyohkwa (Our Language Society) on the Six Nations Grand River Territory near Brantford, Ont.

 

The community-based organization was launched in 1998 to teach Kanyen’keha (the “Mohawk” language) to adults in order to help them reclaim their languages. Today, it operates an immersion program.

 

One student wants to be able to speak Mohawk with her children while another wants to speak the language with his parents. The simple act of communicating has become a near luxury.

 

Through centuries of colonialism, and particularly the government-run Indian residential school system, Indigenous peoples across Canada (and the U.S.) are at the risk of losing their languages, and by extension, their cultures.

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In 2008 the Canadian government set up the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to look into the many abuses of the 150,000 Indigenous children at residential schools that operated from the 1870s until 1996.

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The Commission heard eyewitness accounts of physical and sexual abuse, poor living conditions, inadequate food and efforts to take away the children’s Indigenous cultures, including their languages.  

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In 2015 the TRC issued 94 calls to action with the intent of reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. Five of those actions relate to preservation of languages.

 

Our conversations with Indigenous and non-Indigenous people revealed a range of opinions and approaches to TRC.

 

The diversity of views on this issue is also encapsulated through the voices of Indigenous authors speaking of reconciliation, which is available along with other web extras

 

This publication would not have been possible without our numerous sources. We are grateful for them to not only speak with us, but to trust us with telling their stories. Since most of our sources were “First Peoples,” we named our publication “First Stories.”

 

Lastly, we would like to acknowledge the efforts of our editor Tim Doyle, whose guidance and support was much needed.

 

Thank you

 

Bambang Sadewo

Michael Linennen
Neil Powers
Zaid Noorsumar