‘I want the heart of our being, our language, to stay beating in our homes and communities’
CBC Indigenous: Indigenous language advocates are asking if universities are doing enough to support language revitalization.
During a talk at Carleton University in Ottawa last month, Owennatekha Maracle, co-founder of Onkwawenna Kentyohkwa, a Kanien’kéha (Mohawk language) immersion program in Six Nations of the Grand River, asked whether universities really care about Indigenous languages.
Maracle, who is Turtle Clan from Six Nations, said if they did, they would align their linguistic departments’ objectives with those of the communities, with the “long-term goal of reestablishing the chain of intergenerational transmission of the language from parent to child.”
Maracle told CBC Indigenous that universities need to ask themselves if they’re contributing to strengthening Indigenous languages or if they’re “taking away an instructor who was performing a crucial function within that language community.” He suggested universities with linguistic departments partner with local language groups and schools rather than luring speakers away from communities.
“I want the heart of our being, our language, to stay beating in our homes and communities,” he said. “I want my grandchildren’s grandchildren to still see the world and see the life my ancestors sought.”
Onkwawenna Kentyohkwa currently has partnerships with Western University in London, Ont., and McMaster University in Hamilton.
Ivona Kucerova, a linguistics professor at McMaster University, is working alongside the Kanien’kéha immersion program on two projects. She said Onkwawenna Kentyohkwa was an “incredible” program operating with limited, “unsecured funding because they’re outside of the regular funding educational structures.” She said she is mindful of doing meaningful work in the community rather than imposing the university’s objectives.
Ryan Decaire, an assistant professor in the Department of Linguistics and Centre for Indigenous Studies at the University of Toronto, is Kanien’kehá:ka from Wáhta Mohawk Territory. He is a graduate of Onkwawenna Kentyohkwa and still a part-time instructor there.
“There’s a lot of money that gets put in what might be termed as language revitalization, that isn’t put in places that would actually have a large impact,” he said.
He said linguistic research, guest speakers and consultant work that is not guided by a community-centred approach use language dollars that could be better spent elsewhere. He said language teachers, although specialists in their field, are paid less than university professors despite taking on teaching and administrative duties, and serving as social workers for students.
At the University of Toronto, he’s been advocating for a satellite campus at Six Nations, administered by Six Nations. “I’m not saying that things like those partnerships with these universities that we have aren’t meaningful and they don’t have an impact at all,” he said.
“They are certainly a stepping stone.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Candace Maracle, Reporter
Candace Maracle is Wolf Clan from Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory. She has a master’s degree in journalism from Toronto Metropolitan University. She is a laureate of The Hnatyshyn Foundation REVEAL Indigenous Art Award. Her latest film, a micro short, Lyed Corn with Ash (Wa’kenenhstóhare’) is completely in the Kanien’kéha language.