Kindergarten Mi'kmaw immersion program aims to keep the language strong in Listuguj, Que.
CBC
On a warm, clear day in February, Brenda Germain picks up a large hand drill and asks her students to gather around.
Drill in hand, she shows the children how to cut through the thick ice covering Chaleur Bay, on Quebec's Gaspé coast.
"Base concumi — the ice is this thick," her colleague and aunt, Joyce Germain, tells the students as they kneel over the hole, hoping to catch some smelt, or kaqpesaw.
The class outing is being held entirely in Mi'kmaw — a language that Brenda Germain says she "didn't speak a word" of, just a decade earlier.
"I spent 35 years of my life thinking, 'ah man, I missed the boat,'" she said.
But her life — and her teaching career — took a sharp turn in 2018, when she switched roles in the classroom. Brenda Germain enrolled as a student in the Mi'kmaw adult immersion program, offered by the Elawsimgewei Gina'muo'guom Adult Education Centre in Listuguj, Que.
In addition to the classes, "just from coming out on the land with [Miss] Joyce every day has taught me" the language, she said.
"It's super important to tell people: no matter what age you are, you can start somewhere."
She is now not only fluent in Mi'kmaw but also at the forefront of language revitalization in Listuguj. Brenda Germain was instrumental in building the Forest Kindergarten program, which takes the classroom outside, centred around Mi'kmaw immersion.
She first pitched the idea to the school's principal after seeing a short clip about outdoor learning in Germany and the Netherlands. The answer came the very next day: yes.
A base camp was built in the forest near the community. After their outings, the kindergarten students gather there at the end of the day, to reflect on what they've learned.
"It's embedded in who we are and you can't separate the two — outdoors and Mi'kmaw way," Brenda Germain said.
Miss Joyce, in addition to being Brenda's aunt, has also been a Mi'kmaw teacher for 23 years. She was involved with the development of Mi'kmaw learning at Alaqsitew Gitpu School from Day 1.
"My passion was to teach the language and it's always been a part of me — and it's part of our community," she said.
P.E.I.'s Public Schools Branch is looking for 50 substitute bus drivers, and it'll be recruiting at three job fairs on Saturday, June 8. The job fairs are located at the Atlantic Superstore in Montague, Royalty Crossing in Charlottetown, and the bus parking lot of Three Oaks Senior High in Summerside. All three run from 9 a.m. until noon. Dave Gillis, the director of transportation and risk management for the Public Schools Branch, said the number of substitute drivers they're hiring isn't unusual. "We are always looking for more. Our drivers tend to have an older demographic," he said.