What Indigenous language revitalization looks like in northern Ontario

Cassandra Spade of Mishkeegogamang First Nation began learning her language later in life. As a young adult, she had plans to enrol in law school, but changed course, tugged by a feeling that a part of her was missing.

"It came back to that piece of identity and that language is so important to understanding who you are," Spade said. 

She began to immerse herself in Anishinaabemowin by taking language classes and working with elders in First Nations in northwestern Ontario.

Spade is one of many people across northern Ontario — and across Canada — who are fighting for Indigenous languages to survive and thrive. As more people prioritize language revitalization, creative resources and new opportunities are being created. 

More than 70 Indigenous languages are spoken across Canada, and they can be divided into 12 language families. 

Across the country, 189,000 individuals reported having an Indigenous mother tongue, alone or in combination with another language, and 183,000 reported speaking an Indigenous language at home at least on a regular basis in 2021, according to the latest census data from Statistics Canada. Of these, 86,000 spoke predominantly an Indigenous language at home. 

If Spade and others have their way, those numbers will only grow in the coming years. 

Her own efforts to learn her language only sparked her desire to do more, and she eventually reached out to her auntie, Arleen Ash of Mishkeegogamang First Nation, for help. She knew her auntie was a fluent speaker and could open her up to more opportunities to engage in conversation. 

Spade and Ash now teach  Anishinaabemowin together for the Nishnawbe Aski Nation, which represents 49 First Nation communities in northern Ontario. The two of them value the language and contribute to its survival. One way they teach is by having students hear Anishinaabe stories in their mother tongue.

"It's such an impactful way for students to actually hear how that story is told by that storyteller when they are speaking their language," Ash said. "It's beautiful." 

Others are seizing the potential of technology to help carry language forward. 

The Anishinaabemodaa App is a language platform created in partnership with the organization Say It First, the Rainy River District School Board and Seven Generations Education Institute, which serves Treaty 3 Territory, as part of a larger language revitalization strategy. 

The goal of the learning tool is language revitalization for younger generations, said Mike Parkhill, founder of Say It First.

"It's a moral imperative that we need to drive toward, always, in order to keep a healthy society," Parkhill said.