For the love of languages

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This article was published 18/03/2014 (4438 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Aboriginal Youth Opportunities (AYO!), an anti-violence and community building movement in Winnipeg’s North End, is attempting to revitalize aboriginal languages.

The AYO Language Hour started on Feb. 4 and is held every Tuesday at 4 p.m. at Neechi Commons (865 Main St.). The classes alternate between the Cree and Anishinaabe languages, instructed by Susan Caribou and Agnes Catcheway respectively.

“Aboriginal Youth Opportunities looks to address stereotypes, reverse hypocrisy and have institutional solutions to the challenges we’re looking at, but we also want to base our solutions on traditional teachings,” says Michael Champagne, 26, one of the originators of AYO!’s Meet Me at the Bell Tower event, which takes place every Friday at 6 p.m. at Selkirk Avenue and Powers Street.

“We use the medicine wheel in our decision making and we use the seven sacred teachings in our relationship development with one another and with other groups. We respect our elders and listen to our elders, but sometimes we can’t communicate with our elders because they’re speaking in a language we don’t understand.”

Caribou, 49, said she was forbidden to speak her native language while attending residential school.

“When we got out of the residential school, we could barely understand our elders,” Caribou said. “I was sad that I didn’t understand my own language. That’s what I’m feeling with our new generation. I’m saddened they don’t speak or understand Cree.”

Mary LeMaître, a French studies instructor at the University of Winnipeg, learned to speak Cree while studying languages at the University of Manitoba. She said aboriginal languages are some of the easiest languages to learn because they are highly structured.

“Of all the languages I’ve studied, Cree is the most regular. There’s like three exceptions in the language, English is one big exception,” LeMaître said.

Toussaint Arcel, who is originally from France, is participating in the aboriginal language classes. He said understanding a language is critical to understanding the culture it comes from.

“English is English, the way you express in English is the pretty much the same everywhere,” Arcel said. “In French, we don’t express things the same way. Even the words themselves don’t have the same meaning. When you say ‘Thank you,’ you give thanks to a person. In French, ‘merci’, we ask the person to be merciful. In the end, it’s another meaning. You can only really understand the culture by that process.”

Champagne said the best way to learn Anishinaabe, Cree or any language is by developing relationships with people who speak the language you want to learn. That being said, he picked himself up a handy English/Cree pocket dictionary at Neechi Niche.

“I’ve been carrying it around for a couple weeks,” Champagne said. “Right now I’m learning how to count. How do you say number one? Peyak. Although I’m probably saying that wrong.”

“No, you got it right,” Caribou said.

“Yes, one down. I mean peyak down,” Champagne said.