Nova Scotia has moved to recognize Mi’kmaw as the province’s First Language.
While this is not to be confused with an “official language” it is being hailed as an important step.
Language and Identity
Language is an important part of our identity.
In many First Nations communities, the amount of people who speak the language is shrinking, and languages are “dying” or “lost”.
Jeremy Dutcher (a member of the Tobique First Nation in New Brunswick and Polaris Prize winner) recently has focused on reviving Wolastoq songs through his work as a performer and composer.
What happens when language is lost?
A part of history disappears.
A part of ones’ culture disappears.
Language connects us to each other and to our collective past. As language is lost, so are the nuances it brings with it.
The Impact of Language
I have often heard that there are many Inuktitut words for snow.
A google search brought up this article that explains this a bit. What I learned while reading it is that language is instructive, and beautiful.
Languages shape our cultures and are shaped by our cultures and surroundings.
If we take the snow example, the many different ways to describe snow (and the way that Inuktitut is organized) mean Inuit people have more specific information about something that is critical for living and surviving in the Canadian north.
Language adapts
I imagine that just like we adapt our housing to the environment, so too do we adapt things like language – to make us more prepared, safer, more able to survive.
Consider the many ways we have recently shortened the English language to accommodate social media and texting. And how it not only gives us short-hand, but connects us (and can also exclude, if we are not “with it”).
And some of these short forms are language-specific: xo as hug and kiss is not something my Austrian cousins understood the first time I used it in a text message.
So what…
As Nova Scotia moves towards making Mi’kmaw its official First Language, we have to consider the impact – and the goal.
If preserving the language is the goal, then how do we make this language part of general Mi’Kmaw education? And to what extent does that apply outside of Indigenous communities?
As we consider the low numbers of children learning Mi’kmaw, we cannot overlook the fact that education within First Nations communities is sorely underfunded by the Canadian Government.
And then what?
While learning Mi’kmaw itself will have positive implications for Mi’kmaq in Nova Scotia, what else can it mean for a language to be declared a provinces first language?
How does this important distinction travel beyond Mi’kmaq communities?
And how can this recognition create greater awareness, understanding and inclusion moving forward?
I look forward to seeing how this unfolds….
Pay attention!
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