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    Empowerment through revitalization of Indigenous language and education

    Empowerment through revitalization of Indigenous language and education

    Written by:
    Meredith Dault
    Education
    Meredith Dault
    June 19, 2020
    Teaser: 

    Of Canada鈥檚 approximately 60 Indigenous languages, all but 6 are in imminent danger of extinction. Queen's researcher Lindsay Morcom is working with Indigenous communities to help address this.

    Image: 
    [illustration- ring of sweetgrass]
    Main text: 

    To do Indigenous research well, regardless of your heritage, you should never go in and tell the community what to do. Instead, you go in and you listen, and then you ask them what they want.

    Lindsay Morcom thinks of the various aspects of her research as being like three strands of sweet grass braided together. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e three different streams, but closely connected,鈥� she says, explaining that each explores an aspect of Indigenized education and reconciliation. 鈥淲e can鈥檛 have one without the other.鈥�

    Since joining the Faculty of Education as an assistant professor in 2013, Dr. Morcom, who is also the coordinator of the (ITEP) at Queen鈥檚 and a Canada Research Chair in Language Revitalization and Decolonizing Education, has focused her attention on the revitalization听of Indigenous language and culture.

    [feather illustration]
    [hand with burning sweetgrass]

    The first strand:

    Language revitalization through immersion education

    As a linguist and educator who also identifies as Anishinaabe, Dr. Morcom is interested in the role native language plays in building self-esteem and improving graduation outcomes for Indigenous children.

    She is currently working in partnership with an Anishinabek immersion school on Manitoulin Island, Lakeview School at M鈥機higeeng First Nation, on a program called the Ngwaaganak Immersion Program helping to track the academic, linguistic, and personal development of children being educated in their Indigenous language.

    鈥淩esearch shows that children who speak their heritage language also have higher graduation rates,鈥� she says, explaining that the immersion program is based in a community where the Indigenous language is considered to be endangered. That鈥檚 why the United Chiefs and Council of Mnidoo Mnising , as part of a larger self-governance and self-determination policy, that by 2030 all of their community services would be available in Anishinabemowin (the language of the Anishinaabe people), which also requires that children have the opportunity to learn it fluently.

    Dr. Morcom, who is taking a community-based, collaborative approach to her research, is not only tracking cognitive development and school skills among students in the early immersion program, but also looking at their self-esteem and pride at being Anishinaabe people. 鈥淲e want to make sure that these children are learning the language 鈥� that鈥檚 of the utmost importance 鈥� but also that they will be able to engage academically on any path that they want,鈥� she says.

    Listen

    Main text: 
    English Anishinaabemowin Kanyen'k茅ha (Mohawk)
    Hello Aaniin 厂丑茅:办辞苍
    How are you? Gi-mino-ayaa na? Oh niyohtonh谩tye?
    Thank you Miigwech 狈测谩:飞别苍
    Goodbye (see you later) Baamaapi 脫听nen ki w谩hi
    My name is... ...ndishinikaaz ...测贸苍办测补迟蝉

    Audio provided by: Kayla Dettinger [English],听Maureen Buchanan [Anishinaabemowin], Nathan Thanyeht茅nhas Brinklow [Kanyen'k茅ha]

    听

    [wampum illustration]

    The second strand:

    Revitalizing Indigenous languages in Kingston

    Dr. Morcom is also committed to the development of Indigenous language in her own community. She is an active participant in the (KILN).听 KILN offers many programs, including bi-weekly language learning opportunities for families, free, community-based language classes for teens and adults, and language resources that are produced in partnership with other organizations, like Loving Spoonful and Community Story Strategies, as well as in-school language opportunities in partnership with school boards. The group focuses on Anishinaabemowin (the language of the Anishinaabe people) and Mohawk, the languages of this territory. 鈥淲e have always shared this territory, so we go back and forth between the two languages,鈥� says Dr. Morcom, explaining that meetings also honour the Dish with One Spoon treaty by building an inclusive community from different Indigenous Nations.

    As part of her research, Dr. Morcom helps to plan the language learning opportunities, which attract everyone from Elders in the community to children and are built using a non-hierarchical model, typical in Indigenous communities. Dr. Morcom says KILN events have become more than just a tool for learning languages: they are a place for Kingstonians to develop pride in their heritage and each other. 鈥淭he Kingston Indigenous Language Nest is inclusive of people at all language levels and from all walks of life,鈥� she says. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the real benefit of it.鈥�

    [two people conversing]

    The third strand:

    Championing Indigenized and reconciliatory education

    For Dr. Morcom, reconciliatory education means finding ways to create 鈥渕eaningful ally-ships鈥� between Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations, especially within the academic community. 鈥淚f we want things to improve in Canada, we have to question colonization and we have to look at how we can collaborate with settler communities in order to work towards reconciliation,鈥� she explains. 鈥淭hat is the issue. Language loss is still happening. Schools are still underfunded. Treaties are not honoured. Colonization is still happening.鈥�

    Dr. Morcom is part of a collaborative research group made up of Indigenous and non-Indigenous female researchers at universities across Canada who have looked at decolonizing and reconciliatory behaviour at various academic institutions, among other topics. As well as leading a well-received session on issues of reconciliation at the 2017 Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, the group co-edited an issue of the Canadian Journal of Native Education and will continue to co-author papers.听 They are currently collaborating on additional publications and conferences.

    鈥淭he research I do is so collaborative, but that鈥檚 how it should be in Native education,鈥� says Dr. Morcom, 鈥渂ecause if you are doing it by yourself in a corner, then you are not reflecting community.鈥�

    Main text: 

    Why is it important to revitalize听Indigenous languages?

    For Dr. Morcom, revitalizing听Indigenous language is critical to understanding the way a culture works. 鈥淟anguage gives us a unique way of expressing things,鈥� she says, explaining that many words do not translate easily into English. 鈥淕iven that a language develops in a specific territory, if it is lost we also lose the depth of the intellectual and linguistic traditions that it is tied to.鈥�

    Is Canada at risk of losing its Indigenous languages?

    Of Canada鈥檚 approximately 60 Indigenous languages, all but 6 are in imminent danger of extinction if we don鈥檛 do something to revitalize听and to propagate them.

    Indigenous language and self-esteem in children

    Statistics indicate that Indigenous children have lower high school graduation rates than their non-Indigenous peers, in part because their ways of knowing are at odds with the ways the mainstream education system expects them to learn. A child who is brought up in an Indigenous household may struggle when interacting with teachers, who may have a different way of interacting or conveying expectations, for the first time. 鈥淎 five-year-old has no way of knowing that he or she is coming from a different cultural paradigm,鈥� Dr. Morcom explains. 鈥淚nstead, they will just assume they are stupid.鈥� By contrast, educating children in a way that acknowledges and builds on their cultural heritage and allows them to learn in their native language, can make children more effective learners. 鈥淗aving education that is delivered in a culturally relevant way actually boosts self-esteem,鈥� says Dr. Morcom, 鈥渂ecause what they are learning matters to them.鈥�

    The Dish with One Spoon Treaty

    The Dish with One Spoon treaty is a treaty between the Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee peoples. Long before contact with European settlers, these groups had frequently lived in conflict due to their different approaches to living on the land. They eventually developed a treaty binding them to share territory and protect the land. 鈥淭he Dish with One Spoon treaty honours everyone鈥檚 right to be on the territory, and nobody鈥檚 right to take too much,鈥� says Dr. Morcom.

    The Indigenous听Teacher Education Program at Queen鈥檚

    The (ITEP) provides a unique opportunity for teacher candidates 鈥� particularly those with Indigenous heritage 鈥� to specialize in Indigenous听education. The program offers courses on topics from Indigenous perspectives to Indigenous-specific and student鈥揷entered learning, and gives students access to an Elder-in-Residence. ITEP is offered on campus as well as on reserve through our Manitoulin-North Shore community-based program.听听As one of the first such programs in Ontario, it now boasts more than 400 alumni working as teachers and administrators with school boards across Canada, as well as in museums and with governments.

    Acknowledging traditional lands at Queen鈥檚

    People at Queen鈥檚 acknowledge the fact that the university is situated on traditional Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee territory. In doing so, they are recognizing the people who lived on the land before the arrival of European settlers. They are also acknowledging the territory鈥檚 significance for the Indigenous people who lived on it, as well as for those who continue to live on it, whose practices and spiritualties were and remain tied to the land.

    Indigenous language resources at Queen's

    成人大片 Library, working with the Kingston Indigenous Languages Nest, support the 听and research guides.

    [Photo of Lindsay Morcom]
    Lindsay Morcom: Bringing research into her classroom and Indigenous communities

    Lindsay Morcom: Bringing research into her classroom and Indigenous communities

    Lindsay Morcom shares her experiences of bringing her research into her classroom and Indigenous communities.

    Image: 
    [turtle island emoji]

    Illustrator: Chief Lady Bird

    Main text: 

    Nancy King is a First Nations (Potawatomi and Chippewa) artist from Rama First Nation. Her Anishinaabe name is Ogimaakwebnes, which means Chief Lady Bird. She has completed her BFA in drawing and painting with a minor in Indigenous visual culture at OCAD University and has been exhibiting her work since she was 14 years old. Through her art practice, she strives to look to the past to help her navigate her Anishinaabe identity whilst living in an urban space as well as advocate for Indigenous representation as an integral aspect of Canada鈥檚 national identity.听

    In 2018, Chief Lady Bird was commissioned by Twitter to design an emoji, 鈥淭urtle Island鈥� for National Indigenous Month (June).

    Researcher Profile
    Canada Research Chair in Language Revitalization and Decolonizing Education

    Lindsay Morcom

    Building on current on-reserve and urban research on language revitalization: this research will use a multigenerational approach and work in partnership with Indigenous communities to identify goals and best practices for education and language planning.

    More about this Researcher
    Topics: 
    Exploring human dimensions and culture
    Equity, diversity and inclusion
    Future skills and innovation