Banais-Que Henry struggles with homesickness so she can return to the southern shores of Lake Huron to help raise her nephew and his Anishinaabemowin peers.
“Nigaan-inaabidan” is the phrase that comes to mind for the 19-year-old when asked to describe her mission in Manitoba.
“It means 'think ahead – think ahead,'” said Henry, a member of Stony Point First Nation, located in Ontario, about 2,000 kilometers east of Winnipeg.
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Aandeg Muldrew is the coordinator of the Anishinaabemowin language program at the U of B.
“Anishinaabe people tend to talk a lot about seven generations forward and seven generations back, so when I think about learning the language, I take time to think.”
Henry's thoughts and aspirations—she wants to open a kindergarten through 12th grade immersion school in her community—led her to a history-making group at the University of Winnipeg.
The U of W welcomed 17 students this week as they began developing a new curriculum that will allow participants to immerse themselves in learning their second language.
After meeting at a ceremony and celebration on campus Monday, students spoke about their motivations for enrolling in the first-of-its-kind program in Manitoba.
Many of them spoke of a desire to reconnect with their Ojibwa ancestors and become active participants in the language revitalization movement.
According to the latest census data, there are approximately 7,000 Ojibwa speakers in Manitoba. Between 2016 and 2021, the percentage of speakers dropped by almost 12 percent.
“We need to create a pathway for people – make it easier, make it natural. This is what our community has been asking for,” said program coordinator Andrew Muldrew.
Muldrew's team is finalizing an application to the UW Senate seeking approval of a Bachelor of Arts in Indigenous Language Immersion in Anishinaabemowin.
The three-year degree is planned to consist of new credits as well as existing introductory and intermediate language courses at the downtown campus.
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Banais-Que Henry is one of 17 students in the first cohort of the Anishinaabemowin language program.
The task is especially difficult, Muldrew said, because “our language is a living language” and is learned by speaking to fluent speakers rather than by reading texts.
Anishinaabemowin was typically passed down through oral history, and scientists plan to take that into account when implementing the program, according to the assistant professor of anthropology.
Muldrew attributes much of his personal understanding of language to spending time with his grandmother, Pat Ningevans Nadeau, a renowned language instructor at the University of Manitoba.
He grew up in Winnipeg, although his paternal family is from the Lac Seoul First Nation in Ontario.
As a self-proclaimed “student” of his grandmother, he said he spent countless hours listening to her speak and participating in language classes and immersion camps.
U of W will assign each student a mentor to practice speaking skills as well as participate in group discussions.
An intensive “field school” is being prepared this summer so students can spend time speaking Anishinaabemowin in a more relaxed environment outside the city.
U of W draws inspiration from the University of Minnesota and Algoma University.
The last one, in Sault Ste. Marie is the only Canadian university that already offers a three-year bachelor's degree in Anishinaabemowin. The program is advertised as a program that allows graduates to “gain a functional level of verbal fluency” and gain a better understanding of Ojibwa history and worldview.
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Henry wants to open a kindergarten through 12th grade immersion school in Stony Point First Nation.
Students in the U of W Immersion Program met Tuesday for their first formal class. Participants were assigned to six hours of face-to-face training, divided into two three-hour blocks each week.
The Kinew government has committed $2.3 million to create a program designed to create a pool of fluent speakers in the province and create a path to teacher certification.
Last year, the province updated the Public Schools Act to recognize Indigenous languages as official languages of instruction, along with English and French.
Premier Wab Kinew, who speaks English, French and Anishinaabemowin, has been outspoken in his concerns about the need for urgent action to preserve Indigenous languages.
Kinew is currently using artificial intelligence tools to create an automatic translator for Anishinaabemowin.
Maggie McIntosh
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