Learning Indigenous Languages

Every so often the call goes out to non-Indigenous Canadians to do our part to preserve the languages of First Nations' peoples. Former Governor General Adrienne Clarkson made such an appeal in a Globe and Mail article published this past weekend. As many Indigenous languages are in decline, the urgency of this issue is clear. In the Calls to Action published as part of its summary report, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada asks the federal government "to acknowledge that Aboriginal rights include Aboriginal language rights." As Clarkson states, we cannot tell Canada's story without Indigenous languages.

Where to begin? There are so many good online resources for learning languages such as Michif (Métis), Míkmawísimk (Mi'kmaq), and many more. The library can help!

On the Halifax (K'jipuktuk) Public Libraries' website, we feature a page devoted to Mi'kmaq Resources with links to documents and sites which provide information on Mi'kmaq history, genealogy, politics, culture, and language learning. We also feature many books and other Mi'kmaq-language materials in our collection. Learn something new and help to preserve something essential to the land we all share. It's never been easier!

Walqupaqtek [Mud Puddle] by Robert Munsch

Wiklatmu'j [The Little Person] by Mary Rose Julian

Long powwow nights!: Iskewsis -- dear mother = Mawio'mi amasiwula'kwl: Iskewsis-- nkij by David Bouchard and Pam Aleekuk

Foundation for Mi'kmaw/Miigmao Language Curriculum

Miigemeoiisoltinetj: Let's speak Micmac (levels 1-6)

Backgrounding the News, Part 2: Indian Residential Schools and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission

On June 2nd of this year, Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission achieved a historic milestone: after six years of gathering testimony from 7, 000 witnesses, the Commission released a summary from its final report into the history and legacy of the Indian Residential School system in Canada.

The numbers are striking. Over 100 years, 139 residential schools operated across Canada. Before the the last school was finally shut down in 1996, 150, 000 First Nation, Métis, and Inuit students had been made to attend these institutions, leaving an estimated 80, 000 Survivors and 6, 000 dead children. More arresting, however, are the statements made by survivors, in their own words.

Although the full report will not be made available until later in the year, the summary includes 94 recommendations which call on the various levels of government, public servants, teachers, and other Canadians to acknowledge the direct harm done by the Indian Residential School system to First Nation, Métis, and Inuit children and their families. More broadly, the Commission has drawn up the terms by which the relationship among our various peoples can and must go forward.


To better understand the experiences of residential school Survivors and to learn more about what you can do to engage in this process of reconciliation, have a look at these books from Halifax Public Libraries' own collection.

The Education of Augie Merasty: a residential school memoir by Joseph Auguste Merasty with David Carpenter

They Called Me Number One: secrets and survival at an Indian residential school by Bev Sellars

Back to the Red Road: a story of survival, redemption and love by Florence Kaefer and Edward Gamblin

Out of the depths : the experiences of Mi'kmaw children at the Indian Residential School at Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia by Isabelle Knockwood, with Gillian Thomas

Rethinking the Great White North: race, nature, and the historical geographies of whiteness in Canada, edited by Andrew Baldwin, Laura Cameron, and Audrey Kobayashi

The Comeback by John Ralston Saul

Dreaming in Indian: contemporary Native American voices, edited by Lisa Charleyboy and Mary Beth Leatherdale.

Indigenous Healing: exploring traditional paths by Rupert Ross