Partnership aims to save traditional Métis language
Canadian Geographic and the Métis Nation-saskatchewan (MN-S) are working together on an effort to save the Michif language.
The partnership announced in Saskatoon on Wednesday will be a collaboration on The Future of Michif, a multi-platform language and culture program designed to get more Métis people speaking their traditional language.
“It’s a great day to be able to see our elders, the language keepers, be a part of this, our institutions be a part of this. It’s exciting,” said MN-S president Glen Mccallum.
The project is set to create a Michif Language Speakers Bureau, an online Michif language conversation forum, a training program for elders, and a free program for Métis youth focusing on teaching Michif that will run during the 2020 Batoche Days celebration.
Canadian Geographic magazine will feature a story on the Michif language and release a poster map.
“Language is the vehicle by which we capture, share and document the entirety of experience of a people,” said Jason Muscant, director of development and partnership for Canadian Geographic.
During the work the magazine was doing to create the Indigenous Peoples Atlas of Canada, researchers discovered through 2016 census information that only 640 Canadians identified Michif as either their first or second language, Muscant said.
“With so few people left speaking Michif, the risk of us losing that language is a veritable risk to us losing a culture, an identity and a people,” he said.
“The idea that we can partner with Métis Nation of Saskatchewan to really improve the lives of a very important Canadian people is actually very inspiring,” he added.
This is a true opportunity for Canadian Geographic, he said, allowing the organization to leverage its strengths and abilities, including a large online reach.
The partnership was started through an introduction by former heritage minister Sheila Copps, who was connected to both organization because of their work on language and cultural preservation.
At the event launch, Sherry Stoll, who oversees heritage and language for the MN-S, talked about growing up learning to trap and skin animals, but without knowing her traditional language. She said she hopes the program will give young people the opportunity she never had.