Thanks to Kevin Lewis – and to Treaty Commissioner Harry Lafond for telling me about this certificate program offered through the College of Education at the University of Saskatchewan. The program consists of ten courses, 30 credit units, leading to a full immersion in an indigenous language, as well as a strong understanding of indigenous teaching methodologies.

About the program:

https://admissions.usask.ca/indigenous-languages.php

From the 2017-2018 Course and Program Catalog:

http://www.usask.ca/programs/colleges-schools/education/aboriginal-teacher-associate-certificate-program/index.php

Sylvia McAdam Saysewahum

A really beautiful collection of video lectures from knowledge keeper (and lawyer, and Idle No More co-founder) Sylvia McAdam Saysewahum, assembled on Youtube in 2014. With Cree as her mother tongue, Sylvia does most of her teaching in English, but presents many concepts in proper Cree terms as she goes along, adding a rich layer of language teaching to what is already invaluable. [Our next challenge for the Cree Literacy Network will be to gather all of those important morsels and create a glossary in standard spelling.] Thank you, Sylvia, for permission to present your videos here: kinanâskomitin.

Each link in this list connects to an individual Youtube Video from this collection. Sylvia says they can be watched in no particular order, but I’ll put the one marked “Introduction” first. And following Sylvia’s request, take a moment to smudge and pray before you start to come to these teachings in a clean way!

• Introduction to Cree Teachings
• Protocol and Smudging
• Pipe Laws
• The Land Prophesy
• Breaking the Laws
• Mossbag and Women’s Teachings
• Uncle’s Four Laws
• Human Birth
• Wesakechak
• Suicide
• Treaties

Here’s a start on that vocabulary from the Pipe Laws. Clicking the link (on the form in SRO) will take you through to the University of Alberta’s Itwewina Dictionary where you can explore all the forms of that word (http://sapir.artsrn.ualberta.ca/itwewina/).

• miyw-âyâwin / ᒥᔼᔮᐏᐣ / Health
• miywâtamowin / ᒥᔼᑕᒧᐏᐣ / Happiness
• wâhkôhtowin / ᐚᐦᑰᑐᐏᐣ / Generation / Relationships
• miyotêhêwin / ᒥᔪᑌᐦᐁᐏᐣ / Generosity
• kisêwâtisiwin / ᑭᓭᐚᑎᓯᐏᐣ / Compassion
• manâcihêwin / ᒪᓈᒋᐦᐁᐏᐣ / Respect
• pâh-pêyâhtakisiwin / ᐹᐦᐯᔮᐦᑕᑭᓯᐏᐣ / Quietness

This Thanksgiving, I am grateful to the Cree language warriors who continue to promote and support nêhiyawêwin as a genuine 21st Century language by using the tools (like SRO) that will allow speakers of Cree to develop as readers and writers so they can share their ideas all across the Cree dialect continuum. We all need more of the connections that bring us together, and fewer petty barriers that create confusion and keep us apart!

Maybe a good start might be agreement about how to spell some really basic words. It’s hard for people to learn to read when the words look different every time. One little word that seems to get a great deal of spelling creativity is “hay hay” (in some communities, “ay hay”).  It’s even being used these days in places like the Alberta Legislature. And we really want its usage in môniyaw institutions to be honoured with recognizable spelling (right?)

hay hay is a common, simple word, but everyone tends to spell it their own way. They usually begin with what they know about reading English. Of course, English is full of silent letters, and spells the same vowel sounds half a dozen ways each. It’s a terrible model for spelling anything!

We continue to struggle with English (with varying degrees of resentment), because the same system has been used for 500 years. And here’s the thing: It’s awful, but we’re used to it! That’s what makes it work, whether you’re reading in Canada, or England, or Australia, or anywhere else in the world. English spelling is standardized. It is consistent and predictable (whether we like it or not). And consistency and predicability are keys that we need to use for Cree to help it thrive in the 21st century. And to help language learners use it with fluency and competence, and confidence!

We often see hiy hiy, aiy haiy, hîy hîy, and many, many original creations from people who resent being corrected. They say they “like their own spelling”. People who try to promote SRO for Cree get called language bullies. It’s really not fair. Since when has “liking” your own spelling helped anybody else understand what you mean? Surely the most important test of anything we write is whether it can be understood!

So here are some notes Arok Wolvengrey posted in the Facebook group Nêhiyawêwin (Cree) Word of the Day quite some time ago, trying to explain *why* we write hay-hay as we do:

hay-hay sounds like English “hi hi” or “high high”, NOT English “hay hay”

This is a way of giving thanks. Some Cree speakers do not use this. Others restrict its use to accepting something given, ceremonially or otherwise. Others use it simply as equivalent of English “thanks”.

Because it sounds like English “hi hi” or “high high”, many are writing it here as “hiy hiy”. This is, however, not a standard roman orthography (SRO) way of writing this Cree expression. In the SRO, the combination of “ay” sounds like the “i” in “bite” or “ice”, because it is a combination of [a] and [y]. [a] in Cree words like atim [ut TIM] sounds the “u” in “but”, and the [y] is more like the “y” at the end of “pretty” (like “ee” in English). Thus “ay” is /a+y/ (or like a rapid pronunciation of English “uh+ee”. So, a Cree word spelled naniway is usually pronounced [NUN nih why] (though it may start to sound like [NUN nih way] in some dialects – and it if does, this doesn’t change the spelling! it just means that [ay] is being simplified and pronounced more like Cree [ê])

In contrast, the Cree spelling “iy” represents a sound equivalent to the long [î] sound (like “ee” in English). This is usually used at the end of Cree nouns like sîpiy [see PEE] “river”, nipiy [nip PEE] “water”, nîpiy [nee PEE] “leaf”, miskwamiy [MIS kwum mee] “ice”, etc., and sometimes in the middle of words like niya [nee YUH] “I, me” or derivatives of /miyw-/ “good” like miyo- [mee YO] “good”, miywêyihtam [mee WAYH tum] “s/he likes it”, miywâsin [MEE waa sin] “it’s good”, etc.

What all this means is: when you write “hiy hiy”, it looks like something that should be pronounced “hee hee”. To represent something that sounds like English “high high” in the Cree SRO, we write “hay hay”. English and Cree spelling are very different. Cree spelling respects Cree sounds, not English ones.

hay hay, Arok. And hay hay to all the rest of the wonderful Cree language warriors who continue to fight for language revitalization! hay hay, hay hay! I, for one, an grateful to all of you!

kinanâskomitinâwâw! (That’s thank you to a group. But that’s a Thanksgiving rant for another day!)

Today while families are gathering for Thanksgiving (or at least, to share a good meal of turkey!) seems like a good time to share Doug Cuthand’s May 2016 piece about family ties. Published in the Saskatoon Star Phoenix appeared under the headline, “First Nations’ strong family ties must be respected.” It’s a good read – and a really helpful reflection on how Cree family connections work, and about traditional leadership especially around Little Pine.  Click on the link to read more.

http://thestarphoenix.com/opinion/columnists/0520-edit-cuthand-col

Robert Falcon Oullette addresses the House of Commons in Cree – Screen grab from Huff Post video of the speech

(First, here’s a link to the petition – that could really use your support!)
https://petitions.ourcommons.ca/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-1234

Robert-Falcon Oullette, Member of Parliament for Winnipeg Centre, rose to address the House of Commons in Cree in May 2017 about the safety of Indigenous women, and appropriately, did so in Cree. Plains Cree is Robert’s birth right as a member of Red Pheasant Cree Nation, but it is a birth right that was denied him by the legacy of residential schools; instead, Plains Cree is Robert’s third or fourth language.
Huffington Post provided video of the original speech (with translation subtitles, that Robert provided later): 2017/05/05/robert-falcon-ouellette-cree-house-commons

Here’s his text in SRO along with the translation provided by Robert’s office staff (hay-hay!) :

After being denied translation service, Robert went on to raise a point of privilege – again using  Cree – about having been effectively silenced by the lack of translation services. CTV news includes video of his point of privilege:  mp-argues-in-cree-for-indigenous-languages-in-parliament

Here’s CBC’s coverage, after the fact:  cree-parliament-ouellette

And he’s still trying. (That’s the part where we all say ahkamêyimo, RFO!)

So what happens when you address Canada’s House of Commons in Cree? Robert tried again in September. Here’s how it looks in a screen grab from openparliament.ca

Turtle Lodge is located at Sagkeeng First Nation (On Google maps:  47071-F Hwy 11, FORT ALEXANDER Indian Reserve, MB, R0E 0P0.

For details, email: turtlelodge@mts.net

Anishinabe (Ojibway) and Nehetho (Cree) Language Camps at Turtle Lodge, November 11-24: Nehetho Camp Nov 11-17, Anishinabe Camp Nov 18-24.

Come and learn the language of our ancestors in a traditional way, in ceremony and on the land. This camp is for training language instructors, and open to youth ages 20-30. Participants must be willing to spend the week at Turtle Lodge. Beginners are welcome, spaces are limited.

It’s so exciting to learn that the Cree edition of Rosanna Deerchild’s Calling Down the Sky – lovingly translated into th-dialect by the esteemed Solomon Ratt is ready for a launch at Winnipeg’s McNally Robinson on October 29th.

Rosanna said early on that one of her goals in collecting her mother’s stories was giving them back to her in the Cree language that was stolen from her at Residential School. Solomon’s translation work was essential to this goal.

Launch details aren’t on the McNally site yet, but you can keep an eye out here:

http://www.mcnallyrobinson.com/winnipeg-events

For a sample of Rosanna and Solomon’s collaboration, you can listen to Sol read along in the following post from May 2016:

Rosanna Deerchild – Translated by Solomon Ratt (th-dialect, with audio)

Asani – Listen (2009)

Thank you to Sherryl Sewepagaham for permission to share this sweet, original composition that she recorded with her group Asani in 2009. The a capella trio includes Sherryl, Sarah Pocklington and Debbie Houle, who first met in the Grant McEwan College Aboriginal Choir. It was fun to transcribe the words in SRO and syllabics following in response to a post on Ramona Washburn’s Facebook Group Cree Language Resources ᓀᐦᐃᔭᐍᐏᐣ. It was also great to have Sherryl’s help – especially with the flies!

Visit Sherryl’s website sewepagaman.com for her more recent recordings, or listen to more of Asani’s music, available for purchase via iTunes:

https://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/listen/id344750659

https://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/rattle-and-drum/id55441817

“Science is all around us – and we have to start applying it on our terms.”

Wilfred Buck’s keynote talk at the MFNERC First Nations Circle of Knowledge Conference (October 2017) focused on the need of 21st century kids for 21st century tools. He talked about his many travels and studies of astronomy and quantum physics, and his connections with NASA.

Compared to Kepler telescopes and NASA missions to Mars, the technology we push here at the Cree Literacy Network is pretty low tech. But without solid reading and writing skills, 21st century students can’t become the proud, strong and knowledgeable people our world needs. Whether we’re using roman or syllabic spelling, reading and writing well in Cree language demands consistent spelling.

Here is some of the vocabulary in Cree that Wilfred uses in his talk (additions and corrections welcome!)

William Dumas, Winston Wuttunee, Gerri Wuttunee, October 2017

Thanks to Winston Wuttunee and William Dumas for their workshop session on teaching through songs and story-telling (we never got around to the dancing part). It was so much fun listening to master storytellers stringing us along that I attended twice. Wish I could remember half of their jokes. Having had William’s help with language puzzles by email, it was a delight to finally see him in action as MFNERC’s conference emcee, and finally meet him in person. It was also a treat to see Gerri and catch up. Now that they’ve back in Winnipeg. I sure hope to see them again soon!

This fall there is a chance to get in on free Cree cultural courses in Maskwacis. The new offering is open to the public and includes a variety of courses including Cree language, sewing and more. File photo

(October 2017)

See the original article here: http://www.ponokanews.com/local-news/ermineskin-offering-free-cree-classes-to-the-public/

The Neyaskweyahk Cree Department is offering a free course selection that brings the Cree language, arts and culture to those interested in taking part. Classes started Sept. 26 but there’s still a chance to sign up as they continue until Dec. 19 2017. 

The inspiration for the courses came from a 2004 Wellness plan, explained Patti Johnson, from Miyo Wahkohtowin Education on the Ermineskin Cree Nation where the classes are hosted. “The goal is to sustain and revitalize the language and culture and provide language and cultural services to the community and surrounding areas.”

“It is important to teach the learner the connection we have with ‘Mother Earth’ and the ways in which we do this,” explained Johnson.

Along with beginner Cree, there’s syllabics, beginners youths and adults as well as Cree arts as well as sewing. On top of those classes are what’s called Adventure Saturdays with dates set for Oct. 14, Nov. 18 and Dec. 2.

These Saturday classes are designed to understand land-based Cree values and natural law, which include activities such as Protocol, sage and sweetgrass picking, ice fishing and overnight camping trips.

“Adventure Saturdays are opportunities for learners to experience cultural practices in a fun way,” said Johnson.

“During these sessions, students have the opportunity to experience land-based survival skills. The hope is that students connect to the land and identify how it can be used while attaining language skills associated with the land, culture and Nehiyaw practices.”

For more information call 780-585-2879.

Best friends, now departed. Cecilia Masuskapo and Freda Ahenakew of Ahtahkakoop FN (photo by Arden Ogg)

Cree speakers as fluent as nôhkomipaninânak (our late grandmothers) in this photo are precious and rare in 2017. Many of them fought to retain their language in spite of Residential Schools that tried to beat it right out of them. While they were being taught to read and write English in school, exactly how and when did they have a chance to be instructed in reading and writing their own language?

So it’s understandable that some speakers would make it up as they go along instead, using what they know about English – and being justifiably suspicious of the interference of môniyaw education systems. Some of them argue that since Cree is traditionally an oral language, spelling really doesn’t matter at all. But, all over the world, reading and writing are skills that need to be taught. Reading is not a skill that comes naturally anywhere. And if you’re struggling to write things out using English phonetics, remember: somebody else is going to have to try to struggle just as hard (or even harder) to read what you’ve written.

The late Freda Ahenakew was set on her path by the late Ida McLeod, choosing to use SRO because it gives everybody an equal chance, and builds the opportunity to learn even more as a library of materials gets built using the same tools. Standard Roman Orthography (SRO) uses the letters of English alphabet (with a few modifications) to represent Cree language sounds. Each meaningful sound (or phoneme) gets its own character. Each letter represents the same sound every time. It is this consistency of the sound-to-symbol correspondence that makes SRO effective.

SRO is also the spelling system used for most print publications in Cree, and has the greatest number of published books. As of 2017, SRO is taught and used in Cree language programs in schools, colleges and universities across the Western Canada.

One of the main purposes of the Cree Literacy Network is to offer the tools for reading and writing Cree to those who already speak the language, or those who are struggling to learn. And the added bonus for fluent speakers who learn to read is that they can then access the Cree language stories and books that were intended all along for them to read and enjoy. An added bonus for the students, is that they can read whatever genuine speakers write.

In learning to read Cree, a review of the sound system is Step One. Here is a table of sound correspondences adapted from Ken Paupanekis’s Introduction to Cree Language 1, Text and Student Handbook (First Nations University, 2011). You can find the audio recordings from Ken’s lessons elsewhere on this site. And although Ken is demonstrating with n-dialect, the words he chooses for models are Cree words that are the same for all of the western dialects.

By giving examples of each sound *in Cree* Ken is stepping away from English-based phonetic spelling that may seem easier initially, but gives speakers very little in terms of long-term learning.

Click on the highlighted links to hear audio of Solomon Ratt’s “Chants” to teach pronunciation of consonants and vowels. And when you’re ready for your next lesson, you can download How to Spell it in Cree – shared here as a gift to by Arok Wolvengrey and Jean Okimāsis.

About vowels: Cree uses seven distinct vowel sounds. Three are “short vowels” (a, i, o). Four are “long vowels” which get a special mark (â, ê, î, ô). Some people call it a “roof” or a “hat”. We use a circumflex accent here, but others use macrons or acute accents. It doesn’t matter which symbol we choose, as long as we mark long vowels every time, because the difference between long and short vowels can change the meaning of a word.

About consonants: The English sound pairs p/b, t/d and k/g each represent two distinct phonemes. Cree only uses one of each pair, so the Cree sound of p, t and k falls can fall anywhere between English p and b, t and d, and k and g.

Via FaceBook from Les Skinner (aka Miskinâhk Askiy):

ᐦᐋ ᓂᐋᐧᐦᑰᒫᑲᓂᑎᐠ ᐊᓄᐦᐨ ᐆᒪ ᑳᐃᐧ ᐁᓀᐦᐃᔭᐁᐧᑭᐢᑭᓄᐦᐊᒫᑯᓯᕽ ᐯᓀᐦᐃᔭᐁᐧᐠ!

hâ n’wâhkômâkan’tik, anohc ôma kâwi ênêhiyawêkiskinohamâkosihk— pênêhiyawêk!

Cree class starting again today! Highlands Library (Edmonton) at 67 St and 118 Ave, come speak some Cree!

Class runs Monday evenings from 6-8pm, beginning 16 October 2017. There are rumours of moose meat and bannock (at least for this evening!)

Need further details? Look for Les on Facebook (Miskinâhk Askiy), email him at  skinner1@ualberta.ca or try (587) 785-9437.

The poster below is for Les’s Thursday night sessions at Edmonton’s Enterprise Square.

I realize that nobody asked my opinion (!) but this is what a good, contemporary Plains Cree syllabic chart looks like to me, and to my colleagues at the Cree Literacy Network. This was designed by Arok Wolvengrey, and printed and distributed by First Nations University of Canada (until they ran out). Here are the most important points:

• The columns follow the order that was used on the original Evans chart: ᐁ ᐃ ᐅ ᐊ
• Extra columns are added to contrast the “long” and “short vowels: ᐁ ᐃ ᐄ ᐅ ᐆ ᐊ ᐋ (This is the order they should follow in a syllabic dictionary.)
• These columns are labelled with the same vowels that are used in SRO
• The rows show the order of consonants the way they are traditionally taught (not in English alphabetical order!)
• This chart corresponds to the Syllabic Song that has been used for teaching for years. Here’s a link that includes the song performed by Wayne Jackson!
• The finals are of the “reduced” type – a kind of shorthand shape for consonants that appear in isolation (without a vowel sound of their own). In this case, the “y-final” takes the shape of a plus sign. In some communities it is a dot.
• Most important of all: Using this chart, you can convert from Syllabics from SRO – and back again! And increasingly, there are computer programs that can help with this work. But here’s a warning: Always remember the old computer programming adage: Garbage in, garbage out. Your conversion can only be as accurate as the material you begin with!

Things that might be even better:

• If it were clearer (for beginners) that a dot on the right of any character means a w sound is inserted between the consonant and the following vowel.
• It would also work for Woodlands Cree (th-dialect) if it had a row for ᖧ ᖨ ᖩ ᖪ ᖫ ᖬ ᖭ, the “th” syllabic characters.
• Instead of using English words and English sounds across the top, we could use actual Cree words, the same way Arok Wolvengrey and Jean Okimâsis did on pages 7-8 of their book “How to Spell it in Cree.” Thanks to both of them, you can click through to download your own copy of the book here and learn more about spelling Cree in SRO.

For comparison, here is an older syllabic chart, photographed by Crystal Anderson, and shared by John James Spence in the FaceBook Group nêhiyawêwin (Cree) Word of the Day. This example, John James says, is from Norway House, where his grandfather was a minister. You’ll see that the *sounds* of the syllabics are really the same, even though different English letters are used at the tops of the columns. There is no “right” or “wrong” – we’re really talking about the same thing. 

Cree language and traditional games for kids at Maskwacîs!

For more information, call Jordan Littlepoplar at 780.585.3012

Remy Wes sent this image of a page of printed syllabics into the FaceBook Group nêhiyawêwin (Cree) Word of the Day, asking for a translation. It turned into a big team effort, with help from lots of directions. Ultimately, it was Solomon Ratt who completed transliteration into roman spelling, and provided a translation. The new transcription and translation appear below. 

It’s important to note in looking at this text that it is written in “plain” (not “pointed”) syllabics. Plain syllabics works well for fluent speaker/readers as a kind of shorthand. They don’t need the aspiration or length marks to understand what is meant. But the rest of us sure do! Thanks to Sol for filling in the gaps for those of us who are learning. The amount of work that goes into this is not trivial. And now we need Remy to find Page 9!

Looking for a syllabic chart to help work through this puzzle on your own? Look no farther than yesterday’s CLN Post: Syllabics and SRO: Two sides of the same coin.