Oneida 101, Language and Cultural Revival

Graduation from Oneida Language 101, under the tutelage of David Kanatawakhon, was a significant day in the history of a First Nations community, Oneida Settlement, located about 30 minutes southwest of London.

About 50 students made up the class.

The endeavor flourished from efforts between David Kanatawakhon, Mohawk Language Professor at the University of Western Ontario, and the like-minded vision of the Oneida Language and Cultural Centre.

Kanatawakhon is a fluent speaker and teacher of the Mohawk Language. He hails from Tyendinega.
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For two years the seed germinated while David Kanatawakhon learned to wrap his mind and his tongue around the stresses and glottal stops of the Oneida language with his mentors there.  Four of those mentors became students themselves of Oneida 101: Olive Elm, Barbara Schuyler, Norma Jamieson and Rosabell Antone, all from Oneida Settlement.

These helper/students, each fluent in speaking the Oneida language, were able to enhance the efforts of Kanatawakhon by offering individual tutoring and mentoring to other students during class time, while at the same time achieving the benefit of their own certification.

Through these combined efforts Kanatawakhon was able to fulfill his goal of turning Mohawk language materials into Oneida language materials and offer this course in the fundamentals of reading, writing and speaking the Oneida language.

His talent and expertise were recruited by the Oneida Language and Cultural Centre in collaboration with Dr. Susan Hill, director of First Nations Studies at the University of Western Ontario.

Dr. Hill offered congratulations and acknowledgements for the efforts of all students who attended and completed the five-week intercession program, and to their instructor who has a gift for both teaching and learning new languages. This particular session culminated in a pot luck dinner with speeches delivered by both students and instructors.

Hill secured the establishment of Oneida language as an official university credit course to be offered by the Department of First Nations Studies, with Oneida Fairgrounds Hall being the designated satellite location.
Beyond the academic reasons for having Oneida language taught in the home territory, there were further social and cultural side effects: new friends were made, networks were established, and learning became an enjoyable experience rather than a chore.

It also became crystal clear that the oral tradition of learning will be enhanced, not obliterated, by learning to read and write the language and put it into print.

Student Luke Nicholas, who is from Oneida, spoke passionately about his good fortune in growing up surrounded by adults and Elders who spoke Oneida, and about his ongoing struggle to reach their level of fluency.
“All the money in the world can’t bring back our language. Only we can do that; only we can make that happen… and I believe that if our ancestors could be with us today and see what we have accomplished in terms of reviving and practicing our language, they would be so proud.”

As Kanatawakhon took the stage, he spoke about the energy and enjoyment he had as a teacher of the Oneida language. He acknowledged that he has been coming to visit in the Oneida community off and on for years and has always been treated to the best of kindness and hospitality by his Oneida friends.

His message, along with his words of congratulations, was that the students should continue to use their language and learn more, engage others including our children and grandchildren, take advantage of every opportunity to learn a few more words.