Language project now underway at Carlton

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A project to save Aboriginal languages is being developed at the Centre for Aboriginal Education Research and Culture at Carlton University.

John Medicine Horse Kelly brought his idea to revitalize Aboriginal languages to his post as the centre's director in January 2001.

Kelly originally is from Skidegate Village in Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands) off northern British Columbia.

His job is to research ideas and then find funding to implement them. The main goal for Kelly is to revive as many languages as possible. The project has not yet obtained funding for recording any.

Kelly said,"My strongest emphasis is developing language programs. . . . That would be my research, just working to save languages, because we are losing all of them."

"I've been here a year-and-a-half, so I'm just developing the programs and possible grant proposals that will be used here on campus. I did it privately before that for 10 years. I had an organization called Aboriginal Living Languages Group, and did a lot of work with bands, primarily in B.C., in language recording systems, recording languages and so forth."

He said that when Carlton University undertakes this work, the First Nations involved will retain ownership of the language recordings.

"All we ask in return is that the languages can be archived in the central location. . . . Anyone who wants to use those materials has to go back to the band to get permission."

Kelly's dream is "to record every language in sight, and train people at the band level to record their own languages, to see every language in Canada documented in such a way that it will never be extinct and it can always be brought back."

He said as many people as possible should be recording them.

There are 53 languages that are totally different from each other, Kelly said. He added, "There's probably about 600 dialects, which are like subgroups in a language."

He estimates that up to 80 per cent of them will be gone in 10 years. "In 20 years, if nothing happened, there would be probably two or three languages left, and they would be endangered. That's real, real clear."

Kelly said the chances of people reviving and using a dying language in everyday life are a lot better than people might think.

"I worked with one language in British Columbia where there was only one speaker left, and she was 95, and she wanted to save her language. We've got a lot of material recorded. As to whether it works or not, it depends on how badly people in the band want to keep their language, but at least the language is recorded."

He cited Hebrew as an example. "If somebody were to ask them (Jews) around 1930 whether anybody would ever speak Hebrew again in the home, they would say 'Never, couldn't happen.' But it did. And so the most important thing is to have the language there for the generation now or in the future that wants to build its community."

He found language recording very stressful. "In fact, it brought me to almost a heart attack. . . . There are so many languages, and they're all dying. A person can work and work, and work and work, and never feel like he or she is making any progress. Then there's the politics inside, and there's band council. . . . It just gets to be a lot to carry."

At Carlton, Kelly is also responsible for helping students and others get funding for their projects.

The centre he runs has been operating for more than 10 years as an Aboriginal club that provides support for students. "It was envisioned as the agency on campus that would be the focus for any Aboriginal work they wanted to be done. It downsized in 1997, and part of my job is to make it work again in a strong way," he said.

"Every university needs an Aboriginal centre, because we get lots of Aboriginal students through here, and they drop out. They quit. It's hard to be at university. It's a different world."

John Kelly works with an administration unit called equity services. "Between equity services and wht I do, we run an Aboriginal lounge downstairs for students-a place to hang out, be comfortable with each other, support each other."

The centre also organizes a powwow in September, brings Aboriginal speakers and writers to campus, works with other university agencies, and with the aid of volunteers keeps the student lounge open daily, "to make sure that Aboriginal students are properly taken care of."