Michif speakers talk language preservation

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According to Metis Nation of Ontario (MNO) President Tony Belcourt, the best way to help promote and preserve the Michif language may involve combining the old with the new.

The MNO played host to the fifth National Michif Conference, held March 17 to 19 in Thunder Bay. Delegates from across the Metis Nation took part in the event, held to celebrate the Michif language and Metis culture and to look at what can be done to promote usage of the language.

"We talked about, well, let's just do things like play cards and let's just speak Michif like we used to, or our ancestors used to. And so we shared ideas from one end of the Metis homeland to the other about what is going on. Where are our strengths? How are we going to build on that? What are our experiences? And let's share and get behind each other and try and make sure that we keep this alive in our communities," Belcourt said.

"There are many, many Michif speakers in a lot of communities, but it's on the decline, there's no doubt about it, because we've got Michif speakers who themselves say, 'Well, my children don't speak Michif.' ... We've lost a generation, or we might have lost two generations. So we've got a lot of catching up to do."

The design of the conference lent itself to encouraging Michif use. The language was spoken continuously throughout the event, with no interpreters provided.

"Our language is a living language. Much of it is through expression, not just letters on a piece of paper. So speaking the language is essential," Belcourt said. "And hearing it being spoken is essential."

The conference provided delegates with an opportunity to share information with each other about what is being done across the Metis Nation to preserve the Michif language. Part of the challenge, Belcourt said, is working to promote the language with limited resources.

"Those of us in our various regions that are committed to keeping our languages alive are going to do whatever we have to and whatever we can do in our own areas and in our own communities. But the fact is if we're going to be successful, we're going to need some help here. We're going to need some resources and we don't have that. We've had a limited amount of funds from the Aboriginal initiative at Canadian Heritage, but that program sunsets on March 31 this year. So we're going to have to lobby hard, not only to get that program extended, but that there be some new resources put into it. We also need to turn to our provincial governments to try to get some assistance as well."

While participants in the conference represented a wide cross-section of the Metis community, in hindsight, organizers realize not enough emphasis was placed on attracting youth delegates, something that everyone agrees will change for next year's conference in Manitoba.

"We have to engage our youth. We talked about ways to do that, including very small children. Having our languages taught to our children. We also want to try to get some curriculum developed so we can get it into schools. And that this can be a lifelong learning exercise," Belcourt said.

While getting Michif into the school curriculum will go a long way toward preserving the language, that isn't the only way to create more Michif speakers. One resource that Belcourt thinks is being overlooked is old Metis songs and stories. He'd like to see a combining of the old with the new, having more of these songs and stories available on Web sites like the MNO's Metisradio.FM, where anyone with Internet access can listen to them.

"And then we're really putting a push on for people to tape our Elders. In 1982 and '83, a wonderful thing was done in Belcourt, North Dakota at the Turtle Mountain reservation. There was some 240 hours of taping that was done with Elders who were in their 80s and 90s at the time. And it's a wonderful, wonderful preservation of music, songs that had been passed down to them. We are an oral society and so we need capture that knowledge that is there in the form of music and storytelling."

The Internet can also be used to reach out specifically to young people and to expose them to Metis language, culture and history.

"For example, if you've got our young children going to, at a tender age of four or five years old, they're on the Web now playing Barbie.com. Then why can't we have our children also be dressing our own Metis voyageurs, for example ... let's make a Metis voyageur Barbie. Those sorts of things," Tony Belcourt said.

"Languages are central to culture. It's part of a person's being. And the reality is the Michif language is, like many other Aboriginal languages, they're in danger. So we need to do everything we can to revitalize and keep the language going."