Team works to preserve Cree

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Louise Papaianni is proud of her Cree heritage and as such, is very pleased to be part of an project at the University of Alberta.

Though she grew up in Edmonton, Papaianni feels a deep responsibility to honor her Aboriginal mother's culture, and she is doing just that by helping research a Cree language project at the University of Alberta School of Native Studies.

Papaianni is a research assistant on a team of Aboriginal students at the university. The team has just received a $25,000 developmental grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada to explore ways to preserve and retain the Cree language for future generations living in Canada's prairie provinces.

The Cree Language Education in Alberta project involves putting together a proposal for a second, larger multi-year research grant that would allow for in-depth research on how to ensure preservation and revitalization of Nehiyawewin (Cree language). Their research will build on work currently being conducted by many other groups in the Edmonton area.

Papaianni, a member of the Saddle Lake band, also has ties to Frog Lake, which is her mother's home community. She is proud to be Cree, and as a fourth-year Native Studies student at the university, she plans to work in remote northern Cree schools in Alberta. She believes her work will involve a reciprocal relationship, learning and teaching with the fluent Cree-speaking students.

"Just because I hold an education degree majoring in Cree, doesn't mean I am qualified to teach Cree, because I am not fluent culturally or linguistically. Currently, academic institutions have not made it a priority to produce fluent Cree speakers/teachers, a process that requires meaningful Cree immersion experiences. By undertaking this challenge, we hope to be part of the solution."

Nehiyawewin is going to be offered in 2006 as one of six language option choices in the Alberta school curriculum, and the team is concerned about a shortage of Cree teachers and resources to meet the challenge.

Her mother speaks Cree fluently, but Papaianni, like most children raised in an English-speaking world, didn't grow up proficient in the language.

The team has visited Aboriginal communities across Alberta, including Hobbema and Goodfish Lake, to hear what the priorities are in preserving the Cree language, and to find out what resources and partnerships are needed to help those communities keep their language a living one.

Like her fellow team member, University of Alberta education student Tracy Bear-Coon worries about the preservation of the Cree language beyond what is passed down verbally. The mother of three children, she wants to ensure they retain their Cree language and culture.

"I'm concerned," she admitted. "My grandparents were both fluent Cree speakers before they attended residential schools and afterwards did not speak a word of Cree to their children or grandchildren." Bear-Coon believes that Cree language is essential in order to understand Cree culture.

"An Elder once told us that language and culture are entwined and that this bond could not be broken."

The Cree Language Education in Alberta team is looking for input from Aboriginal communities across the province, and welcomes comments by phone at (780) 492-2458, fax at (780) 492-0527, or by e-mail at bearcoon@ualberta.ca.