b'LANGUAGEVolunteering:A Labour of LoveV ery rarely do definitionsto tanker traffic along the coast of Great include where an individualsBear Rainforest. commitment to a cause comesHopkins passion for language made from, but it is often describednews headlines in 2017. She was Minister as their passion. It seems OwennatekhaMillers language teacher and helped Brian Maracles passion began whenhim become one of a handful of non-writing about Indigenous issues for TheIndigenous learners of Kanyenkha. His Globe and Mail and Indigenous media.words in Parliament echoed out to the He later hosted a long-running CBCroughly 3,500 Kanyenkha speakers. Radio program called Our Native LandMiller later commented in a CBC article throughout the 1980s and wrote twothat he was worried he would fumble highly acclaimed books, for which hehis one-minute statement and set the received the Six Nations Communityrelationship back by 100 years. Instead, Treasure Award in 2008.his success helped to pass the IndigenousTHE PATH TO On top of his journalism and writing,Languages Act in 2019.LANGUAGE Maracle began learning his language,Minister Millers statement made another Kanyenkha (or Mohawk). From this, heFLUENCYco-founded Onkwawenna Kentyohkwa,issue very clear: First Nations languages a school based on the Six Nations Grandare not translated by House of Commons River territory, with a full-time adultinterpreters. Manitoba MP Robert- Owennatekha Brian Maracles passion language immersion program. The goalFalcon Ouellette volunteered to provideabout Onkwehonwe starts from of the school: creating fluent speakers ofan English translation for a statement hehis desire to learn more about the made in Cree in the summer of 2017.language. For him, it is not just a Kanyenkha.matter of word substitution; there are Maracles passion for language wasThis fall, consultations on implementingvarious ideas and differences between passed down to his daughter Zoe Hopkinskey aspects from the IndigenousOnkwehonwe and English that words (whom he shares with Dora Hopkins ofLanguages Act (such as funding andcannot express. The structure and the Heiltsuk Nation). Hopkins beganthe establishment of an Office of thelogic embedded in Onkwehonwe her career as a child actor in the 1991Commissioner of Indigenous Languages)enables him to look at thefeature drama Black Robe and laterwill take place. We hope to see theworld differently. made her directorial debut at SundanceIndigenous Languages Act turn laboursBrian commended that David with the 2004 short Prayer for a Goodof love into paid work for First NationsKanatawakhon-Maracle, a lecturer Day. Her first feature film, Kayak totranslators, interpreters and educators,in the Indigenous Studies program Klemtu, explored Indigenous resistancelike Maracle. at Western University, has lived a To support, reclaim and revitalizelife of volunteerism, one built on Indigenous languages, First Nationsof the foundation of Onkwehonwe revitalization. David developed a VOLUNTEER institutions are emerging across BigMohawk Language Dictionary, which Turtlesimilar to Onkwawennais a useful guide to cultivate Mohawk (VOL-UN-TEER), NOUN: Kentyohkwa. Teaching methods centerlanguage speakers. around what they call the root-words A PERSON WHO FREELY(or morphemes), rather than usingWhen being asked for his advice for whole words. This empowers students tohow language starters can become OFFERS TO TAKE PART think in the language faster in order tofluent speakers during the language journey, Brian offers one useful tip: the IN AN ENTERPRISE say what they want to say. It also helpsyounger the better. Adults have much learners to understand words and to useharder time studying a language, OR UNDERTAKE Aphrases theyve never heard before.since they have immigrant way of Maracle has been both the Programthinking and they need to go inside SERVICE/TASK. Coordinator and an instructor for thisthe language and understand the program since 1999, and he isnt ready tolanguage mechanics.retire his passion just yet.www.afn.ca 63'