Discussion groups

This workshop was wonderful, I led a discussion group and some of the ideas that the youth and elders came up with were just amazing; things like university courses, radio classes, total immersion summer camps and weekend school, shared language programs between all Mi’gmaq communities and  emphasizing advertisement were mentioned. This was a very well thought out workshop and I am glad that I got the chance to participate.    

Guest speaker Diane Mitchell

Some of the points made about Diane’s speech were really moving. Diane talks about how the Mi’gmaq language used to be universal and now we have so many dialects for each community that to bring the language back for each community is nearly impossible compared to if we tried to bring back the universal language as it once was. The problem is that we no longer have a “universal” language and this will possible lead to the extinction of our language if nothing is done about it immediately.

Guest speaker Starr Paul

I liked that the guest speakers didn’t just speak in English, being a learner I had a hard time understanding everything that was being said in Mi’gmaq/Mi’kmaq but just the fact that there were words that could be understood by almost everyone shows that our language is not completely lost and can be revitalized if we work really hard to bring it back.