100 Days of Cree

Cree is Canada's most widely spoken Indigenous language, with over 100,000 Cree speakers from coast to coast. And a new book from University of Regina Press, 100 Days of Cree, is looking to bring the vitality of modern-day Cree into full focus. The book is the brainchild of Neal McLeod, a poet and educator based in Saskatchewan. McLeod took a crowdsourcing approach to the project, connecting with other Cree speakers on Facebook with the aim of both gathering classical Cree vocabulary and creating words related to modern-day life. The result: entries that run the gamut from the seasons and the buffalo hunt to Star Wars adages (tâpwê mamâhtâwisiw awa means "The Force is strong with this one"). To McLeod, honouring the history of the Cree language was imperative. "Some of us no longer have grandparents - mosômak and kôhkomak - who can guide us in the process of learning language and stories," he writes in the book's introduction. "We need the stories and philosophy to drive and fuel our understanding of the language. It is by a collective effort that we can bring the power of the echo of the voices of the Old Ones, and the old stories, into the contemporary age." At the same time, the gathered terms in the book look to the future generations of Cree speakers: "Terms were developed for things such as internet use and computers, demonstrating the great flexibility and adaptability of the language. It is hoped these gathered terms will offer something to the new, large, emerging generation of Cree speakers, in whose minds and bodies the future of the language now rests." Oh, and in case you're wondering: "I Walk the Line" is kwayask ê-pimohtêyân.

The University of Regina Press, located in Saskatchewan in western Canada, is a relatively new publisher: it was launched in spring 2013, out of the ashes of the decades-old Canadian Plains Research Center Press, the university's former publisher. But the press has already established itself as an important force for Canada's aboriginal cultures, aiming to bring new life to endangered languages. June 2 marks one year since the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada released its initial report, which offered 94 calls to action to repair the country's relationship with aboriginal people, referring to this part of Canada's past as "cultural genocide." For instance, the report includes stories of children who were beaten for speaking their native languages in government- and church-run residential schools. To help address this history of oppression, this June URP will release a book titled 100 Days of Cree by Neal McLeod, a professor at Trent University and a poet. The nonfiction book is divided into 100 themes and offers Cree words and English explanations for everything from traditional subjects such as powwows and medicine to modern subjects such as Facebook and Star Wars. It also includes a guide to pronunciation written by Arok Wolvengrey, a linguist and the author of a Cree-English dictionary. "When we think about indigenous languages, there's a part of us that thinks they're dying languages, " URP publisher Bruce Walsh said. "And then this manuscript comes in that demonstrates a living, vital language." McLeod said that he and Wolvengrey worked to keep a balance between traditional usage and modern adaptations. "To revitalize our languages, we have to do two things: we have to document the classical terminology, because within that terminology are all of our metaphors and idioms; but we also have to think of how to put old words together, to coin words, to describe the contemporary world." According to Walsh, in addition to publishing scholarly books, he aims to publish "cool, fun, playful, and accessible" books that appeal to young people. That's why URP plans to also publish a word-a-day Cree book later this year, as well as a mobile app on the language in spring 2017. Cree has more native speakers in Canada than any other aboriginal language--about 83,000, according to 2011 census data--and there are dozens of other native languages at a greater risk of becoming extinct. URP is in the midst of an ambitious project called the First Nations Language Readers. The press has already published five Language Readers, each of which features traditional and modern stories told in both the aboriginal language and English, covering obscure languages such as Blackfoot and Lillooet; the goal is to cover 60 or more aboriginal languages. Other URP titles include James Daschuk's nonfiction book, Clearing the Plains: Disease, Politics of Starvation, and the Loss of Aboriginal Life, which has sold more than 21,000 copies, and Joseph Auguste Merasty's 2015 memoir, The Education of Augie Merasty. Walsh said books like this are important because they educate the public about Canada's censored history. The Truth and Reconciliation report "reinforced that the path we're on is the right path," Walsh said.

With entries ranging from pwâkamo-pahkwêsikan, the Cree word for pizza - "the throw-up bread" in literal English - to môniyâw-matotisân, a sauna or a "white-man sweat", a crowdsourcing project documenting the vitality and evolution of the most widely spoken indigenous language in Canada [has been] published. Neal McLeod, a poet and indigenous studies professor at Trent University, set out to connect with other Cree speakers on Facebook, aiming to gather together classical Cree vocabulary and to "coin and develop" words relating to contemporary life. According to a 2006 Canadian census, there are around 117,000 Cree speakers. McLeod, who is from the James Smith Cree First Nation in Saskatchewan, received responses from across Canada and the US and, after working on the book with Arok Wolvengrey, will release 100 Days of Cree through the University of Regina Press later this week. In his introduction to the book, McLeod writes that "one of the key things about learning a language is that people assist each other in the process", but that "unfortunately, there have been many ruptures and breaks in the threads of our language through time: residential schools, collective trauma, and the influence of television and mass communication. "Some of us no longer have grandparents - mosômak and kôhkomak - who can guide us in the process of learning language and stories. We need the stories and philosophy to drive and fuel our understanding of the language. It is by a collective effort that we can bring the power of the echo of the voices of the Old Ones, and the old stories, into the contemporary age," he writes. "All too often, people think that technology and television are negative factors leading to the decline of indigenous languages, including Cree. However, I would say the internet, including Facebook ... can help with language retention. Social media played a key role in the writing of this book. Words were posted, and then people from all over Canada and the US contributed ." The book contains sections on everything from household items and horses to Star Wars, poker, Facebook and Johnny Cash songs (wâsakâm-iskôtêwan is Ring of Fire and kwayask ê-pimohtêyân is I Walk the Line). "One of the things on my bucket list ... is to translate Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope into Cree," writes McLeod, before laying out Cree for Attack of the Clones: kâ-môskîstâkêcik aniki kâ-nipahi-nâh-naspitâtocik, "literally, 'when the Ones who resemble each other in an uncanny fashion attack'", and tâpwê mamâhtâwisiw awa, "the Force is strong with this one". McLeod hopes that the book will "make a small contribution to the continued vitality of the Cree language, and to help provide people interested in the language to be able to use it to describe the world around them". "Terms were developed for things such as internet use and computers, demonstrating the great flexibility and adaptability of the language. It is hoped these gathered terms will offer something to the new, large, emerging generation of Cree speakers, in whose minds and bodies the future of the language now rests," he writes. "I am a poet, and in this book I have attempted to push the Cree language to its limits. To quote the old Cree expression, kâya pakicî! âhkamêyimo! ('Don't quit! Persevere!')." The book's release comes a year after the publication of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's report, which found that Canada had pursued a policy of "cultural genocide" against the country's aboriginal people, and that children in residential schools were forbidden to speak their native languages. The University of Regina Press, which launched three years ago, is attempting to address this in its own small way, with a programme that includes readers in different languages, as well as 100 Days of Cree. A mix of stories, prayers and essays, the readers provide the text in a native language and in English, and the publisher has worked with elders in communities to gain their approval. So far, it has published five readers, most recently one in Lillooet, which publisher Bruce Walsh says has around 200 speakers left. His goal is that the series will cover more than 60 aboriginal languages. "Canadians like to tell ourselves that we're nice, but there is nothing in the historical record to demonstrate that to be the case. We're shaking things up, at a time when people are anxious to know the truth," he said. "Some of the stories in the readers are quite funny and bawdy, which is a part of some indigenous traditions. The stories are both traditional and new, and can be used by a reader of any age - they're the sort of thing an eight-year-old might sit with their aunt and read together, and they're also being used in classrooms." Walsh hopes they will also have wider appeal. "We recently did an 800-unit print run in Blackfoot and it sold out. There are not a lot of Blackfoot speakers, but there are a lot of people who want to learn the language ... These books are filling a need. And even if you're not learning the language, you can read the stories in English. They're so insightful."

"This informative and entertaining tribute to the richness of the Cree languages--inspired by a series of Facebook posts from McLeod--arrives at a critical juncture when the reclamation and celebration of Indigenous languages are becoming focal healing points for many First Nations communities... McLeod's thesis that the Internet will help preserve endangered languages is amply supported with this loving and timely collection."