Indigenous language teachers advising government on coming language law – StarPhoenix

When Rose Pacquette was growing up in Fond du Lac, she learned how to live from her mother and father, who spoke to her in their Dene language.

The words conveyed a world view that stressed the value that each person’s unique strengths brought to the community, the shared responsibility to raise children correctly and a respect for the ancestors that instilled pride in the present.

Now, there seems to be less harmony among people and more competition, families are more isolated from each other and are less willing to accept another adult correcting their child and youngsters are less open to correction, she said.

The elders knew their children needed to learn the language of white society but the introduction of technology and easier travel has seen the English language push the traditional one to the sidelines, she said.