Helping youth leaders work together to heal past harms – Canada’s National Observer

April 30th 2024

Ermineskin elder Wilton Littlechild told an ominous story about the death of a language to those attending the recent United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Peoples.

At a forum side event in mid-April, Littlechild explained that he once heard an old man speak his language. The elder was one of the last surviving holders of his language. So, when the old man died two years later, the language died with him.

The story was meant to be a warning. Littlechild did not want anyone else to experience the weight of losing language after hearing some of its final breaths.

Daanis Pelletier, an Anishinaabe youth and food sovereignty advocate, listened closely to Littlechild. The story deeply moved Pelletier, and she took it back home to Fort William First Nation.

Read More: https://www.nationalobserver.com/2024/04/30/news/helping-youth-leaders-work-together-heal-past-harms