Indigenous Languages Series: Henry Pitawanakwat, Ojibwe

Credit: U Multicultural Channel

Henry Pitawanakwat is with the Three Fires Confederacy from Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory. He is very fluent in all dialects, which may also include Chippewa and Algonquin.

With over 40 years of research experience, Henry has worked as an archaeologist, an internship at the Museum of Civilization in Gatineau, now Museum of History, and is a member of translators for the Translation Bureau Government of Canada. He was one of the Translators at the Federal Election Debate in 2019. Henry enjoys working with the language and is also qualified to teach the language, which is in danger of becoming extinct.

Anishinaabemowin (also called Ojibwemowin, the Ojibwe/Ojibwa language, or Chippewa) is an Indigenous language, generally spanning from Manitoba to Québec, with a strong concentration around the Great Lakes. Henry discusses some of the practices of his peoples, the importance of his people’s language, and the history of discrimination, violence, and hate indigenous peoples have suffered because of colonization.

The project is funded by the government of Canada through the Department of Canadian Heritage and distributed with help from the Inuit Broadcasting Corporation and First Peoples Radio Inc.