Interests in Indigenous languages growing among local First Nations, Métis – Fairview Post

As a child, Alice Rigney often listened to her grandmother speak Dene but could not always understand her grandmother’s stories and teachings. Rigney spent 10 years at the Holy Angels Residential School in Fort Chipewyan, where she would be punished for speaking Dene.

She remembered some words and phrases after leaving the school, but was no longer a fluent Dene speaker. That changed one day at a campfire when her grandmother said, “If you speak your language, your elders will know who you are.”

Rigney began relearning her language in her early 20s. Now, as an elder with the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation (ACFN), she teaches a Dene curriculum at the Athabasca Delta Community School in Fort Chipewyan. Rigney is part of a network of local elders teaching Dene and Cree languages, and will begin teaching adults with an online course.

Read More: https://www.fairviewpost.com/news/interests-in-indigenous-languages-growing-among-local-first-nations-metis