anguage is taken for granted by most, a form of communication many learn at a young age and develop through their years of living. Canadians are known for their use of English and French, but there are far more languages native to this land that are kept alive by the people who were here first.
鈥淭he Nakota language is very sacred. The Nakota culture is very sacred. When you don鈥檛 know your language and your culture, you don鈥檛 know who you are,鈥� said Armand McArthur in the National Film Board of Canada documentary, To Wake Up the Nakota Language.
McArthur was one of the last fluent speakers of the Nakota language in Saskatchewan. He lived on Pheasant Rump First Nation with his wife Bev. He was at his home surrounded by family on January 25, when he passed away at the age of 73.
Keeping the language and the rich Nakota culture alive was McArthur鈥檚 goal as a Nakota language instructor at First Nations University of Canada and he also led Nakota language classes in Pheasant Rump.
The 2017 documentary To Wake up the Nakota Language鈥攚ritten and directed by Louise BigEagle鈥攆ocused on McArthur鈥檚 efforts to save the Indigenous language from disappearing by spreading it to the current generation to preserve it for future generations.
鈥淭he National Film Board put out this project where they wanted people to put in ideas for a film and they chose three people and I was chosen,鈥� said BigEagle. 鈥淭he reason I came up with this film was because when my grandmother died she was fluent in Cree and when she was alive she really didn鈥檛 have anybody to talk to without any Cree speakers around. As well as, the University of Regina wasn鈥檛 teaching Nakota anymore because they couldn鈥檛 find a language teacher who was fluent.
鈥淥ne day I made this post on Facebook and my uncle Armand made the push forward and contacted someone and he ended up teaching it that following year. He was already out teaching in the community because he was the only fluent speaker on Pheasant Rump and I came to realize there weren鈥檛 very many Nakota speakers in Saskatchewan鈥攁t that time I think there was 25 and there鈥檚 less now. That鈥檚 how I came up with the idea, hoping people would see the importance of revitalizing languages like Nakota, which is on the endangered list. We wanted people to walk away from the film thinking, 鈥榳hat can I do? What needs to be done?鈥欌��
The preservation of Indigenous languages is something that needs more attention or they鈥檒l be lost forever, BigEagle explains, and that鈥檚 why McArthur was so passionate about teaching Nakota to anybody who would listen.
鈥淚t鈥檚 important,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 part of Canadian heritage and Saskatchewan heritage. There鈥檚 so many languages, Indigenous languages that were forgotten and are no longer around and it鈥檚 a big part of who we are as Canadians, as Saskatchewan people. Nakota is a language that could be lost because we鈥檙e not taught the importance of the language and that鈥檚 what I wanted to show in this film. Like my uncle says in the film, it鈥檚 important for anyone to learn the language鈥攊t doesn鈥檛 matter who you are鈥攕o it can be kept alive.鈥�
The impact of losing a resource like McArthur on the Nakota language and culture can鈥檛 be put into words and BigEagle says he was focused on his work until the end.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a big loss,鈥� she said. 鈥淚n our culture we say it鈥檚 like losing an Indigenous library because he had so much knowledge in traditions, culture, ceremonies, the Nakota way of life, and songs that he was taught by his father and grandfather. He was about to start teaching language classes the week he passed away, and so now we鈥檙e trying to figure out who can we get to takeover and teach these classes. He was also recording language audio in Saskatoon just the weekend he passed away and we won鈥檛 be able to finish that. At his age he was still wanting to teach classes and he had just finished his book that he co-wrote with Wilma Kennedy鈥攅dited by Dr. Vincent Collette鈥攁nd there was just so much he wanted to get done. It鈥檚 a big loss to the Nakota community to have him pass away.鈥�
Peter McArthur grew up with Armand McArthur and over the last few decades they鈥檇 been working to teach the Nakota language.
鈥淲e went through a lot growing up,鈥� McArthur said. 鈥淲e went to reserve school and we were integrated into Carlyle School and all that time I never knew his dad talked to him鈥擨 didn鈥檛 know his dad taught him so much and showed him so much about the language. Nowadays, we鈥檙e all basically English鈥攎y mom and dad both spoke different languages and went to residential school. Armand told me he went to residential school for just a few days, he ran away and never went back鈥擨 think maybe that鈥檚 what helped him be more with his dad and his grandpa, that鈥檚 probably what helped him learn the language more.鈥�
It鈥檚 been a long process that began in the 1990s when Armand and Peter began to realize if they don鈥檛 begin trying to preserve and teach the language then it could be lost forever.
鈥淭he most important thing was when we realized we were almost ready to do an autopsy with the death of our language, around that time we were having thoughts about it we became involved in what we called the unity ride. During that ride we met a lot of people from 麻豆传媒AV Dakota and we rode with them for years鈥攏one of us were into our ceremonies so during that ride and after it we became more involved in ceremonies and learning a few words of the language and learning how important the language was to the ceremonies. At that time there was about 70 or 80 speakers鈥攚hen my dad was alive he spoke it and some uncles and we had some distant relatives from White Bear that were known speakers, but now they鈥檙e down to one known speaker and her brother is at Ocean Man and he鈥檚 their last known speaker.
鈥淚n 1996 we were riding horseback all across north and south Saskatchewan and east and west into northern Alberta. We were just meeting people and sharing our concerns about the language and ceremonies. Some researchers came out to record the language from speakers and they gave us a nice dictionary to have鈥攖here were some regional difference with the different speakers who contributed a word or a phrase.
鈥淚n 2003, we were meeting people that were preserving the language from Carry the Kettle Reserve and I brought them to my reserve鈥攚e actually went to Indiana University where the language was being preserved more. The universities down there each kind of choose a language to focus on鈥攍ike Colorado has Lakota鈥攁nd Indiana focuses on Nakota and they also developed a dictionary of words. We got Armand involved in the early 2000s鈥攚hen we were starting to have ceremonies in 鈥�96, he was already doing the Nakota ceremonies with the people he knew from Montana. So we kind of sprouted at the same time and we had some money to spend on resource material and make our own. It got a little frustrating because towards the end it was really just me and Armand at the language meetings and things kind of died out.鈥�
Peter says there are others who can speak the language fluently, but the loss of Armand is substantial because of his natural ability to teach it to others鈥攂efore he died he was able to finish his work with Wilma Kennedy and Dr. Vincent Collette on a Nakota dictionary.
鈥淲e have about five fluent speakers in the province鈥攖here鈥檚 some at the Battleford reserve鈥攂ut there鈥檚 a big difference in knowing it and being able to teach it. Just because someone knows the language doesn鈥檛 mean they can teach it鈥攐ne of my biggest plans was to do a proposal to get a facility and record the speaker using all of today鈥檚 technology, but now we have nobody to record (without Armand). We need fluent speakers with teaching skills, there鈥檚 a lot of people who understand it and can have a conversation but don鈥檛 have the ability to teach it.
鈥淥ur language is unique and so we need to keep preserving what we have now, but we still need to develop a way to teach it. Now we need to find a unique teacher with unique skills. The best guy we鈥檝e got now is this frenchman from Montreal (Collette), he and Armand got really close the last few years and they made 7,000 words鈥擨ndiana University only had 5,000 words. He said to me at the funeral, 鈥榳ell we鈥檙e still one up on Indiana now because we鈥檝e also got phrases and sentences.鈥� That was one of our biggest drawbacks working at the Saskatchewan Indigenous Culture Centre and the University of Regina was they couldn鈥檛 use any material made by another university鈥攖hey couldn鈥檛 use the material created by Indiana University.鈥�
Everyone who knew Armand knew what type of person he was, someone always willing to give his time to help and that shone through with his efforts in saving and teaching the Nakota language.
鈥淎rmand used to be a singer with a group and they鈥檝e almost all passed away now,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 asked the last remaining guy that he sang with (Oswald McKay), 鈥榳hat would you say about Armand in a one or two sentences?鈥� He said, 鈥楢rmand was a good man. He was always willing to help in any way that he could.鈥� I鈥檇 say the same thing. He was fortunate to learn the language from his dad and I guess somewhere along the line he realized we鈥檇 need it and he鈥檇 be instrumental in helping restore it鈥擫ouise鈥檚 film shows that.鈥�
When asked why they want to learn their language, McArthur says it鈥檚 because they want to pray like their ancestors, but keeping Nakota alive after losing Armand becomes an even tougher task鈥攅specially with the disparities in systems and pronunciation.
鈥淚n Montana, North Dakota, Saskatchewan, and Alberta we were having online language lessons so our group is quite spread out and the talk is now, how are we going to replace Armand? What are we going to do? We have a couple southern speakers, but the ones we have left prefer to do it phonetically and it鈥檚 going to change the way we say things now unless they go back to the Indiana writing system鈥攚hich uses more punctuation.
鈥淲hen you speak phonetically it changes the pronunciation of some letters and that鈥檚 why we鈥檙e trying to stick with the other one. I鈥檓 glad that Vincent Collette is going with this writing system instead of the phonetic one. It鈥檚 so simple to learn, but we don鈥檛 know all of the words. We鈥檝e had a few meetings going over words because we have to get together and make sure everybody uses the same word for an item.
鈥淚 watched a David Suzuki show where he was in Thailand with a language preservationist and he marked off a large area in the jungle and said, 鈥業 want you to tell me in your language every plant that鈥檚 in there.鈥� We鈥檝e lost that, we don鈥檛 know all the names of all of our plants anymore and who鈥檚 going to tell us now.
鈥淭hey (Armand and Collette) just finished doing that dictionary a couple days before he died. Armand was the most important guy we had, and I鈥檓 going to miss him.鈥�
