community engagement forum
On Anishinaabemowin & Art
Dolleen Tisawii’ashii Manning & Jane Manning
This gathering brought together members of local Anishinaabe communities in southwestern ontario to talk about our shared desires and visions for language revitalization. It included a media arts workshop for language tool development.
This one-day language and culture revitalization gathering in Sarnia Ontario, took place August 23, 2024, in partnership with the Indigenous Education Division at Lambton College. Indigenous Language revitalization is one of the key areas highlighted in Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Calls to Action. Languages like Anishinaabemowin are in danger of disappearing as a result of Canada’s policies of forced assimilation. In Southwestern Ontario, the number of language speakers is dwindling – only a handful of living Elders speak Anishinaabemowin as a first language (we have invited all of them), and few younger people have had access to the language, and especially the region’s particular southern dialect. Led by Dolleen Tisawii’ashii Manning (Queens) and Jane Manning (Lambton) this forum featured Elders Helen Roy Fuhst, Mona Stonefish, Jenny Blackbird & Jarvis Nahdee, as well as a media arts workshop.
