This summer Carleton will offer an indigenous language class for students and community members to preserve a rapidly disappearing Ojibwa language, Carleton aboriginal cultural liaison Mallory Whiteduck said.
The class teaches the Anishinaabemowin language and it is the only class of its kind at Carleton, said aboriginal cultural liaison Naomi Sarazin.
The course began operating in the 2011-2012 school year, made possible through a grant from the Carleton Centre for Aboriginal Culture and Education (CACE), Whiteduck said.
Courses have run during the summer for two years and have been open to both students and community members, according to the CACE website. The last day to sign up for this year’s summer class is June 28. The classes run July 3 to Aug. 15.
The class is available to students, but Whiteduck said they pay regular tuition and receive credit for the course.
However, she said community members who take the course receive no credit, and the class is free of charge.
Community members must fill out a separate application that will be assessed by the School of Linguistics and Language Studies, according to the CACE website.
The four criteria on the application to register for the course are aboriginal descent, a vested interest in learning the language, inability to afford regular tuition cost, and the time to participate as a productive member of the course.
Sarazin said all four criteria do not need to be met.
“Generally it would be good if the student met all criteria. However, they do not have to be aboriginal. If they have a vested interest in learning the language, that is enough,” she said.
Whiteduck said enrolment in the course is designed to allow as many people to participate as possible.
“We don’t want the cost of tuition to be a barrier. We want [community members] to have the opportunity in a fair way,” Whiteduck said
The class is primarily offered to prevent the loss of the Ojibwa culture, much of which is contained in the language, Whiteduck said.
“We feel that Carleton University and all post-secondary institutions have a responsibility to revitalize language because the spread of colonization on Canada has decreased the spread of indigenous languages,” she said.
Whiteduck said the classes have had a positive impact on the Carleton community and the students who take them.
“We did a survey after the first year, and they talked about how the course was the highlight of their year and changed their lives,” she said. “It was really meaningful for them to learn their language.”
