An Autoethnography of Cree Language Learning

Canada’s damaging colonial legacies of the residential schools and its coercive colonial policies resulted in the gargantuan loss of Indigenous languages, the brokenness of families, and the intergenerational trauma faced by Indigenous People today. The most challenging task remains reteaching Indigenous languages in communities whose languages are endangered or at risk of being permanently lost. Canada supports Indigenous languages; however, despite Canada’s financial support, it takes a community to teach a child their Indigenous language; it starts at home, at the community level, and it does not fall on the family alone nor the school rather it is a community task. It starts at home in the community, utilizing the vitality of Indigenous languages as a means of cultural sustainability integral in community sustainable development. The nine pillars of sustainability: environmental, health, social, economic, and cultural (Tsuji, 2021, p. 2, Tsuji, 2022, p. 8). Indigenous language maintenance, education, governance, and leadership are all integral components of cultural sustainability in Indigenous communities. Cultural teachings and the vitality of Indigenous languages are interwoven into the pillars of sustainability. Too often, we overlook the vitality of Indigenous languages at the community level and its integral role in Indigenous language maintenance. I examine the role of vitality in my stories on how I learned Cree as my first language and make cultural connections to our sustainability. Based on my knowledge, I share how we can teach Indigenous languages at the community level. My autoethnography combines Western and Indigenous research frameworks, first language acquisition theories, I apply theories and studies learned in educational administration leadership in demonstrating partnerships with educational institutions and communities bear fruit in working together to ensure maintenance of Indigenous languages. I weaved in threads of Indigenous ways of knowing and contexts, comparative and international contexts, challenges for education, social justice and equity and ethical leadership to include all stakeholders in Indigenous languages. I chose my community, the Red Earth Cree Nations, as an exemplary reserve in demonstrating the community and school on working together to ensure maintenance of our Indigenous language. My findings demonstrate the critical role of the family and the vitality of Indigenous languages, the close relationship of cultural sustainability and environmentalism in our sustainability, as a family and at the community level are key factors in Indigenous languages maintenance. Further analysis of the findings led to a window of great opportunity to share and contribute to the research of Indigenous first language acquisition and Cree language development. There is a need for more research on Indigenous first language acquisition, vitality in Indigenous languages, cultural sustainability, the relationship of cultural sustainability and environmentalism in Indigenous community sustainable development. I honor my dad, Late Herman Garvin who taught me the integral role of our Cree language when he taught us that our livelihood is the land, our cultural sustainability, and environmentalism, to respect Mother Earth, I created and present the Herman Garvin Cultural Sustainability Approach. This approach is founded on the belief that cultural sustainability is the main principle, and vitality is the key to successful Indigenous language maintenance.

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