HPSD Indigenous Education Staff Attend Keep Our Language Alive Conference

Organized by YXE Cree Speakers Society: Keep Our Language Alive, the two-day conference brought together Elders, Knowledge Keepers, educators, language advocates, and community leaders to explore Indigenous language revitalization, education, and the importance of preserving languages for future generations.

During the residential school era, it was forbidden for Indigenous children to speak their languages as part of a deliberate effort to sever family and cultural ties and extinguish Indigenous culture. The survival of these languages is a testament to the strength and resilience of generations who held their languages close and continued to pass them on despite efforts to silence them.

The urgency of language revitalization is recognized internationally through the United Nations' International Decade of Indigenous Languages (2022–2032), which calls for meaningful action to preserve, revitalize, and strengthen Indigenous languages. In Canada, the Indigenous Languages Act supports these efforts, recognizing the importance of reclaiming languages and ensuring they continue to be spoken and passed down to future generations.

For High Prairie School Division's Indigenous Education team, this work includes supporting educators in finding meaningful ways to incorporate Indigenous languages into student learning.

In the words of the late grandson of conference co-emcee Ira Horse, “Our language is not dead; it's not lost. It's sleeping, and we need to wake it up.”