Moncton Forum

Maliseet language kept alive 
 JACQUELINE LEBLANC
Telegraph Journal

Imelda Perley (Opolahsomuwehs) remembers when Maliseet was spoken on the reserve in secret. When a white man would come, they would all switch to English.

But over time, Perley said the Maliseet language was hardly spoken at all.

Perley teaches Maliseet at the universities of New Brunswick and Maine.

She said she wants the Maliseet people to learn their language again, since it's a part of their culture. Without it, she says, they're not whole.

"It's very important for every generation to preserve the language because traditionally, it was done through inter-generational story telling and gathering," Perley said.

"If we don't pass it on, then we'll be forever disconnected from our whole being, our whole identity.

"We're going to have students totally lost - our whole nation totally lost. They won't know how to connect to who they are, if they stop using the language."

Perley was one of many aboriginal women who gathered at the Delta in Fredericton this weekend for the Wabanaki Rising Aboriginal Women's Forum.

It was hosted by the Committee for the Advancement of Aboriginal Women. Two Hundred aboriginal women from New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Maine and Vermont celebrated their strengths.

Perley wanted to share the importance of preserving the Maliseet language, and show how language and traditional healing methods are intertwined.

She presented her workshop Maliseet, Language of Healing on Saturday.

"We've gotten so used to trusting the western medicine to the point that we now have side effects and all that," she said. "So what I'm saying, is if you learn your language, your language can heal you. Because your medicines that are natural can heal you without side effects."

But most importantly, she wants the younger generations to learn their language again.

She is the elder adviser at Maliseet Head Start in Fredericton. She is the one who incorporates the culture and teaches the children the language.

"(The activities are) all cultural. Even if they're putting blocks together, I teach them how to say it in Maliseet, whether it's 'tall' or 'short,' or the colours, or the shapes."

But the problem, she said, is that the children will learn vocabulary, but go home to parents who may not know Maliseet.

She wants the whole family to learn the ancient language.

Soon the generations who speak Maliseet will be gone and Perley hopes the language doesn't leave with them.

"We only have about two generations left. I think my generation is the last generation to carry it and to speak it. So the challenge is, how do I get the young parent?

"This is why I wanted the From the Womb and Beyond program, so (parents) can greet their child in their own language."

Perley is working with Health Canada on a language program that teaches expecting parents to speak Maliseet, so they will know it well by the time the baby is born.

The program also teaches parents about traditional medicines that they can use, instead of relying on drugs.

For instance, instead of giving a baby a pill if he or she is crying, Perley suggests soothing him or her with the sound of a drum or a flute.

Perley is optimistic that younger generations will help her save the Maliseet language from extinction.

She said her students at UNB are enthusiastic and devoted to learning the language.

It's clear, she said, that they're not just taking the course to get a credit.

"I was contemplating possibly leaving, because I wasn't getting students who would (keep the language) after," she said. "But this year, after I've seen the work the students have done, I'm encouraged again. It's almost as if the creators sent me learners who are going to lift up the work that I'm doing."

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