Available from Twin Cities Public Television here. The entire show is available and about an hour long.
h/t E.P.
Here’s the description:
About First Speakers: Restoring the Ojibwe Language
As recent as World War II, the Ojibwe language (referred to as ojibwemowin in Ojibwe) was the language of everyday life for the Anishinaabe and historically the language of the Great Lakes fur trade. Now this indigenous language from where place names like Biwabik, Sheboygan and Nemadji State Forest received their names is endangered.
The loss of land and political autonomy, combined with the damaging effects of U.S. government policies aimed at assimilating Native Americans through government run boarding schools, have led to the steep decline in the use of the language. Anton Treuer, historian, author and professor of Ojibwe at Bemidji State University and featured in First Speakers: Restoring the Ojibwe Language, estimates there are fewer than one thousand fluent Ojibwe speakers left in the United States, mostly older and concentrated in small pockets in northern Minnesota with fewer than one hundred speakers in Wisconsin, Michigan and North Dakota combined.
Treuer is a part of a new generation of Ojibwe scholars and educators who are now racing against time to save the language and the well-being of their communities. Narrated by acclaimed Ojibwe writer, Louise Erdrich, First Speakers tells their contemporary and inspirational story. Working with the remaining fluent Ojibwe speaking elders, the hope is to pass the language on to the next generation. As told through Ojibwe elders, scholars, writers, historians and teachers, this tpt original production reveals some of the current strategies and challenges that are involved in trying to carry forward the language.
First Speakers takes viewers inside two Ojibwe immersion schools: Niigaane Ojibwemowin Immersion School on the Leech Lake Reservation near Bena, Minnesota and the Waadookodaading Ojibwe Language Immersion Charter School on the Lac Courte Oreilles Reservation near Hayward, Wisconsin. In both programs, students are taught their academic content from music to math entirely in the Ojibwe language and within the values and traditional practices of the Ojibwe culture. Unique to the schools is the collaboration between fluent speaking elders and the teachers who have learned Ojibwe as their second language.
First Speakers: Restoring the Ojibwe Language provides a window into their innovative and intergenerational learning experience and the language they are determined to save.
Turtle Talk 
Miigwech! I wanted to watch this, but couldn’t see the broadcast on T.V.
Aani-bozhoo,
Chris Miller ndoonjiba; Ontariong ndijnikaas.
Just want to give you some moral support.
I’m a Canadian (an ethnic group deriving its name and much of its ethos from the Algonquin peoples) Latin teacher, working in Ontario (an Ojibwe name of course – like most every place else in Ontario!)
Like the idiots we sometimes are, we have worked very hard over the years to forget our ancient Canadian heritage – in spite of always being aware that Canada is fundamentally a metis creation, meaning that the pre-European cultures and languages here played a role in forming us and thus are part of our history and identity, regardless of our DNA. Now we’ve done a big “whoops!” and hopefully we can bring back Anishnabem, which was the language of this part of the world for maybe something like 50,000(!) years, as a kind of “heritage language” that we can all take some kind of pride in; and we know from other parts of the world (like Wales, Ireland…) that this kind of “heritage language” helps bind the people together more strongly, and it inspires the arts and divergent ways of thinking – it also improves grammar, logical, and cultural skills in the students of the language, and can bring in more tourism, as you have some kind of distinct and interesting additional layer of culture and history to promote. My ideal would be to have Aanishnaambem taught somehow as part of the elementary school curriculum in our province’s public schools – mainly to instill a sense of pride in our province’s ancient heritage – perhaps as part of the history curriculum – kind of a cross-curricular concept where the kids get a few months of language mixed with culture (rather than the current way of the culture only.) I think this would create a ripple effect where “the word gets out” that we have cultural and linguistic roots in our part of the world going back over 50,000 years, and not going back only to the 1840s. We know from contemporary writings that the interaction between the Loyalists and the Ojibwe peoples was quite extensive, and this left a lasting effect on who we are; let alone in other parts of Canada, where the founder of Manitoba and Saskatchewan was a Cree fellow, and Quebec, where the entire population is a mixture.
In Latin class two days ago, I asked how many students have Southern European (i.e. Roman) ancestors. Believe it or not, NONE had any that they were aware of – yet we study Latin as an integral part of English-speaking language and culture (and should, of course!) Latin’s influence on us is huge regardless of close to nil genetic relations with the ancient Romans. The relationship of us with Anishnaabem is different, but it is very significant, as the ancient language of the land we live in, and, culturally speaking, as a formative influence on how we think about life – think egalitarianism, our fixation on consensus and medicine (think Midwewin!,) the fascination with survival, our traditional and popular sports and games, names of our cities, towns, and waters, our distinctive Canadian cultural activities and traits, our manner of waging war (native, not European tactics.) The legacy is huge, it’s our heritage, and we ought to acknowledge and celebrate our great past, which remains a fundamental part of our current identity!
I think this argument completely stands to reason, and I don’t see why we don’t implement this plan and attitude. Of course, we remain an English-speaking culture, but enriching this with our ancient Ontarian heritage too only makes us more culturally wealthy, vibrant, and proud of who we are.
I took one year of Ojibwe at university – now I’m trying now to learn the language more fully.
Keep at your noble efforts!
Miigwech