New generation hopes to preserve imperiled Mohawk language

Roughly 3,000 people in the world are reasonably fluent in the Mohawk language of Kanien'kéha, but efforts are underway to preserve it for future generations.

When Montreal-area MP Marc Miller gave the first ever speech in the Mohawk language, some of the only people in the world able to understand him were listening with appreciation.

Kwahara Ni Jacobs and Tiohawihton Peterson live in Kahnawake, where they are taking a course to become more fluent in Kanien'kéha, the language of their ancestors.

“A lot of it was inspired by my dada, my grandmother, because she’s done a lot for the language,” said Jacobs.

Both said they want to help preserve their cultural identity to be passed on to future generations. Canada’s often horrifying historical treatment of its Native population, including generations of children taken from their parents and sent to residential schools, weighed heavily on their minds.

“Their whole reason behind it was to take the Indian out and to save the person,” said Peterson. “That really hurt, because we are people and we are human and we also deserve to have our language because that differentiates us.”

Only an estimated 3,000 people are able to speak the language with a good degree of fluency and a battle has been waged for generations to preserve it into the future.

Among those working to teach Kanien'kéha to the next generation is Konwanenhon Delaronde, who directs a puppet show in that language that’s aimed at kids.

“It’s our identity,” she said. “It’s how we frame our thoughts. It’s the way we categorize things in the world, the way we think up sentences comes in a certain order for us. It’s very much based in relationships.”

On Thursday, Miller addressed his colleagues in Parliament in Kanien'kéha to mark the start of Aboriginal History Month. His plea to honour the Mohawk language and people was met with a standing ovation.

He said his respect for the Mohawk people is what inspired him to study the endangered language.

“I thought that I should stand up, as part of our whole effort as a nation, to approach and speak the language that was taken from Indigenous peoples at least for a number of generations,” he said. “It was just a matter of respect, to just pay it back and see what it would do.”

While both Jacobs and Peterson appreciated the gesture, the feelings that came with watching Miller’s speech were complex.

“Why does it take somebody who has a higher status and someone who isn’t (Mohawk) to have our voices heard,” said Peterson.

“We’ve been talking for a long time about this,” added Jacobs.