New children’s show in Saskatoon aims to revitalize this endangered language

Cory Generoux, the writer and director of 'Nakon’i’a with Kunsi,' stands with Kunsi and Theresa O'Watch. (Hallee Mandryk / CTV News)

A new children’s show is currently being produced in Saskatoon, with the goal of revitalizing an endangered language.

“What we’re doing, it’s actually history in the making in that nothing like this has ever been done entirely in the Nakoda language. And when I’m directing and I’m watching the screens, watching that action take place, this brings a huge smile to my face because it’s all in Nakoda,” explained Cory Generoux, the writer and director of ‘Nakon’i’a with Kunsi.’

Generoux said the show is intended to teach the next generation the Nakoda language in a fresh way.

“The cool thing about the show is that we’re not actually taking a real academic take on learning the language. We’re actually taking the easiest road possible, which is more of a conversational, take on the language,” he said.

The show came about after Generoux approached his friend, Theresa O’Watch about turning her school education program into a television show, where O’Watch uses a puppet named Kunsi to teach Nakoda words and phrases to children.

“When I was gifted the puppet, it just made teaching take on a whole new dimension. Because now ... I had someone to put in the forefront. So, it’s never me in the forefront, it’s always Kunsi,” O’Watch said.

Nakoda is currently an endangered language in Canada, with less than 100 fluent speakers, according to the team behind the show.

O’Watch shared the prospect of bringing Nakoda education to families is a very exciting one.

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“Putting the Nakoda language in every home is a giant step. Kunsi and I can do our job and teach the students every day...But if we don’t have the language in the homes, then we’re really not getting anywhere. Allowing us to have the language in the homes is just a great big, giant step forward for all of us,” she said.

Currently in production at Saskatoon’s Bamboo Shoots, ‘Nakon’i’a with Kunsi’ was a new challenge for Generoux. While the writer/director has worked on a number of shows and films, a children’s show is a different kind of project than what he has done in the past.

“With children’s shows, there’s no real story that’s there. You have a theme and you work your way through the theme, but what it’s all about is about tone, and tone is in the details. So, I’m watching heavily on how that tone is matched ... I want the tone to be like a big, warm Dakota hug,” Generoux said.

The 13-episode series will be featured on the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN). while no official premiere date has been set, Generoux shared that it will likely hit screens by the winter.

“To help save and preserve the language...as well as to help pass it on. It’s just incredibly important that we do this and it starts in the home. It starts with children, with the generation that we have now, which is a perfect way to showcase this language,” Generoux said.

O’Watch added that there is a lot of optimism behind the project.

“We’re hoping that this is going to this is going to blow up in the Nakoda. We’re hoping that every home and every child, whether you’re First Nations, Mexican, Italian, that you’re speaking the language. That’s what we’re hoping for,” she said.