Papal apology for residential schools in Canada

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Advancing reconciliation
Addressing past harms and healing

Jeannie Manning was born in Kinngait (Cape Dorset), Nunavut

Jeannie Manning
Interpreter/Translator

Jeannie Manning:
My name is Rebecca Jeannie Manning. I'm more known as Jeannie because that's what my siblings called me all the time, as did my parents. I was born and raised in Cape Dorset, Nunavut.

In Inuktitut, Kinngait, meaning lots of hills. And my father worked for the Hudson's Bay Company at the time when I was born. So, I was born and raised in the house that my father built, and that was around the Hudson's Bay Company. I was exposed to a lot of white people, and although I couldn't speak English, I could understand a little bit.

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Jeannie's first language is Inuktitut

Jeannie Manning:
So, Inuktitut is really the main language of the community where I'm from and it's also the main language of all Nunavut communities.

I knew how to read and write in Inuktitut before I went into kindergarten. And God gave me a gift for languages, He gave me the ability to pick up reading and writing because I picked it up better than my siblings. I have two other siblings who are really good at it too, but a lot of my peers didn't quite pick up the syllabics. I mean, their language was perfect. They spoke Inuktitut fluently because it's their mother tongue, but it's the reading part and the writing part that was a challenge to a lot of other Inuit besides myself.

My people are Inuit people. And I'm honoured to be called an Inuk.

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Many Northern Indigenous children were forced to attend residential schools where they were separated from their family and punished for speaking Inuktitut.

Jeannie Manning:
Inuktitut is part of who we are, where we're from. It's our mother tongue.

Unfortunately, there are some communities in the central Arctic where some people have lost their Inuktitut because it was literally beaten out of them every time they spoke it. So, they had to master the English language to the best of their ability. And to this day, they speak only very little of Inuktitut mainly, maybe, yes or no.

Children who were taken from their homes, some did not even make it back home. And those who did try and get away, did not make it either back to the residential school or to their communities. And those are the wounds that people still need to heal from.

I think I was one of the fortunate ones because I did not go to a Catholic residential school. I did go to a residential school. I went to the one in Iqaluit, but it was run by the government, the federal government. To my knowledge, I myself was not sexually abused. I had a little spank here and there maybe for misbehaving, but that's about it. But still, the separation from my family affected me in life, in my life, because I was never really able to settle down anywhere afterwards. I lost connection with my family and still feel a little estranged from my own family, from my own siblings, that when I do see them, they're like strangers to me. Although they are not strangers, I know them, I grew up with them, but they're kind of like, if we're sitting in the same room and they're talking, I feel like I'm always the odd one out because I was away from home a lot.

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In July 2022, Pope Francis visited Canada to apologize on behalf of the Catholic Church for its role in the residential school system

As part of a team of Indigenous language interpreters, Jeannie was asked to translate the Pope's address into Inuktitut during the live event

Jeannie Manning:
I felt humbled to have been approached or to have been asked to interpret at this event. And at first, I thought maybe I really didn't qualify because I didn't go to a Catholic school. But my colleagues said, it doesn't matter what school you went to, it's your language that needs to be heard, that they want to hear and to use for people to listen to what the Pope has to say.

I felt honoured, not because it was the Pope, but because I was representing the very people that had been harmed, that had been wronged. To be able to convey the words spoken and have them understood by my people was something that really touched me inside. And it's because a lot of people, if they don't get an apology from religious people who have harmed them in the past, they would have continued to hurt. You know, even hearing the words "I'm sorry" is like, it begins to heal a wound. And the apology was a long time coming. It was overdue. Long overdue, because so many people have suffered from the ramifications of residential schools, from the abuse they suffered in Catholic schools.

I was affected emotionally by seeing the pain of a lot of people who had gone through residential schools and who had lost their children and/or their loved ones to residential schools. It affected me because I'm a family person, and to lose family is painful, especially if it's not expected. You know, like I had a sister who was sick and she was at the hospital on her deathbed. That's expected death. But when you hear of tragic losses, it not only affects the heart, it affects the soul and the lives of people who suffered those losses. So, yes, I did feel the emotions and I felt for the people who had suffered the loss of their children and their loved ones to residential schools.

The most memorable moment was when the beautiful Cree woman stood up in front of a crowd and sang, Oh, Canada in the Cree language. And it was powerful because there was a lot of emotion and anger and a cry for justice, all bound in one voice. And I just thank her for her bravery to do that.

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Jeannie moved to Ottawa in 2013, where she currently works to keep the Inuit language and culture alive

Jeannie Manning:
I work with Isaruit, which means wings, but it was strictly set up, well mainly set up, not strictly, but mainly set up for women who sew. The women, Inuit women who like to sew or do crafts wanted to get together so they can socialize and keep the language alive and to keep their culture alive by creations. But it expanded to Isaruit Inuit arts, where it was not only women anymore, there was also men who are bringing their skills, toolmaking skills, into this organization that's keeping our culture alive here in Canada, here in the South, where you see a lot of the tools, like an ulu, or a naulak, which is a spear up in the North. You don't see them down here because they don't get used down here. But to keep our culture and heritage alive, we need to keep our history alive. And that's how we do it is by making the very tools that were keys to survival of the Inuit, like the qulliq, the lamp, that was one of the key tools of survival for Inuit.

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The Inuktitut language needs to be preserved and revitalized

Jeannie Manning:
I would like to see it maintained amongst the Inuit, to see it revitalized where it's been lost, like much of the First Nations people are revitalizing their languages.

I would like to see other people who are interested in learning our language, approach us and tell us "We would like to learn Inuktitut, is there any way?". If we're going to teach Inuktitut, we need to form a school here, or set up classes or programs where Inuktitut can be taught. But it will only be open, it should only be open to people interested. We're not going to force people to learn our language, we've already been through that.

And probably it will bring about more reconciliation because a lot of the people I know here who are somewhat older than I am, they're still shy to speak out. And the younger ones, their lips are zipped. So, it would be like, really good if the Inuit and non-Inuit can interact socially or in a classroom setting and learn Inuktitut if they wish.

(Speaking in Inuktitut). I just said, for those of us Inuit, let us not be hindered by mountains that are before us. Let us continue in faith and just never give up.

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"I want to see Inuktitut remain alive. A living language for my people, and to be available to those who want to learn."

Canada Wordmark

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Advancing reconciliation
Addressing past harms and healing

Jessie Sylvestre is a first-language Dene speaker from the Buffalo River Dene Nation

Dr. Jessie Sylvestre
Buffalo River Dene Nation ejeredeséche,
Saskatchewan

Jessie Sylvestre:
My name is Jessie Sylvestre. I come from the Buffalo River Dene Nation. (Speaking Dene language.) So, basically, my Indigenous ceremonial name is Warrior Woman. It's what I translated just now to.

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Jessie had a rich childhood embracing the Dene language and culture until the age of six.

Jessie Sylvestre:
As a child, I grew up on the land. My parents practised the nomadic way of life. And so, I knew no English until I was six. Prior to that, we lived on the land, and we never had a house. We basically lived in tents, and our main transportation was the river. So, we travelled in a canoe, and my father had a boat too. As children, we were given roles in terms of what to do as we're growing up and how we can sustain ourselves as Dene people, but we didn't find it as a chore. It was who we were and what was expected of us. So, we would haul water. We would haul wood. If my father went rabbit snaring, we would all be there. We'd all be given a snare, so we knew how to snare the rabbits. Everything was in the language.

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At age six, Jessie was forcefully taken from her family to attend the Beauval Indian Residential School.

Jessie Sylvestre:
We had no contact with the settlers that had arrived and never heard no English whatsoever until we were taken away. Of the five of us, four of us were taken away. I think it was in 1966 or 67, and that's the very first time we heard English, and for the very first time, that's when we saw the non-Indigenous Peoples, and that was the priest and the nun. They came in their black sleek car. That's when I learned English. Quite rapidly, I picked up on English and became… I love to read, and that was probably my way of coping with the loneliness that we all experienced at the residential schools because our parents were not there. And so that was my way of dealing with the loneliness, was isolate myself in a corner and just read. I did a lot of that.

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Jessie's Dene knowledge and culture never left her.

Jessie Sylvestre:
This language is spoken also in Northern Manitoba, around the Lac Brochet area where we have the Dene also, and they were known as the (speaking Dene language). But because it was anglicized, that's why they called it Lac Brochet. So, our Dene language right from, like I said, right from the southern southwest are the Apache and the Navajo. They are all Dene also.

So, if I travel to Arizona, I can communicate with the Diné, the Navajo there. And again, I could travel to Alaska and communicate with the Diné out there too. So, we do have many names, like I said: the Diné, the Navajo, the Apache. There's the Chipewyan, there's the Athabaskan, and then we have the Gwich'in and the Dogrib.

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The Dene language needs to be heard.

Jessie Sylvestre:
We're at a time where our language needs to be heard. We need to continue speaking it and advocating it and writing it and translating it and be with the Elders always to make connection, to go back to the land and be with the land. And that's where the interconnectedness of who we are as Indigenous Peoples, as Dene people, is, is where we feel in tune with the land, because that's who we are. The Elders remind me of that: "Jessie, you're living in a city, but be mindful. You need to get back to the land." And so, I frequent the land and the ceremony, and that's because I didn't grow up in ceremony. Being in the residential school, there were no ceremonies, there were no eagle feathers, there were no sweetgrass, there was no smudging… unheard of until I began my studies at university. And then I realized, oh my goodness, you know, like, gee whiz, I'm Dene and I'm living a non-Indigenous life, you know, the way I speak, the way I dress, what I ate, my thoughts. So, it took me many years and I'm still unlearning and relearning who I am as a Dene woman, as a Dene warrior.

And personally, it was a hard journey. It was a really tough journey. I had to relearn and undo so much that it brought so much pain.

So, with the journey of decolonizing, as I said, it's probably one of the loneliest journeys that I'm on. With where I'm at, I don't think I'll ever go back to being that little girl that was taken away at the age of six and conformed to the colonial ways of everything and not ever being taught who I am as a little Dene girl. And we were silenced. We were not allowed to speak up and be heard.

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In July 2022, Pope Francis visited Canada to apologize on behalf of the Catholic Church for its role in the residential school system.

As part of a team of Indigenous language interpreters, Jessie was asked to translate the Pope's address into Dene during the live event.

Jessie Sylvestre:
Well, when I first got the email from Ottawa, I was really excited. It really excited me. And then I thought, dang, you know, like the Pope, it was something that I had to really take into ceremony so I could fully understand the purpose of why I have to travel to Ottawa.

It took me many years to leave the church because of the guilt they've instilled in me.

And so, I talked to a few Elders, and they said that your language will be heard, Jess. People are going to hear your language in Canada. And so that encouraged me.

There are times I did get emotional because I thought about my parents also, but personally, for myself, emotionally, I just had some angry moments of like, how dare you? And you're not being honest. Like, be honest to our people and be truthful. You shouldn't have to read from the paper because our people always say if we want to apologize, it should come from the heart. It shouldn't be something that someone else wrote and you're reading it, because there's a disconnect automatically.

There were some real emotional times, but that's to be expected. And of course, many of us were angry when we got back there. But we had to be careful. And with the encouragement of the team there from CIRNAC, as soon as you're in the booth, you know, my job is to translate and push aside my angry emotions for the moment.

I was in the residential school for ten years of my life. And so basically, what I learned up to the time I graduated in 1978… it was all the colonial Western way of teachings, and I learned to speak and articulate well in English also. But at the same time, I maintained my Dene language almost in silence. And so, when we were doing the translating for the Pope's visit, it brought back some ugly memories, and a lot of them were not very good, you know, with the abuses that happened while they were there. And they were revered as… the priests were revered as the holy ones that never did wrong.

It was the loneliness and feeling isolated that came back when I saw all the priests and the Pope, very patriarchal, straight men. I almost felt kind of sick looking at them. And then I thought, how can our people still kneel down and bow down and allow these people to conform to their way of thinking? That made me angry because I reflected back as a child. We were segregated—my sister and I together, Marlene, and my brothers, James and Delbert. Delbert is the youngest. We weren't allowed to see one another. So those came back.

There's always going to be our memories. We have triggers almost every day. I know we're told, get on with your life, Jess. Well, I have gone on with my life, you know. I feel I'm educated now with a Bachelor of Education degree. I have my master's degree, and I just attained my doctorate degree. But the memories will always be there. As much as you try really hard to forget, the smell of a cigar will trigger the priest sitting behind a desk where, you know, molestations took place, those kinds of things. Old furniture, the smell of the old furniture, the long drapes that, you know, flashbacks all the time that we see every day when we go into buildings. It's like, oh my god, just give me a few seconds, and people don't understand. And so, this is an everyday thing for a lot of the Survivors, the warriors that are out there. They're fighting to be who they are and regain who we are. And so those memories came back, you know, as we're sitting there. And I had to maintain my composure and translate the best I could. But when the team got together, we became a family with the 23 of us that were there, and with the CIRNAC team, I mean, a beautiful team we had.

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Jessie has spent a lifetime advocating for the preservation of the Dene language and culture.

Jessie Sylvestre:
I know they do have statistics, and we have done them within our own nations. Right now, we haven't completely lost it, but we can't get too comfortable with where we're at. We still need to encourage our educators and our leaders to really put our language and our culture and our ceremonies in the forefront. Because if that is not encouraged, then we're in crisis also, and we're almost there.

So now, with land-based teachings that are happening, many of the children are back out on the land. And I must encourage our land-based educators and teachers to speak the language out there and have the children participate with the hunts and let them do the skinning, the cleaning and what needs to be done to be brought back home.

We need to really put our minds together collectively and strategize in terms of what are some ways that we can help to revitalize our Indigenous languages and our Denesoline language.

I would really encourage to have the Dene languages spoken in schools, in work areas, in the stores, in the band office, conducted in the language. The meetings to be conducted in the language, our radio stations to have the languages spoken at all times.

We really need to advocate for who we are with the languages and really fight for it, and do what we can to reawaken, you know, what's been put to rest.

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"When we speak in our language, it has a spirit, and it's sacred. So, it comes to life."

Canada Wordmark

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Advancing reconciliation
Addressing past harms and healing

Norman Fleury was born on a small farm near the Métis community of St. Lazare, Manitoba.

Norman Fleury
Métis Elder

Norman Fleury:
My name is Norman Fleury, and I was born and raised in a small community called St. Lazare, Manitoba, and that's at the junction of the Qu'Appelle and the Assiniboine Rivers. And there was a fort called Fort Ellis, and my great-grandfather helped Father DeCorby start missions, and that was one mission that was started. But, the Métis, after the first resistance, moved, some of them moved westward, and that was one of the place was Fort Ellice. And people stayed there and developed other communities like Ste. Madeleine. That's where my father was born in Saint Madeline, and my mother was born in Asessippi, Manitoba, and that's around the Roblin. My grandfather had a homestead, and then they moved to St. Lazare afterwards and took, originally when he came from Saint Laurent, Manitoba, in the late 1800s with two of his brothers, they went to Fort Ellice, then St. Lazare and they took homesteads. They also were people of the scrip and then homesteads. You needed $10 to buy a quarter section of land. You had to develop it. You had to break ten acres of land. You had to build a home and building to say that you were going to be established there. So, I was born on this little farm section 41728, where my two nephews are still owners of that property. It's going to be an eight generation farm, and it's a homestead that was taken in the late 1800s. So, where I was born and raised was predominantly a Michif community and a French community.

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Norman has always spoken Michif.

He has a deep emotional connection to what it means to be Michif.

Norman Fleury:
Our first language was Michif. When I was born, my mother, my grandmother delivered me in Michif language and my mother spoke in Michif. So, that's all I ever knew was Michif, other than when I started going to school. I went to a school called Ellice School, and that was an old school that was established when there was no consolidation of schools. And then eventually, people consolidated because the distance made a big difference in those days. There were no buses. So, people like my grandfather took us to school by horses' team.

I still have all my languages. I speak seven languages, and that's like our ancestors did because they were the mediators and mediums of the building of Canada and the Michif language was the trade language even on buffalo hunts.

The First Nations people, like our Iron Alliance that we had in 1821, we always worked together with the Assiniboine and the Chippewa, which is Saulteaux, and that's here. And in the States, it's Chippewa, and there's Cree and Michif. So, we always work together side by side. And that Iron Alliance should have been celebrated just a few years ago, two years ago, because it was a big, big celebration. At that time that the alliance was made in 1821, it was one of the biggest gatherings of Michif, Cree and Chippewa and Assiniboine. There were maybe 1500 dancers. They had a Sun Dance.

Those are the stories, those are my connections. I've never lost my identity.

Without your language, there is no identity. You can be a government, you can be political, you know, a people that say, you know who we are, self-government, but you have to have that identity under section 35. There are three Indigenous groups, First Nations, Inuit and Métis. So, the First Nations and the Inuit are telling their story. We have to tell our story. And that's where we are. Like, as I sit here with you today, and my recollections of the past and my stories of today and how do I look into the future if we don't put all those together. We have to accommodate our young people because, without our young children, we have no future. I am the past. That is the future in the young children, like my granddaughter, who is four years old. That's two years she's in school and preschool taking the Michif language, and she's starting to speak it. So, to me, that's life. That's a life-giver. That circle of life continues as we continue through our young children. I was one of those at one time, and my grandparents said, it's your turn now. We give you all this history, this story, everything. We give it to you. You're our teacher. You're our future. And they gave it to me. And that's why in my heart and in my mind, it's something that really hits me dearly. And it's a passion that I have. When I speak of Louis Riel, and I speak of my grandparents, the adrenaline flows in my veins. It becomes hot, it becomes powerful. That's who I am. And we were a whole lot of us that were like me at one time. There are still some, but we need more to move forward.

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Michif emerged during the fur trade and evolved into a distinct language among the High Plains Métis.

Norman Fleury:
We were always a government. We were always a self-governing people all the time because we had a land base. We also had our own language. We had, you know, 1.4 million acres of land that was allotted or left for us by the federal government for our beneficiaries, of our ancestors. So, we were always a people and we were always a culturally based people with land. My grandmother or grandfather would say, "(speaking Michif language)", our ways, you know, our own ways. We are a very, very unique people. We were the best of both worlds of European ancestry and Michifs of French and of Cree, and Saulteaux, and Assiniboine. And we developed our own language. Nowhere in the world are there two-family groups that came together and became one family. The most unique people are the Michifs and the Michif language.

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In July 2022, Pope Francis visited Canada to apologize on behalf of the Catholic Church for its role in the residential school system.

As part of a team of Indigenous language interpreters, Norman was asked to translate the Pope's address into Michif during the live event.

Norman Fleury:
I went there to represent my people more than the Pope. That story would be told any time about the Pope anyway, but without our inclusion, it would not. And it was tough. They couldn't find a translator, an interpreter, and my name came up because I speak seven languages and I'm able to speak that language, and I know the history of the language. And because Catholicism is one of the biggest parts of Michif Nation, we've been Catholics since time immemorial. And Louis Riel, our leader, was a faithful Catholic and all of our ancestors. So, when I went there, I thought of them. I thought of my grandparents. I thought about so many people saying, "Wow, this is a time of our life now, to give that to the world", this where Canada learned, the world learned.

So, when I went there, it was that spiritual connection of God. Did I meet the Pope personally? No. Does it matter if I meet him? No, it doesn't. As long as all of us come together and have that understanding that there is representation of the Michif language there. And to me, we made history, we made an understanding. And me sitting there by myself, where the other nations had two or three, and I was alone.

But I challenged it, and I did it. And I'm very happy that I did; when I was in those little booths. And I was helped by many people. They didn't just leave me there alone. I had help. And that really gave me more encouragement because I'm not alone here. We are family because we're with Indigenous people and other peoples. So that's what really gave me more encouragement. But I thought of myself, when I was an altar boy, when I went to church in Saint-Lazare, Manitoba, when I did my confirmation and when I was confirmed. So, we're always confirming ourselves in different ways. This was another form of confirmation. So, it really, really helped to be there to speak, and everybody had their own. And we started off in good ways in the morning. We started off in prayers. I gave, you know, the blessing that morning to other people. And we developed that understanding of each other because we didn't know each other.

It certainly was a challenge because it had never been done in that way. It was another form of revitalization of our language. It was another way of inclusiveness of the terminology. If I hadn't been a Catholic and had gone through these ceremonies in church, I would not have understood a lot of what the priests, what the pope was saying and the priests in those big celebrations in Edmonton and also in Lac Ste. Anne.

But the most unique part of it, is that the First Nations had a big part and the Métis in ceremony, coming in that first day, as I remember. So, for me, it was saying in so many ways I felt like, wow, we've come a long way and we are leading now, the process, as Indigenous people, as we see fit. Of course, the Pope had to have his own guards, and that's another, you know, that's another way. But we're able to walk together with First Nations and Métis people, going to the graveyard cemetery, going to Lac Ste. Anne, the pilgrimage, recognizing the miracles that took place there in those waters, in those sacred waters.

And I was there to represent my people, my nation, to represent in a very proud way with pride, so we can move forward and our children can say, "This is what happened, this is what our nation did, this is what we can do," that independence, you know.

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Susie Alfred and her daughter, Dolly Alfred are from the Tsayu (Beaver) Clan.

It is a language grounded in cultural storytelling.

Norman Fleury:
In 1990, we had a language conference in Yorkton. There were those that spoke the language and understood it but didn't read or write it. And then you had those that spoke the language and read and wrote it. Then you had thosSusie Alfred and her daughter, Dolly Alfred are from the e that understood the language but didn't know how to speak it, and you had those that didn't know how to speak the language, let alone read. So, you had these different groups, but at least you have people that still understand but want to speak. So those could be your future teachers because they have understanding. But it's not about words, because those words, words matter, and those words have cultural building into those words. So, you can have somebody teaching words, but if you don't have an understanding of those words, and every word that you use, especially the action words in Michif, they have a story behind it. That story has to be told. It's got a cultural groundedness. It has a base. So, you can find that balance, and that's what we have to do, is build that balance and that understanding and formulate and build together.

(Speaking Michif language), I spoke a little bit of my language today. (Speaking the Michif language), I'm very proud to sit here (speaking Michif language) to tell Canada the story about those special people in this country and who we are, so we can continue working together in Canada. We don't want to separate ourselves. We want to be the same people, have that same understanding, but yet, we still have to tell our stories as that nation that's in this country. So that's what we have to do and take pride in that. Maarsii.

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"As a distinct people, we want to make sure that the Métis and Michif presence is heard, valued and respected."

Canada Wordmark

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Advancing reconciliation
Addressing past harms and healing

Susie Alfred and her daughter, Dolly Alfred are from the Tsayu (Beaver) Clan.

Susie Alfred:
My full name is Susie Alfred, and my traditional name is Ts'akë ze' Wilat. And, I belong to the Beaver Clan, Tsayu Clan.

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Dolly Alfred
Witsuwit'en language and culture ambassador

Dolly Alfred:
(Speaking Witsuwit'en), Dolly. My name is Dolly. (Speaking Witsuwit'en) Susie Alfred (speaking Witsuwit'en) Henry Alfred. My mom's traditional name is Wilat. Her English name is Susie Alfred and my late dad's name is (speaking Witsuwit'en), English name, Henry Alfred.

(Speaking Witsuwit'en) I live in Witset.

Witset is located in the northwestern central of B.C., and it's between Prince Rupert and Prince George and 32 kilometres from Smithers.

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Susie Alfred, Wila'at
Wet'suwet'en Elder

Susie Alfred:
Witset means the river flowing by the community. The river flows, and all of a sudden, by our village, there's a canyon, and it drops down. Witset means it's dropping. And that's how we got the name, Village Witset, years ago. It's the name of the river.

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Both women are fluent Wet'suwet'en speakers

Susie Alfred:
I was born and raised speaking our language by my mother and my grandmother and grandfather. I also spoke English as I was growing up because my dad is Gitxsan, it's another Nation from our village, and he doesn't speak our language, so he speaks English to us. So, we grew up speaking English and our language, Witsuwit'en.

Dolly Alfred:
My father and my mother spoke to us in Witsuwit'en, and same with my grandmother. We were always with my grandmother in the smokehouse. Or we would go up there in the summertime, we'd go visit it.

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It is critical to protect and revitalize the Witsuwit'en language

Dolly Alfred:
The population of Witset is 700 people, and there are about 70 fluent speakers.

Susie Alfred:
The total is 5000.

Dolly Alfred:
Yes.

Susie Alfred:
Because they are all living away, very few at home. The fluent speakers we're losing them. We're 1% right now, the fluent speakers, very few. If we don't revitalize our language, we're going to lose it. And so, we're working hard on it, teaching the young ones, especially the little baby ones, not baby, like three years old, yeah. And then we get to the middle-aged ones and trying to build up, revitalize our language.

But I'm hoping the government are going to provide some funding so we could bring back to life our language. It's huge, and we can't be losing it.

Dolly Alfred:
What happened in the past with residential schools and day schools and the 60 Scoops, they tried to assimilate and tried to take our identity away. And I'd like to tell the Canadians that the Wet'suwet'en are still here and we're still speaking our language. We still have our culture and our identity and although we're at 1%, we have an immersion class and the Witsuwit'en is taught in the daycare and at the elementary school. And I teach the Witsuwit'en in the public school.

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In July 2022, Pope Francis visited Canada to apologize on behalf of the Catholic Church for its role in the residential school system

As part of a team of Indigenous language interpreters, Susie and Dolly were asked to translate the Pope's address into Witsuwit'en during the live event

Susie Alfred:
When we first got a call that we were going to Ottawa, I was so honoured that I was going to be speaking my language, translating, transcribing to the Pope. I was so honoured because I've never seen the Pope at all, first time ever, and I was very honoured. But along the way, it was very difficult. Every once in a while, I get very emotional because my mother and my two uncles went to residential school and they had it very rough and my mom used to cry about it, how they were treated. And myself, I went to an Indian day school, which were the nuns and the priests and the brothers, and they weren't very nice to us.

But, I still made it to grade eight in Indian Day School. It's very difficult. I was so honoured in a way, I was looking at Pope Francis arriving in Edmonton or watching them on a video, and along the way, I was thinking about what mom told me, and I get so emotional, I get choked up and I held myself. But in a way, overall, I was very honoured to be called.

Dolly Alfred:
I got an email from Marianne asking if mom and I could translate the Pope's apology and to translate his words. I was at home, and I was all excited and nervous because mom and I, well, we told Marianne that we would be there to represent the Wet'suwet'en. And yeah, we were just overwhelmed and nervous and excited.

It was emotional at times, thinking back to my grandmother going to residential school, and my two uncles and what they had to go through, and my mom going to day school, and also, I went to day school. I was very emotional because the Pope didn't say anything about day school. We had the same treatment as a residential school. The only thing is that we got to go home. I overcame that feeling, looking at Mom, sitting there thinking to myself, we have a job here. We have a job here to do. We have to translate the Pope's words and to let the world know that Wet'suwet'en are still here and we're still speaking our language.

Text on screen:

Dolly is an online ambassador of the Witsuwit'en people and their culture.

Dolly Alfred:
It used to be called Witsuwit'en Wednesday. But I changed it to Witsuwit'en Wilhatatdzïn, and that was like six years ago.

I teach the phrase or word on Witsuwit'en Wilhatatdzïn on the social media. And the reason why I started Witsuwit'en Wilhatatdzïn is to give the Witsuwit'en people in the urban area a chance to keep their language or to learn the language because they're not around the elders, the fluent speakers.

Susie Alfred:
A year ago, we launched the dictionary. And this is what the younger people are going to be learning from. So that was one big project we've done. And way back when my late husband was still alive we did two history books, that took us five years. It was the first edition and the second edition of the history book.

It's called (speaking Witsuwit'en). It's the work of our ancestors, that's what it means. And that's what was written in both English and Witsuwit'en. And we have that book as well. So, we've been working hard over the years. It's not like taking one month or one year, takes a long time to do it, putting the history together, what they all do on the land, on the river, on the lakes. And a lot of hunting, trapping, just living off the territory, that kind of history.

Text on screen:

We all need to support the reclamation and revitalization of Indigenous languages and culture.

Susie Alfred:
We're Canadians too, but we're a First Nation people. We all should live our lives together and work together. That's what I want Canadians to know.

Text on screen:

"Witsuwit'en language identifies me of who I am and where I come from.  I hold up my precious language keepers in my heart. Tabï masih niwh disnï!!"

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