[LINK] "Fort Folly First Nation attempts to bring back Mi'kmaq language"

[rfmcdonald]

CBC's Lindsay Michael reports on an effort by a New Brunswick Mi'kMaq group to revive their ancestral language.

A month-long course designed to teach young Mi'kmaq their native language wraps up Thursday.

Brianna Hunter has been taking the course from Mi'kmaq elder Gilbert Sewell for eight years.

"When we come in we don't have any knowledge at all because no one of my immediate family really speaks Mi'kmaq," said Hunter, the 19-year-old daughter of Fort Folly Chief Rebecca Knockwood.

"But now you can catch what he's saying and you understand it a lot more. And we try to teach [the younger] kids the language too."

Sewell is an elder, storyteller and Mi'kmaq language instructor from Pabineau First Nation and has been teaching the course every July for 15 years.

Along with teaching the young Mi'kmaq the language, he tries to teach them about their culture as well.

"What I do is teach the children about native folklore and legends and medicinal plants and what to eat in the woods if you are lost … a lot of things I learned from my grandfather when I was young."