Language, identity, culture, and belonging

Added: 2026-05-06

[00:00:00]Due to challenges that we faced as a people, our language was almost lost.

[00:00:03]And so now, you have kids walking around the school now having conversations in Ojibwe.

[00:00:08]Right? Wow.

[00:00:10]>> Right? And so, when I was growing up, outside of, you know, my my grandparents, I had nowhere to learn, right? So, we were and we started to lose that generation and we lost we were losing all that knowledge.

[00:00:22]Right? And we're losing all our speakers and now, you know, I got I got kids now that can teach me.

[00:00:28]Right? They could teach me the language.

[00:00:29]The way that the younger generations have taken to this new implementation of teaching our culture and language, it's almost like they're finding their identity.

[00:00:37]Language is such a big thing. Like Luciana and I are from Peru. We speak, like, our first language was Spanish.

[00:00:43]And there is such a huge discussion between people from like Hispanic countries about like, oh, if you don't speak Spanish, like, are you really one of us? And I'm like, no, they are. I'm very inclusive. I'm like, of course they're still one of us. Stop it. But exists of people who feel like, oh, if you don't speak the language, then you're not truly part of this culture. So, I understand that tie. Like, how that is how how language is so ingrained into your identity.