This artist infuses living Mi'kmaq history into his work

Jordan Bennett returns to porcupine quillwork as a source of inspiration. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtOchSuCchc

"In Bennett's print, he references the everyday life of Mi'kmaq people. Bennett says, "The entirety of this piece, colour-wise, represents different stages of the day, all the different cycles on the day of the season, the life. For me these represent clouds. These designs and many different nations across Turtle Island, that's what they represent — clouds, cloud designs."

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Mawkina’masultinej: Let’s Learn Together! – Show Me Your Math

Inquiry projects that draw on Mi'kmaw community culture.

http://showmeyourmath.ca/mawkinamasultinej-lets-learn-together/

"Mawkina'masultinej: Let's Learn Together! is a series of inquiry projects that draw on Mi'kmaw community culture. The ideas for these projects have come from students' Show Me Your Math submissions and from conversations with elders in Mi'kmaw communities. While the projects are designed to emphasize the mathematics learning, they are cross curricular and are designed to engage students in collaborative inquiry into relevant topics." 

(Some projects are still under development, but there are a number of links and resources references for each of the Inquiry topics.)

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Chemist and Mi'kmaq scholar team up to study healing powers of birch bark

Learning about traditional healing

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/birch-bark-masgwi-1.4223810

From article:

Two professors at Cape Breton University — a chemist and a Mi'kmaq scholar — have been awarded $150,000 to study the healing powers of birch bark. Tuma Young, assistant professor of L'nu studies, and Matthias Bierenstiel, associate professor of chemistry, are combining traditional knowledge and fundamental science to determine how and why the bark works to soothe skin conditions like eczema and psoriasis. "For many years we didn't really know what exactly was in it that was good for it," said Young. "We just knew it was good for it."

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Made from this land: Quill art

Mi'kmaw handiwork

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/made-from-this-land-quill-art-1.5414552

P.E.I. artist Melissa Peter-Paul drives to New Brunswick and Nova Scotia to collect roadkill and revive a family tradition that was lost for generations: quill art. 4:22

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Mi'kmaq speakers create new immersion curriculum

The Alaqsite'w Gitpu School offers an immersion program 

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/listuguj-mi-kmaq-lola-vicaire-indigenous-language-vicky-metallic-1.5181411

From the article:

"They may be a small minority, but first-language Mi'kmaq speakers are trying to make a big difference at the Alaqsite'w Gitpu School on the Listuguj First Nation. The school has been offering a Mi'kmaq immersion program for students from kindergarten to Grade 4 since 2002 and is now taking the next step and developing its own curriculum. Since September, Mary Ann Metallic, 66, has been working with a group of Mi'kmaq speakers in an effort to improve their fluency, along with their reading and writing. They are using those improved skills to create the new curriculum for students in their native language."

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100 songs translated into Miꞌkmaq

Doing his part to preserve the language

https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/mi-kmaq-youtube-song-covers-1.5357841

From the article:

"According to Statistics Canada, 8,870 people were knowledgeable of Miꞌkmaq in the 2016 census. But the language's vitality is categorized as vulnerable according to UNESCO's atlas of endangered languages.

It's the reason why Googoo said it's important for him to sing covers in the language. Googoo was raised by two fluent parents. He said even though that made him struggle with learning English when he was a child, his upbringing helped shape his sense of identity."

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8GmUub_f8UK99pg08qyxFA/videos

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Fist Nation Help Desk - links and aps

Many great apps to help with language learning

http://firstnationhelp.com/links.php

Wanting to learn phrases, words and expressions more easily? Check out the FNHD page, and scroll down the left-hand side to see many apps you can choose from: 

• L'nui'suti- Mi'kmaq Words and Phrases
• Tal-Tluen? -Mi'kmaq Phrasebook App
• Nilu'nal -Mi'kmaq Recipes
• Alasutmaqn- Mi'kmaq Prayers and Songs
• Ktapekiaqnn- Mi'kmaw Immersion- Songs and Poems
• ESK Sight Words- Mi'kmaw Immersion- Sight Words Flash Cards
• Astue'kl- Mi'kmaw Opposites Game
• L'nu Stickers- iOS Keyboard Stickers
• Wowkwis aq Ka'qaquj- Mi'kmaq Story Book
• Mnumkwej Na'kwekm- Mi'kmaq Story Book
• Antle Netake'k!- Mi'kmaq version of a Robert Munsch classic
• Antle Netake'k! for iPhone- Mi'kmaq version of a Robert Munsch classic
• Puktewit- Mi'kmaq Story Book
• Wen Wikit?- Animals
• Malia'n aqq Wiklatmu'j- Mi'kmaw Story Book
• Ksalultes Iapjiw- Mi'kmaq version of a Robert Munsch classic
• Ta'n Wejiaq Epekwitk- Mi'kmaq Story Book
• Mi'kmaw Colouring- Learn Mi'kmaw colours by colouring scenes
• Antle Ewe'kitek Wipit- Mi'kmaq version of a Robert Munsch classic
• Kaplie'l Naji-e'sue'ket- Mi'kmaw Story Book
• Ki'kwa'ju aqq Muin- Mi'kmaw Story Book
• A'tukwen- Mi'kmaq History Month 2014
• Elatikl- Matching game featuring the art of Gerald Gloade

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Honouring the ancestors through an ancient art form

Birchbark quillwork - new art with traditional techniques

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/pei-birch-bark-harvest-1.5197546

"An Island Mi'kmaq artist is doing her part to honour her ancestors and cultural values through an ancient art form using birchbark in her quillwork. Melissa Peter-Paul started doing quillwork in 2014, but it was the work of her great-great-grandmother that first got her interested. "She has a lot of her pieces in the archives today," she said. "I've been able to look at all of them and get a lot of my inspiration." Peter-Paul incorporates porcupine quills, sweet grass, spruce root and birchbark in her quillwork.

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I AM L’NU (Je suis Mi'gmaq)

Naomi Condo and identity

http://www.wapikoni.ca/films/im-lnu-je-suis-migmaq#lid=828f2693-0c4d-402a-bfc9-19ccf0bcdc06&videotype=vimeo

Naomi, mother of two, unpacks stereotypes about Native women and claims her identity as a proud and strong Mi'gmaw person.

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Listuguj Mi'gmaq Legends

 Grade 7 students share Mi'gmaq legends and cultural stories

http://www.wapikoni.ca/movies/listuguj-migmaq-legends

"An elder visits Grade 7 students at Alaqsite'w Gitpu School in Listuguj to share Mi'gmaq legends and cultural stories.  The students then narrate the stories in their own words, combined with a mix of animated drawings, real life footage and homemade sound effects." 

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Mi'kmaq speakers create new immersion curriculum

The Alaqsite'w Gitpu School offers a Mi'kmaq immersion program
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/listuguj-mi-kmaq-lola-vicaire-indigenous-language-vicky-metallic-1.5181411

"Alaqsite'w Gitpu School on the Listuguj First Nation has been offering a Mi'kmaq immersion program for students from kindergarten to Grade 4 since 2002 and is now taking the next step and developing its own curriculum. Since September, Mary Ann Metallic, 66, has been working with a group of Mi'kmaq speakers in an effort to improve their fluency, along with their reading and writing."

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Visiting With Our MI’KMAQ Elders

A glimpse of what it was and is to be Mi'kmaq in Cape St George

https://www.mun.ca/ich/resources/DIGITAL_Mikmaq_elders.pdf

"Cape St George is unique in many ways. It has been isolated from the rest of Newfoundland for so long that it has a very unique cultural identity. In a time when the rest of western Newfoundland was being assimilated into English Newfoundland culture, a few communities on the end of the Port au Port peninsula held onto their culture and language. Alas, the French barely held on and the Mi'kmaq language all but disappeared. The cultural identity, however, remained....In this booklet we have scratched the surface of the rich history and culture that surrounds this area. The men and women that have revealed a glimpse of what it was and is to be Mi'kmaq in Cape St George have invited you to experience a small part of their experience. I hope you enjoy."

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Mi'kmaq flag fly permanently in Moncton

Flag to fly permanently outside City Hall
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/mi-kmaq-flag-moncton-city-hall-1.5184481

"To mark National Indigenous Peoples Day, the Mi'kmaq flag will be raised Friday at Moncton City Hall and will be flown there permanently. The Mi'kmaq Grand Council flag joins the Canadian, New Brunswick, United Kingdom, Acadian and Moncton flags already flying outside the building."

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Schools across P.E.I. Sing the National anthem in Mi’kmaq

O Kanata

https://www.theguardian.pe.ca/news/local/schools-across-pei-singing-national-anthem-in-mikmaq-281716/

On Jan. 6, 2018, the students from Mount Stewart Consolidated School sang the national anthem in Mi'kmaq at the Island Storm basketball game in Charlottetown. On June 21, 2018, National Indigenous People's Day, schools across P.E.I. started their morning with the recording and many schools continue to play it on a regular basis.

The nine-minute film, entitled "Oh Kanata", is a call to action for educators and parents to download the recording so that any school in Canada can listen to the anthem in Mi'kmaq in the daily morning rotation as a way of making steps along the road to reconciliation.

Words and music:

http://firstnationhelp.com/ali/okanata.php

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Pu’tliskiej wapinintoq

Blackbird - in Mi'kmaw

https://windspeaker.com/news/windspeaker-news/listen-blackbird-beatles-sung-mikmaq-student

The International Year of Indigenous Languages is a United Nations observance in 2019 that aims to raise awareness of the consequences of the endangerment of Indigenous languages across the world, with an aim to establish a link between language, development, peace, and reconciliation.

To bring awareness to this important cause, students at Allison Bernard Memorial High School in Eskasoni, Cape Breton recorded Paul McCartney's Blackbird in their native Mi'kmaq language.

Pu'tliskiej wapinintoq

(Blackbird singing in the dead of night)

Kina'masi telayja'timk 

(Take these broken wings and learn to fly)

Tel pitawsin 

(All your life)

Eskimatimu'sipnek nike' mnja'sin 

(You were only waiting for this moment to arise)

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Mi’kmaw Pronunciations for "Teaching About the Mi’kmaq"

Audio files word by word

http://www.mikmaweydebert.ca/home/sharing-our-stories/education-and-outreach/school-curriculum/mikmaw-translations-for-teaching-about-the-mikmaq/

Use this page to review the pronunciations of words used in the teaching series. (both "fast" and slower versions) This is a great place to get a better feel for the rhythm of the language.

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Teaching Resource: Mi’kmaw history, culture​ ​and knowledge

Content and teaching strategies

http://www.mikmaweydebert.ca/home/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Mikmawel_Tan_Telikinamuemk_Final_Online.pdf

"This curriculum resource was designed for anyone who teaches Mi'kmaw history, culture and knowledge. Through the stories and knowledge of Mi'kmaw Elders, educators, and other experts, this volume shares content and teaching strategies for three subject areas:"

1. Welo'ltimk (Healing)
   
2. Kejitasimkewey Kiskuk (Contemporary Issues)
3. Netukulimk (Economic, Social and Political Life)

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Jordan Bennett - The 2018 Sobey Art Award

Interview with a Mi'kmaw artist

https://vimeo.com/290296184

"Born in Stephenville Crossing Ktaqamkuk and of Mi'kmaq descent, Jordan Bennett's ongoing practice utilizes painting, sculpture, video, installation and sound to explore land, language, the act of visiting and familial histories. His work challenges colonial perceptions of indigenous histories, stereotypes and presence with a focus on exploring Mi'kmaq and Beothuk visual culture of Ktaqamkuk. Over the past ten years, Bennett has participated in over 75 group and solo exhibitions, both nationally and internationally."

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“Ketu’elmita’jik" - Jordan Bennett – Canadian Art

Traditional Mi'kmaq and Beothuk design motifs take on new life 

https://canadianart.ca/reviews/jordan-bennett/

"In his new exhibition at Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, "Ketu'elmita'jik," Jordan Bennett has created something truly remarkable. Bennett, who is of Mi'kmaq descent from Stephenville Crossing, Newfoundland and Labrador, is now living in the Halifax region at Terence Bay, Nova Scotia. In this show—whose title term translates as "they want to go home"—Bennett makes full use of the gallery's architectural quirks to create an immersive environment where traditional Mi'kmaq and Beothuk design motifs take on new life through physical, graphic and conceptual extensions in time and space...."

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Quizlet Cards from learnmigmaq

Flashcards with audio

https://quizlet.com/learnmigmaq

Use these flashcards with audio files to memorize words and phrases in Mi'kmaw.

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