Fort Smith (Feb 17/03) - You may be reading this story in "kashewewin," "osawaw mohkoman otenaw," or "muskosew sepe."

Paula Anderson, the co-ordinator of the NWT Cree Language Program, holds a copy of the new Bush Cree Dictionary (English-Cree). - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

If you recognized those words as meaning Fort Smith, Yellowknife and Hay River, you are probably among the approximately 300 speakers of Bush Cree in the NWT.

If you didn't understand the words, you might find a new hot-off-the-presses dictionary helpful.

The Bush Cree Dictionary (English-Cree) has been produced by the NWT Cree Language Program.

"I think it's a big step for the Cree program and the Cree language," says program co-ordinator Paula Anderson.

She explains Bush Cree -- a dialect of Plains Cree -- is spoken predominantly in Fort Smith and Fort Chipewyan, Alberta.

Anderson, who herself is a Plains Cree, says there are both similarities and differences between Bush and Plains Cree. "Some words are totally different, some are the same."

The new dictionary focuses on basic words and things a person would see and speak about in Fort Smith. The 47-page, coil-bound book groups words into various categories, such as telling time, trapping, money, and people/relatives.

Anderson says the project was completed with the invaluable help of Fort Smith elders who speak Bush Cree.

Elder Dorothy Desjarlais, who was the translator for the project, says she is very happy to have the dictionary completed. "It's something that was very important to me."

Desjarlais, who was born in Fort Chipewyan and speaks fluent Bush Cree, hopes the dictionary will someday be used in classrooms to teach the language to youngsters. "That's where it's needed the most."

Anderson says the Bush Cree language group is one of the last in the NWT to get its own dictionary.

"Not a lot has been done with the Cree language because we're such a small group."

Anderson says they hope the dictionary will appear on CD in the near future because people also want to hear the words pronounced. The dictionary contains an introduction to the language, including descriptions of how Cree words are pronounced.

"Any material we do produce is very important," says Anderson. "We're losing languages here very fast."

The NWT Cree Language Program will also release a series of seven children's books and a CD by the end of March. The picture books will teach one Bush Cree word per drawing in the following categories -- family, food, land and seasons, colours, trees and plants, as well as numbers and animals.