Month by month in Chipewyan
Michele LeTourneau
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Jan 29/01) - A new calendar almost entirely in Chipewyan is circulating and receiving rave reviews across the territory.
The calendar came about through the efforts of a number of people as part of the Community Language Initiative Project of the Akaitcho Territory Government, says project co-ordinator Sabet Biscaye.
"One of the ideas mentioned a number of times to help promote the Chipewyan language by elders and others was that calendars are produced in English and not in the aboriginal language. Even though we do have names in the language."
Two Chipewyan names appear on each calendar page. Often, the name for a specific time period changed from its pre-contact name -- hence an older name and a newer name. Biscaye cites the month of July: known now in Chipewyan as "the month money is distributed," prior to treaty days it was known as "middle of summer month."
Elders were consulted to make decisions regarding the names chosen.
"I had a start on it," says Biscaye.
"I have a list of Chipewyan words that I have been developing over the years."
At a Chipewyan Language Literacy workshop held in Fort Resolution last year, Biscaye honed the list, correcting errors.
"At the end of that session, I sat down with elders and we went through the whole word list and updated it."
Biscaye was then more than prepared to create a Chipewyan calendar.
The drawings for the calendar come from a Grade 2 class at the Joseph Burr Tyrell elementary school in Fort Smith.
"Quite a bit of interest (in the calendar) has been expressed," says Biscaye.
Biscaye adds the interest is spreading across the territory.
"I just attended an Aboriginal Language Communities workshop. When we did the presentation, there was genuine interest among the other aboriginal language groups too."
Biscaye says part of the interest stems from the fact that making the calendar was a very simple process.
Most of the layout and design were done right on her computer.
A definite bonus was the involvement of youth and elders.
Don't be surprised if next year calendars become available in South Slavey, North Slavey, Cree, Dogrib or Inuvialuktun.
