Indigenous entrepreneurs are creating websites, apps and online tools to preserve languages that are on the brink of extinction
Yvette Mollen, a professor, researcher, author and web content developer whose work is focused on preserving Innu-aimun, an Algonquian language spoken by Innu people in Quebec and Labrador.Yvette Mollen’s passion for championing Innu-aimun is unwavering. The professor, researcher, author and web content developer has dedicated most of her adult life to recording, preserving and passing on her ancestors’ tongue, an Algonquian language spoken by some 10,000 Innu in Quebec and Labrador.
In fact, the United Nations estimates that of the 7,000 or so languages spoken worldwide today, some 47 per cent are threatened or endangered, most of them Indigenous tongues. In Canada, there are more than 70 distinct Indigenous languages spoken by First Nations, Inuit and Métis, but according to Canada’s 2021 census, only 13.1 per cent of the Indigenous population reported knowing how to speak their traditional languages, down from 21.4 per cent in 2006.
Take York Factory First Nation in northern Manitoba. It wanted a way for members to easily access materials to learn Inineemowin, their dialect of Swampy Cree. Since most youth these days are attached to a smartphone, an app was the logical learning tool. But the First Nation also wanted a resource that would reflect who and where they are, and where they come from—an app steeped in history and the local context.
Appwebview Indigenous Indigenousenterprises Ordid3737321246te Indigenous Languages Indigenous Language Innu-Aimun Cree Nēhiyawēwin Plains Cree Nêhinawêwin Inineemowin Swampy Cree York Factory First Nation
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