Efforts to save Wolastoqey language to get a boost from new language platform

A new online program called Wiciw — meaning "together with" — is being designed to help keep the Wolastoqey language from disappearing.

The Maliseet First Nation of Madawaska in Edmundston and the Wolastoqiyik Wahsipekuk First Nation in Cacouna, Que., are working with a research team from the Université de Moncton campus in Edmundston.

The team, known as Sqotesol, received $165,000 in funding from Heritage Canada under a federal Indigenous languages and culture program and will allow for the development of the platform, according to the team's website.

According to its website, sqotesol means embers in Wolastoqey, to "call attention to the need, or even the urgency, to act in order to prevent loss ... A single ember is all it takes is the Sqotesol slogan."

There are about 93 fluent Wolastoqey speakers left, many of them in New Brunswick, according to Larry Jenniss, general manager of Wolastoqiyik Wahsipekuk First Nation, located around 129 kilometres northwest of Edmundston. 

"If we don't want our language to get extinguished, we have to do something now," said Jenniss.

Wolastoqi people are spread out across Quebec, New Brunswick and the U.S., he said, and in his home community people mostly speak French, whereas other First Nations communities speak mostly English. 

This adds to the complexity of trying to understand and learn the Wolastoqey language, he said, and is why the online learning platform will be available in both English and French to anyone and will be free.

"What we're trying to do is to revive that language, keep it alive," said Jenniss. "The electronic tools that are going to be developed is a way to make sure that we don't lose what has been transmitted" from the elders.

Working to revive the language

There are a number on ongoing efforts to preserve the Wolastoqey language.

In 2022, Kehkimin, an immersion school, opened in Fredericton. Also last year, Neqotkuk First Nation, also known as Tobique, in northwestern New Brunswick, announced that Wolastoqey would become the community's official language.

"In most native communities or nations, language is tied to the territory ... it was born there. To better understand and feel what it means to be Wolastoqiyik, it's basically the language. It's what connects us with our ancestors," he said.

Jenniss said that he will be using the Wolastoqey language learning service when it's available because, like many others, he only knows a few words of the language.

"Basically, we have a few beginner level speakers, but not a lot of people that can fluently speak."

There are a number of people on the website's design team, including Louis-Xavier Aubin-Bérubé, one of the digital lesson creators for Wiciw, along with his sister, Lisa-Maude Aubin-Bérubé. Allan Tremblay and Roseanne Clark are fluent speakers who will lend their knowledge to the project.

Louis-Xavier said the goal is to create a fun and engaging learning platform. There are some tools available already to people, such as a Wolastoqey dictionary, but this is another way for people from all over to access the language.

"People are really looking for something like this because we don't have much," he said.

Louis-Xavier teaches at the Wolastoqey language immersion school in Fredericton.

He graduated from the St. Thomas University Maliseet Language Program, but still considers himself a student of the language. He knows more than some, and he teaches young children basics.

Louis-Xavier wishes he was fluent because his life goal is to someday be able to teach his own children.

"My language is a missing part of me. So every word, every phrase, is just really important for me."