Wikwemikong Heritage Organization goes high-tech to teach Ojibwe language

The times are changing and many Indigenous communities in northern Ontario are changing too when it comes to using technology to preserve and teach their languages.

"Everybody has tablets and phones now, and the language is no longer spoken at home," said Brian Peltier. He's the cultural programmer for the Wikwemikong Heritage Organization. 

Peltier says the idea for the Anishinaabemowin app came to him when he met Don Thornton of Thornton Media, an American company that works with First Nations to create high-tech tools to help save endangered Indigenous languages. 

"His platform is great because you're able to record yourself and hear a fluent speaker and then you copy what he says, trying to emulate how he sounds," said Peltier. "Sounds are important in our language," he added. 

Peltier says the app is an easy way to access the language anytime, anywhere.

"There's games in there and there's a little bit of history, everything to get you started," said Peltier.  "It's also designed for beginner, intermediate and advanced," he explained.

Peltier says it's also a great tool for teachers because evaluations are available. 

"What we're doing right now in Wikwemikong is that we are reclaiming our language, and what it really means and how it really is the living language," said Peltier. 

The Wikwemikong Heritage Organization's Anishinaabemowin app is available at Google Play and Apple.