'No English!' inside Wiikwemkoong's first annual Anishnaabe language immersion camp

It's a scene currently playing out across backyards and camps in northern Ontario : people enjoying the summer sun and playing the popular lawn game of Texas horseshoes. 

But in Wiikwemkoong on Manitoulin Island, it's Texas shkajiikaajiginan. 

"Niizh zhiguide," says one participant to another, meaning "counts as two points."

The game is being played in Anishnaabemowin by dozens of people attending the community's first annual language immersion camp this week.

Wiikwemkoong's traditional powwow grounds have been transformed into a classroom, with language learners going from one teepee to another for lessons, games and activities. 

The program is hosted in collaboration with the non-profit Anishnaabemowin Teg. 

Its president Elizabeth Osawamick says all are welcome – beginners, fluent speakers, families, elders, Anishnaabe and non-Indigenous people. 

"Even if participants don't understand, at least they can hear the language and feel the language," she said. 

She says a lot of the participants are coming from urban settings, other Anishnaabe communities, and the United States.

"We do encourage people, even those with no knowledge or experience. It's something that opens up their heart and wakes their spirit," added Osawamick, who also teaches at Trent University. 

She says she met several participants who felt insecure about their language skill, but has encouraged them to be patient and embrace the immersion experience. 

Several of the activities include some form of visual help. One fluent speaker drew their story as they were telling it, and another was making hand gestures as they talked. 

Cue cards and flash cards are used to provide information about logistics like bathroom locations and items coming out of the food preparation area.

Osawamick's Wednesday session included singing children's songs to a group of adults, in the hope they will sing it to their own children. 

"The songs are one way to learn the language," she says, adding that she created a CD for her own daughter when she sent her to daycare.

'We have to start with the children'

Wikwemkoong's immersion language support worker, Ngwaagan Eshkibok, says events like these are needed to boost fluency levels among adults, who in turn play a critical role in building a new generation of Anishinaabemowin speakers.

"I've heard there are communities that only have a handful of speakers left," she said. 

"It's an emergency. Every community should have an immersion school, and immersion programs.

"Immersion means: 'No English!' None. You speak in the language or you use pictures and gestures to show what you're saying," she added. 

She's a strong advocate for Anishnaabemowin only schools. "We have to start with the children," she said. 

Eshkibok hopes the money from the recent $10 billion settlement for past annuities in the Robinson Huron treaty case will help fund some of those initiatives – but says the federal government should ultimately foot the bill, as residential schools are to blame for the decline in Anishnaabemowin. 

The first installment of the settlement is set to be distributed Friday.