Congratulations to the whole village of Cree language warriors who laboured together to bring life to Cameron Adams’s dream of an n-dialect app. As of this week, it is available for free download at the Apple App store, for phone and tablet. You can find it there by searching “nēhinawēwin”.
CTV news covered the app on December 20th: https://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=2347515&jwsource=cl
When he imagined the project in 2018, Cameron’s exposure to Cree had come from his high school EAGLE program in support of Aboriginal languages, an elder who had inspired him to explore his own ancestral language, and completion of one Cree course at the University of Winnipeg. Needless to say, he learned an awful lot more Cree engaging with so many master speakers and writers of the n-, y-, and th-dialects, including, but not limited to:
- Ellen Cook took on the formidable task of providing translations and recordings of hundreds and hundreds of audio clips
- Margaret Osborne
- Delvin Kanewiyakiho
- Wayne Jackson
- Randy Morin
- Lorraine George
- Sekwun Ahenakew
- Dorothy Thunder
- Andrea H Custer Clark.
- Kevin Waddell of SIIT, another great friend of Cree literacy stepped up for the next round of heavy lifting as app developer.
In his announcement, Cameron also acknowledges financial, legal and moral support from:
- University of Winnipeg
- MP Kevin Lamoureux (@k.lamoureux)
- Dr. Jino Distasio (UW’s VP Research and Innovation)
- John Myers and Taylor McCaffrey LLP
- University of Winnipeg Students’ Association (@theuwsa)
Canadian Federation of Students – Manitoba (@cfsmb) - Indigenous Students’ Association of UW
- The Centre for Research in Young People’s Texts and Cultures (CRYTC)
Cameron has announced a virtual launch for Tuesday, 14 January at 7pm (CST) to include demonstration of the app itself. You can learn more at the FaceBook link: https://www.facebook.com/events/2333390786810952
One Response
Wonderful!!!!!
Exactly what we need to keep our language alive.