Sweetgrass Elder and Knowledge Keeper Wes Fineday was a Cree special guest of the MICEC Transcription Society in Winnipeg this week, thanks to fancy footwork from many friends. Even from way up North where I’m sitting writing today, it feels like a great (and festive) honour. ninanâskomonân, Wes: We are grateful you made the trip!
The Transcription Society, that first met in Winnipeg in December 2023 has continued its work with energy and joy in both Cree and in Ojibwe through in-person meetings, and regular remote check-ins via Zoom. This week (August 28-30, 2024) they met at the Wyndham Garden Hotel on the Long Plain Urban Reserve.
Addressing the need for trained transcribers in both languages, the group focuses on gathering fluent speakers’ oral language offerings of many kinds (through audio and video recording). Perhaps its greatest strength is allowing community members with a variety of skills and experience, and various levels of language fluency, to support one another in collectively developing the ability to transcribe their ancestral language(s). By capturing the oral language examples, in standard written form, they maximize its usefulness to the greater community in language revitalization – and experience tremendous language learning opportunity along the way.
Wes came to be involved through the zealous curiosity of Samara Harp (a member of the CLN board), who continues to explore the origins of syllabics. Samara requested travel funds from the Transcription Society project, and was quickly, and generously supported. At the meetings, Wes was recorded in conversation with Samara, and with Aaron Fay, whose beautiful online presentation of the Cree texts of Leonard Bloomfield gathered at Sweetgrass in the 1920s had him equally well prepared. Wes’s own great grandfather, kâ-miýokîsihkwêw “Fineday” was an original contributor to that collection.
In honour of this week’s meeting, and Wes’s involvement, we are pleased to share this beautifully produced video from Historica Canada as well as a small gallery of photos from the event itself.
