Cree Literacy Network

Arden Ogg, Founding Director

Arden Ogg was born in Winnipeg, granddaughter of Scottish homesteaders. She first “met Cree” in the Intro Linguistics class of H.C. Wolfart at the University of Manitoba. After briefly studying powwow music, she was invited to join Wolfart’s SSHRC-funded Cree Language Project, which Freda Ahenakew had just joined as an M.A. student. She continued there for 25 years.

In 2010, she founded the Cree Literacy Network to build connections among speakers, teachers and students of Cree across the Prairies. Under her directorship, the Network was nationally incorporated as an Indigenous not-for-profit in 2011, producing high quality, carefully edited and curated Cree language content. Its goal is to support and create connections among a new and growing generation of language warriors with a shared passion for Cree language revitalization, across the prairies, and wherever Cree is spoken.

Contact:

Professional editorial background:

  • Over 20 years of design-and-layout, copyediting, and developmental editing in the production of Algonquian Language and related books.
  • Twelve years as Coordinating Editor of Papers of the Algonquian Conference, an annual, multi-author, academic publication including contributions in Ethnohistory, Anthropology, Native Studies, Linguistics and many others disciplines.
  • Five years as Coordinating and Developmental Editor to People of the Moose River Basin (2012-2017), working to create a textbook for First Nations students with a team of collaborators including members of Moose Cree First Nation and Taykwa Tagamou Nation . The project also included a mapping project, the goal of which was to restore traditional Cree and Ojibwe place names to geographical locations in the Moose/Mattagami River basin.

Education:

  • Simon Fraser University Summer Publishing Workshops.
    • 2009. Business of Book Publishing (Kevin Williams);
    • Book Editing Immersion. (Mary Schendlinger);
    • 2007. Proofreading & copyediting. (Ruth Wilson).
  • University of Alberta Canadian Indigenous Languages and Literacy Development Institute (CILLDI).
    • 2008. Cree Immersion for Adult Beginners. (Dolores Sand).
  • M.A. Linguistics, University of Manitoba.
    • Thesis: Plains Cree Connective Particles. 1992.
  • B.Mus. (History), University of Manitoba. 1982.

Original Publications and Presentations:

  • Invited speaker: 25th CILLDI Gala, University of Alberta, July 2024. “Donna Paskemin (1961-2011): A Legacy at CILLDI.”
  • Invited speaker: Conference on Proto-Algonquian: Berkeley Canadian Studies Program, March 2024. “David H. Pentland (1947-2022): Honouring his Contributions.”
  • Introduction. In Solomon Ratt. 2023. kâ-pî-isi-kiskisiyân / The Way I Remember. Edited and with an Introduction by Arden Ogg. Regina: University of Regina Press.
  • Teaching Guide to Tomson Highway. 2023. Grand Chief Salamoo Cook is Coming to Town. Montreal: The Secret Mountain.
  • Dolores Greyeyes Sand & Arden Ogg. 2021. Guide to the Plains Cree Edition of kimotinâniwiw itwêwina: Stolen Words [2019] written by Melanie Florence, illustrated by Gabrielle Grimard. Toronto: Second Story Press.
  • Arden Ogg & Dorothy Thunder. 2019, 2020. Contributions to “The Our Languages Blog” of the Translators’ Bureau of the Government of Canada, published dually in English and French.
  • Arden Ogg & Solomon Ratt. 2018. “Translating English into Cree: Not Just Lip Service.” [paper read at Editors Canada annual conference, Saskatoon, 2018.]
  • Invited speaker: Indigenous Mapping Workshop, Winnipeg, 2017. “Supporting Cree as a 21st Century Language”
  • Invited contributor, Winnipeg pre-engagement hearings about Indigenous Languages Act (S.C. 2019, c. 23), August 2017.
  • Invited panellist: The Writing Stick: Sharing Indigenous Stories Conference, University of Alberta, June 2017. [Giving appropriate editorial care to First Nations languages in print.]
  • Cree Names of Cree-speaking Communities. Google My Map, 2017.
  • Review of Priscilla Settee, The Strength of Women: âhkamêyihowak. Canadian Journal of Native Studies. 32.1:221. 2012.
  • Cree language maintenance: A lesson in four generations. 2011. Say Magazine, 2011 Canada & US University and College Guide, pp. 52-53.
  • Arden Ogg & Ken Paupanekis. 2011. “Building Cree Language Literacy Through Standard Spelling.” Poster Presentation for the Manitoba Aboriginal Literacy Symposium, ‘New Relationships – New Opportunities.’ Winnipeg.
  • Lost in Translation: Multicultural misconstruals in the Cree performance of a Dakota hymn. [paper read at 40th Algonquian Conference, Minneapolis, 2008.]
  • Four Cree Love Songs: The Interaction of Text and Music. 1990. Canadian Journal of Native Studies 8.2:231-250.
  • Ojibwa tales of the Foolish Maidens. 1989. Actes du 20e Congrès des Algonquinistes, ed. by William Cowan, pp. 279-291. Ottawa: Carleton University.

Professional Development

  • pimācihtātān nēhiyawēwin: Keeping Our Language Alive, 2023, 2024. Saskatoon, Saskatachewan.
  • First Nations Language Keepers Gathering, 2019. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
  • Fourth annual Indigenous Mapping Workshop, 2017. Winnipeg, Manitoba. Technical training co-led by The Firelight Group, Google Earth Outreach, Google’s Trainer Network, ESRI Canada, Mapbox and others.
  • Third Annual Indigenous Mapping Workshop, 2016. Hosted by Firelight Group, in partnership with Musqueam Indian Band, Squamish Nation, Inlailawatash (Tsleil-Waututh Nation), National Aboriginal Lands Manager Association, Ecotrust Canada, Google Earth Outreach, and ESRI Canada.
  • First Nations Healing Workshop. 2015. Organized by Dr David MacKinnon, facilitated by Tyrone Tootoosis. North Battleford, Saskatchewan.
  • Second Annual Indigenous Mapping Workshop. 2015. Hosted by Chiefs of Ontario, Firelight Group and Google Earth. Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario.
  • University of Manitoba, Cree Institute. 2011. Introductory Cree. (Ken Paupanekis).

Cree Literacy Network

  • Founder, designer, webmaster, content creator and curator.
  • [as publisher]: nicâpân owâskahikan / Câpân’s House: A Family Album from the Home of Dr Freda Ahenakew. Arden C. Ogg and Dolores Greyeyes Sand. Edited and with a glossary by Arden C. Ogg, 2017. Winnipeg: Cree Literacy Network, 2017. [In print and online read-along editions.]
  • [as publisher]: kiskinahamawâkan âcimowinisa / Student Stories. Written by Cree-speaking students. Third edition (first electronic edition). 
  • Coordinating consultant/writer/editor/proofreader of Cree language usage in children’s and other books with various publishers, including Orca, Second Story Press, Greystone Books, The Secret Mountain.
  • Partner/Collaborator: 21st Century Tools for Indigenous Languages, 2014-.
    SSHRC-sponsored research project hosted by ALTLab at University of Alberta, with cooperation from Giellatekno and Divvun research/development groups, University of Tromsø, Norway, Miyo Wahkohtowin Education.

Associations/Volunteer Experience:

  • Maggie Awards: Manitoba Magazine Publishers’ Association, 2016.
    Judge for Best Editorial Feature; Best Regular Column or Department.
  • Got Bannock? [Winnipeg homelessness/food security initiative, founded by Althea Guiboche.] Childminder, 2013-2015. Founding Secretary of the Board, 2014.
  • Stay and Play [Family Literacy] Program. Win Gardner Centre, Winnipeg, 2013-2014.
  • Editors’ Association of Canada, 2009-2014.
    Western Regional Director; Prairie Provinces Branch Representative to National Executive Council

Design, Pre-publication, Editorial and Consultation Work

University of Manitoba Press (Publications of the Algonquian Text Society)
  • Hinónó’éínoo3ítoono / Arapaho Historical Traditions Told by Paul Moss. Edited, translated, and with a glossary by Andrew Cowell & Alonzo Moss, Sr., 2006.
  • âh-âyîtaw isi ê-kî-kiskêyihtahkik maskihkiy / They Knew Both Sides of Medicine: Cree Tales of Curing and Cursing Told by Alice Ahenakew. Edited and translated by H.C. Wolfart & Freda Ahenakew, 2000.
  • ana kâ-pimwêwêhahk okakêskihkêmowina / The Counselling Speeches of Jim Kâ-Nîpitêhtêw. Edited, translated and with a glossary by Freda Ahenakew & H.C. Wolfart, 1998.
  • âtalôhkâna nêsta tipâcimôwina / Cree Legends and Narratives from the West Coast of James Bay. Told by Simeon Scott et al. Text and translation. Edited, translated and with a glossary by C. Douglas Ellis, 1995.
  • kinêhiyâwiwininaw nêhiyawêwin / The Cree Language is Our Identity: The La Ronge Lectures of Sarah Whitecalf. Edited, translated and with a glossary by H.C. Wolfart & Freda Ahenakew, 1993.
Algonquian and Iroquoian Linguistics Memoirs
  • The Owl Sacred Pack: A New Edition and Translation of the Meskwaki Manuscript of Alfred Kiyana. Ives Goddard. 2007.
  • The Autobiography of a Meskwaki Woman: A New Edition and Translation. IvesGoddard. 2006.
  • Essays in Algonquian, Catawban and Siouan Linguistics in Memory of Frank T. Siebert, Jr. Edited by Blair A. Rudes & David J. Costa. 2003.
  • The Student’s Dictionary of Literary Plains Cree, Based on Contemporary Texts. H.C. Wolfart & Freda Ahenakew. 1998.
  • nikotwâsik iskwâhtêm, pâskihtêpayih! Studies in Honour of H.C. Wolfart. 1996. Edited by John D. Nichols & Arden C. Ogg.
  • Leonard Bloomfield’s Fox Lexicon: Critical Edition. Ives Goddard. 1994.
  • pisiskiwak kâ-pîkiskwêcik / Talking Animals. Told [in Swampy Cree] by L. Beardy, Edited and Translated by H.C. Wolfart. 1988. [includes syllabic texts]
Other Publishers
  • Solomon Ratt 2023. kâ-pî-isi-kiskisiyân / The Way I Remember, edited and with an introduction by Arden Ogg. Regina: University of Regina Press.
  • Anihshininiimowin Oji-Cree Dictionary (Severn River and Winisk River Dialects). Kwayaciiwin Education Resource Centre, Sioux Lookout, Ontario, 2014.
  • kôhkominawak otâcimowiniwâwa / Our Grandmothers’ Lives, as Told in Their Own Words. Told by Glecia Bear et al. Edited and translated by F. Ahenakew & H.C. Wolfart. Saskatoon: Fifth House Publishers, 1992. [Facsimile reprint, with new preface: Canadian Plains Reprint Series, Canadian Plains Research Centre, University of Regina, 1998. Twenty-fifth Anniverary edition, with foreword by Arok Wolvengrey, University of Regina Press, 2023.]
  • kwayask ê-kî-pê-kiskinowâpahtihicik / Their Example Showed Me the Way: A Cree Woman’s Life Shaped by Two Cultures. Told by Emma Minde. Edited, translated and with a glossary by F. Ahenakew & H.C. Wolfart. Edmonton, University of Alberta Press, 1997.