There are just six fully fluent Dakota language speakers, and perhaps 100 such Ojibwe speakers in Minnesota, according to Marisa Carr, an Ojibwe language immersion teacher.
The youngest is 61 years old.
Rep. Kent Eken (DFL-Twin Valley) sponsors HF1240, which would establish a volunteer working group on revitalizing and preserving those indigenous Minnesota languages. The group would include members from each of the 11 federally recognized tribes in the state, representatives from various education entities, the Minnesota Historical Society and the Legislature. It would examine existing language programs and resources across the education spectrum and determine the viability of training teachers, developing a curriculum and creating a formal immersion or other learning program. The $150,000 cost would come from the arts and cultural heritage fund.
Carr said movements to teach native languages such as Maori and Hawaiian elsewhere have had positive academic and social effects among learners, but there are “few, if any, certified teachers fluent enough” in Dakota or Ojibwe, the two indigenous languages of Minnesota, to teach in a full-day immersion program. Creating written materials from the oral languages is a challenge, too.
The hearing room hushed as Indian elders spoke of the urgency to the House K-12 Education Policy and Oversight Committee.
“I’ve often heard the word that when an elder passes away, it’s a whole dictionary that’s gone,” said Lillian Rice, who is trilingual in Potawatomi, Ojibwe and English, and works with children and some adult learners. “We are doing the best that we can and we are working as hard as we can to help them learn the language. Because our language is our very sense of who we are, in our ceremonies, our values, our way of life. Without that, we’re lost.”
The committee approved the bill March 27 and sent it to the House K-12 Education Finance Division, recommending it be re-referred to the House Cultural and Outdoor Resources Finance Division. Its companion, SF1256, sponsored by Sen. Mary Olson (DFL-Bemidji) awaits action by the Senate Finance Committee.
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