Georgian College

24 GEORGIANVIEW 2024 PRINT EDITION NEW TECHNOLOGY Indigenous language revival As a young wife with two young sons, Angeline King (class of 2016) yearned to relearn the language she spoke fluently as a young girl. After she was taken from her Indigenous family during a dark time in our nation's history known as 'The Sixties Scoop', Angeline soon lost her Anishnaabemowin (Ojibwe) language living with a non-Indigenous family and attending non-Indigenous school. "I lost my fluency from lack of speaking it," she explains. "During my life, I always had a passion to relearn my language. So, at the age of 52, I went back to school and received my Grade 12 diploma and applied to the Anishnaabemowin and Program Development program at Georgian where I graduated with Honours." Angeline is now an Indigenous Studies professor and Virtual Reality educator at Georgian, who helps other people learn Anishnaabemowin for the first time or relearn the language they've lost through worlds created in virtual reality. "I know what it feels like not to speak your native tongue," she says. "You always feel there is something missing in your heart as an Indigenous person with limited or no language. After learning to read, write and regain my fluency, I knew I had to do my part in teaching language for our ancestors and our families who lost their language because of assimilation. Our language is a gift from our ancestors, and we need to give back and help our people regain their language and culture." Mitchell Akerman (class of 2019), who is Métis, didn't specifically set out to learn Ojibwe and instead took the Indigenous Community and Social Development (ICSD) Co-op program at Georgian, which is community development oriented. But the program offered an Ojibwe Language and Culture course, which he says he immediately fell in love with. Not long after graduating, he began teaching language at Georgian, and has recently become faculty. "Ojibwe is a descriptive and creative language that holds an untold amount of both practical and spiritual knowledge locked within it," he explains. "Through this knowledge comes the unique worldview of those who speak it." Due to the accessibility of online learning and Georgian's virtual reality worlds (see sidebar), Michele O'Brien, Indigenous Studies Coordinator and Virtual | Angeline King (class of 2016)

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