Language learning brings healing and wholeness

Photo credit: Laura Sou, Faculty of Education

The day her granddaughter was born, Dr. Trudy Cardinal had an epiphany — from that moment on, young Indigenous women would be the centre around which all of her work would orbit. And for the professor of elementary education and core member of the University of Alberta’s Supporting Indigenous Language Revitalization (SILR) group, that “heart’s work” has grown to encompass multiple research projects, in-person groups and more — all of which weave together the threads of language, culture and tradition to help young Indigenous people discover and embrace their identity.

Cardinal’s own identity was built on what felt like ever-shifting sands. “My upbringing always had me in between worlds, never quite belonging to one or the other but really liking to visit them all,” she describes. She heard Cree spoken by her mother’s family, but wasn’t taught to speak it herself and didn’t understand more than a few words. “Language then wasn’t as valued as it is now,” she says — perhaps reflecting the shame, fear and traumatic memories associated with Indigenous languages, especially for Elders who were forbidden to speak them in residential and day schools.  

Cardinal’s interest in identity-making for young Indigenous women was born partly from this upbringing and partly from a passion to help propel a shift from shame to pride for the next generation. She is directly involved with three projects supported by SILR: Braiding Stories to Live By (which began in Fort McMurray); the Young Indigenous Women’s Circle of Leadership (which began on campus at the U of A); and, most recently, Storytelling with the Aunties. While activities vary among the groups, they all involve the sharing of traditions and rich cultural lessons through language — something every young person comes in asking to learn.

Planting the seeds

Language acquisition in these groups does not happen sitting at a desk and memorizing vocabulary words. It’s an organic process — phrases, sayings and teachings all come together while young girls and women make bannock or ribbon skirts, design custom sweatshirts with words they’ve chosen emblazoned across them, write about their life experiences, sing songs with Elders and mentors. 

For Cardinal, research associated with SILR also tends to proceed organically. It is truly community centred and community led, and cannot be separated from the on-the-ground activities the members are part of. Because the safety of the relationships she has built is of utmost importance, her No. 1 goal is to protect those relationships, and to mentor and nurture the Indigenous young women to become researchers themselves — tellers of their own stories, examiners of their own lives. “It’s ‘research with,’ not ‘research on,’ says Cardinal. “It’s experiential, it’s in circle, it’s not extractive.” 

Watching for growth

When SILR started in 2021, Cardinal had no idea how much it would grow, and how quickly. And part of her — the protective nurturer — wasn’t sure she wanted it to. “At first I wanted our programs to stay small, because they were about relationships, about community. I couldn’t see a way to make it grow that still respected that.” But over the years, the demand from across the province has inspired a change of heart. 

Through word of mouth alone, the Braiding Stories to Live By project has expanded to include High Prairie, Slave Lake and possibly Whitecourt next. The young women’s leadership group now has meetings in the Alberta Avenue area, with another group in Wetaskiwin. There is hope that as the years progress, young people from across the province can have more opportunities to meet each other, travel, perhaps gather at annual conferences. As Cardinal stresses, “The problem is not demand, but making sure we have money and capacity for sustained engagement.” 

Healing takes root

“I see now that language is at the centre and heart of everything we do,” says Cardinal. “Culture and language are so intertwined for healing and well-being, and I didn’t even realize that until SILR believed in this work and believed in the power of that interconnectedness.”

“I also didn’t expect how much healing and joy the young people would experience from this,” she adds. She has seen many young women take what they have learned out into the world, surprised to discover others value their knowledge in a way society hasn’t always. 

Perhaps even more surprising, though, is how healing it has been for the Elders to share their language, their teachings. “In a way, these language programs give our teenage selves what they didn’t have,” she says. “I’ve seen pure joy in the Knowledge Holders when they hear a room full of youth all speaking a language they weren’t allowed to speak as children.” In that space, intergenerational relationships are cultivated, where young people learn enough to deepen their connection not just to themselves but to their kohkoms, their aunties, the Elders who have wisdom to share. Connections are built with non-Indigenous allies, as well, who volunteer their time and efforts with the program. And with all of those relationships comes intersectional healing and the potential for a healthier future.

Cardinal herself has found healing through SILR, as well. “Once I started doing this, my joy for my other work started to come back,” she says. “This job fulfils something I didn’t even know I was looking for. I feel like I now have a purpose. And I think the grandmothers are looking down on us, knowing we’re doing what we’re supposed to do.”