Piihtikweek! Pee-piihtikweek! Come in! Welcome!
We are so happy to see you here! Creating this website and these learning resources has been a long-time collective dream of many of us involved with P2WILRC. We hope that what you find here is useful and that together we will create a new community of speakers which will help keep Michif out in the air where it belongs!
Here is a poem I wrote inspired by a young woman and others I met at language revitalization conference in 2018, dreaming of a future where all our languages are spoken everywhere all the time….
Eekoshi pitamaa.
Heather
when hope stands up
when hope stands up
in the form of a woman
learning and reclaiming
her ancestral language
all her relations
past, present and future
encourage and empower
when hope stands up
in the form of a man
keeping and supporting
his culture through language
all his relations
past, present and future
give guidance and counsel
When hope stands up
in the form of two-spirits
telling their truth
in the words of their ancestors
all their relations
past, present and future
restore sense of place and pride
when hope stands up
in the form of Old Ones
sharing their languages
with those who come to them
all their relations
past, present and future
bring out stories and song
when hopes stands up
in the form of speakers
talking with each other
and those who want to learn
all their relations
past, present, future
join in the conversatio
when hope stands up
in the form of young ones
creating and innovating
with languages and lifeways
all their relations
past, present and future
smile, applaud and affirm
when hope stands up
in the form of families
living in and through
the languages of their kin
all their relations
past, present and future
give protection and strength
when hope stands up
in the form of children
playing and learning in
the languages of their families
all their relations
past, present and future
nurture and foster
when hope stands up
in the form of communities
speaking and sharing
their languages together
all their relations
past, present and future
join in the circle
eekwaa
the spirit of our languages
dances among us once again
uniting all our voices
in a ceremony of
shared breath and song
piikishkwee ta lañg!
ahkameeyimo!