10/08/2026
Three members of High Prairie School Division's Indigenous Education (IE) team attended the ๐๐๐๐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฆฤ๐ฤซ๐ก๐ข๐ญ๐๐ญฤ๐ง ๐งฤ๐ก๐ข๐ฒ๐๐ฐฤ๐ฐ๐ข๐ง (๐๐๐๐ฉ ๐๐ฎ๐ซ ๐๐๐ง๐ ๐ฎ๐๐ ๐ ๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ฏ๐) ๐๐จ๐ง๐๐๐ซ๐๐ง๐๐, held September 28 and 29 at Dakota Dunes Resort on traditional Whitecap Dakota Nation Territory in Saskatchewan.
Organized by YXE Cree Speakers Society: Keep Our Language Alive, the two-day conference brought together Elders, Knowledge Keepers, educators, language advocates, and community leaders to explore Indigenous language revitalization, education, and the importance of preserving languages for future generations.
During the residential school era, it was forbidden for Indigenous children to speak their languages as part of a deliberate effort to sever family and cultural ties and extinguish Indigenous culture. The survival of these languages is a testament to the strength and resilience of generations who held their languages close and continued to pass them on despite efforts to silence them.
The urgency of language revitalization is recognized internationally through the United Nations' International Decade of Indigenous Languages (2022โ2032), which calls for meaningful action to preserve, revitalize, and strengthen Indigenous languages. In Canada, the Indigenous Languages Act supports these efforts, recognizing the importance of reclaiming languages and ensuring they continue to be spoken and passed down to future generations.
For High Prairie School Division's Indigenous Education team, this work includes supporting educators in finding meaningful ways to incorporate Indigenous languages into student learning.
In the words of the late grandson of conference co-emcee Ira Horse, โOur language is not dead; it's not lost. It's sleeping, and we need to wake it up.โ
๐ธ ๐๐ข๐๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐๐ ๐ฅ๐๐๐ญ-๐ญ๐จ-๐ซ๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ญ: ๐๐ ๐๐จ๐๐๐ก ๐๐จ๐ง๐ง๐ข๐ ๐๐๐๐จ, ๐๐C ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ ๐๐ก๐๐ฅ๐ข๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ฑ, ๐๐ ๐๐จ๐๐๐ก ๐๐จ๐ง๐ง๐ข๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ง๐ง๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ก๐๐ฆ.
