A small percentage of Walpole Island First Nation's members speak their traditional Ojibway language.
Mino Giizhgad, who is the president of the non-profit language learning facility Nwewnan Sasaang, said about 15 out of 5,000 members that live on Walpole Island First Nation speak the Anishinaabemowin dialect.
"In our community, we're less than half per cent of our membership that are first speakers of the language," said Giizhgad. "Of those, we're down to a few people who are in a position to help teach the language."
The non-profit Nwewnan Sasaang, meaning sounds from the nest, is a learning facility that teaches the language to children as young as two years old.
In an effort to help save the language, a fundraiser was launched with the goal of raising $100,000 to help pay off the mortgage at the facility.
Over $2,000 has been raised so far.
"We have an immersion school program within the community that starts from junior kindergarten and goes to grade four," said Giizhgad. "The kids come into the immersion program and are fully fluent in English already. To help our movement, we're looking at starting even earlier."
The program follows a "language nest" model, which originated from the Maori of New Zealand and the islands of Hawaii.
"Just as young fledglings are fed directly from the mouths of their mothers, Anishinaabe language is fed into the ears of our two to five-year-old children from the mouths of the Anishinaabe language speakers around them," said Giizghad.
The decline in the use of the language stems from the impact of Canada's former residential school system, according to Giizghad.
He said a big part of being Anishinaabe is to have their language.
The work to revitalize the language sparked the interest of Arieh Smith, a YouTube content creator who goes by the handle Xiaomanyc.
Smith travelled from New York City to Walpole Island First Nation in November 2022 and received several lessons in learning the language.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWfzpJG_yRE&t=1s
The video has received over one million views since it was first uploaded on December 22, 2022.
"I didn't realize how many people visit the work he does on Youtube," said Giizghad. "The exposure got people talking and one thing led to another. We have had people reach out and let us know how they feel, complimenting our efforts and asking how they can help."
The Nwewnan Sasaang facility is located at 442A Austin Road on Walpole Island First Nation.
