This episode of "Points North" first aired in February 2023. This summer, it was honored with a national Edward R. Murrow award.
Kenny Pheasant didn’t know it then, but he first became a teacher at a grocery store meat counter on Manitoulin Island.
“The guy says, ‘I want six chicken legs,’” said Pheasant. “And I says, ‘Okay. Ngodwaaswe bakaawenh kaadenhsan.’”
That’s Anishinaabemowin, the Great Lakes’ original language. Soon, Pheasant’s reputation spread.
“‘There's this little Indian boy…at the meat market that teach [sic] you language if you go in there,’” he said. “And I was 14.”
It’s now Kenny Pheasant’s life mission to get more people speaking Anishinaabemowin – an endangered Indigenous language. It’s spoken by few and is continuously threatened. But when it’s spoken, a unique worldview is retained.
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Music credits:
Blue Dot Sessions — Skyforager (From the album The Caravan)
Alan Mikelis — In a Strange Land
Crowander — Lighter
Used under Creative Commons licensing
