One woman's quest to save her Wolastoqey language

In 2022, Lisa Perley-Dutcher, a longtime caregiver and wellness professional, opened the archetypal and lone Wolastoqey immersion school in Fredericton.

Since then, 18 students person attended Kekhimin, presently based successful a impermanent abstraction astatine the Killarney Lake Rotary Lodge.

Growing up, Perley-Dutcher attended a day school at Neqotkuk (Tobique) First Nation,  where children suffered carnal and emotion abuse, including being strapped if they spoke their ain language.

In her mind, this connected her connection with symptom and she avoided speaking it portion increasing up. Relearning her connection arsenic an big has helped her code "those traumas," she said.

Establishing her immersion schoolhouse has been a mode to crook the tables. Fewer than 100 radical talk Wolastoqey fluently and astir are elders, truthful this is simply a mode to support the connection from disappearing.

Perley-Dutcher, a registered caregiver for 30 years, said that the deaths of older household members caused her to recognize the value of connection preservation, which she called a captious facet of health.

She spent her full vocation moving successful assemblage wellness nursing to amended wellness outcomes for First Nations people, including setting up a nationalist location attraction programme called First Nations and Inuit Home and Community Care, and serving arsenic the president of the Indigenous Nurses Association of Canada. 

While starring that association, her absorption was to make a mandate to supply culturally competent attraction to Indigenous communities, which included spearheading the "first Aboriginal nursing initiative" programme astatine UNB, she said, called Nutsihpiluwewicik, to supply a span for First Nations radical to participate the profession.

"My vocation has been precise overmuch focused connected health," Perley-Dutcher said.

"I did my masters connected taste competency and taste safety, I've done immoderate enactment with communities successful presumption of looking astatine racism and however to woody with that, mounting up diligent navigators successful our healthcare system."

In 2021, she graduated from a connection program St. Thomas University.

"I took a two-year connection intensive programme connected Wolastoqey and aft I finished that, maine and immoderate of my chap students, we acceptable up a connection immersion program," she said.

She said that she straight connects Indigenous wellness to each elements of Indigenous life, including language.

"I consciousness similar this besides is addressing a wellness result successful presumption of identity, successful presumption of intelligence wellness and aforesaid worthy and the full process of reclaiming connection successful itself."

Perley-Dutcher's son, Jeremy Dutcher, is an award-winning musician. His vocation is devoted to revitalizing Wolastoqey civilization done music, and his archetypal album, Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa, was wholly successful the Wolastoqey language. 

Dutcher, who is based successful Montreal, said that this was due to the fact that it was his archetypal connection and "our young radical didn't person euphony successful our language." 

"When we participate a room, we're going to present ourselves successful our connection first," Dutcher said.

"And truthful for me, I was like, 'it's got to beryllium rooted wrong a taste place.' If you're going to present yourself, you've got to bash it properly."

The connection was thing that Dutcher was acquainted with from his puerility but helium taught himself to work and constitute it erstwhile studying euphony and anthropology astatine Dalhousie University. 

He credits his parent for his absorption connected connection and civilization and says that, due to the fact that of that, he's "been trying to outcry astir Kehkimin from the rooftops." 

Dutcher said that his engagement with Kehkimin intensified during the aboriginal stages of the pandemic, erstwhile concerts and unrecorded performances stopped. He was forced to deliberation astir the deeper value of his music, which "is to speech astir the language."

Now, Dutcher works with teachers connected connection improvement and pays visits to the schoolhouse whenever he's successful Fredericton to conscionable with and promote the students. 

Dutcher said that intergenerational commitments similar his and his mother's are vital.

When the older procreation gathers, they often talk unneurotic successful Wolastoqey. Some adjacent inactive talk the connection astatine household gatherings, wherever younger generations can't understand, making it clear how overmuch has been lost.

Because of this, helium said it's important to person a beardown transportation betwixt younker and elders, "weaving unneurotic those generational ties due to the fact that there's truthful overmuch that we tin larn from each other."

Perley-Dutcher said Kehkimin has been supported by the state but mislaid important backing successful caller cuts. In 2023, backing received from New Brunswick's Environmental Trust Fund was chopped from $85,000 to $35,000. 

She said that authorities backing is indispensable and they endure greatly without it.

"We're trying to prevention a connection here," she said. "It's vitally important that it happens now, oregon it's not going to happen." 

Because of backing cuts, the schoolhouse has had to trim its hours to fractional days and trim the fig of teachers they hire.

Perley-Dutcher said it is hard to tally the schoolhouse without a imperishable space. Though Kehkimin has usage of the Killarney Lake Rotary Lodge and a adjacent house, they are leased spaces for $1 a year.

Though she praised the city's generosity, she said that they person had trouble securing backing for renovations to the house, which indispensable beryllium renovated earlier use, without ownership, 

She besides said the cuts mean that the schoolhouse present has just  six unit members making it hard to juggle the day-to-day operations, constitute backing applications, and supply safe, prime acquisition for the students.

But Perley-Dutcher said she appreciates the backing that they inactive bash person due to the fact that it allows them to continue.

"So, I americium grateful for that. The metropolis has been precise generous to us." 

The City of Fredericton gave the schoolhouse a three-year lease of Killarney Lodge for $1 per year, and a 10-year lease connected a adjacent house, which needs renovation earlier being used. Kekhimin is presently trying to rise funds for this renovation. 

Despite the trouble of the work, Perley-Dutcher said that it has been tremendous for her.

"It's astir apt the hardest enactment I've done truthful acold successful my career. I get precise small sleep. I enactment a batch into it and our squad puts a batch into it," she said.

"It's bully though. It's bully for the soul. My healing has occurred … it's specified a fantastic acquisition that I've been fixed to beryllium capable to bash this work."