Anishinabek Nation Anishinaabemowin Commissioner teaches through storytelling at Anishinaabemowin-Teg Language Conference

By Kirk Titmuss

SAULT STE. MARIE, MICHIGAN – Anishinaabe citizens from across Ontario were on hand to listen to Anishinabek Nation Anishinaabemowin Commissioner Barb Nolan share an engaging story from the satirical book, Moose Meat and Wild Rice by the late Anishinaabe author Basil Johnston. His book of 22 short stories takes a humourous look at the daily lives of residents of the fictitious First Nation of Moose Meat Point Reserve.

Commissioner Nolan’s presentation was one of many events held at the annual Anishinaabemowin-Teg Conference held at the Kewadin Casino Hotel in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, from March 27 to 28.

“I used to know Basil from a long time ago, and he used to come to these conferences. He was an eloquent English speaker and an eloquent Anishinaabe speaker. When you read these stories, you can almost picture the story happening,” Commissioner Nolan said.

The renowned language teacher and educational video creator had told Johnston that she would one day share his stories verbally, in Anishinaabemowin. For this occasion, she chose the author’s short story, The Miracle.

It’s a tale of two young boys, Rufus and Fred, friends who are tasked with going to the local variety store and purchasing a new clay pipe for Rufus’ grandmother, who had accidentally broken her original pipe. The two buy the new pipe but get into a fight over who gets to carry it back home. It gets broken in the scuffle, and Fred, explaining biblical miracles to his younger friend, tries to conjure up one of his own to repair it, but with no success. When Rufus gets home, his grandmother and mother chastise him for being dishevelled and breaking the pipe. His mother gets a stick from outside to use as a switch to punish Rufus, saying she is going to give Rufus a “miracle”.

Commissioner Nolan invited people from the audience to play the roles of the shopkeeper and Fred. She played Rufus, the grandmother, and mother.

“I read the story once or twice, and then I tell the story from what I remember. I change it a little bit here and there,” Commissioner Nolan smiled.

As she told the story in the traditional language, she acted out scenes to both entertain and help the audience understand what was happening.

Commissioner Nolan received a warm round of applause upon wrapping up the tale. Many people said they appreciated hearing and learning some of the spoken language.

Anika Guthrie travelled from Thunder Bay to take in the conference and Commissioner Nolan’s Anishinaabemowin storytelling.

“It was really good. Good learning. I’m just so grateful any time I get to listen to Anishinaabemowin, and I listen to Barbara Nolan stories all the time, and there’s one about how the beaver got his tail. I’ve listened to it like 20 times. But I find I often try to figure out all the words that she’s saying. And so, when she started and told us, like, just don’t try to figure out the words, just listen, it was helpful and helped me like understand the whole story a lot better…”

Peterborough resident Angela Wallwork is just picking up the language and has found herself recognizing some of it.

“I loved it. I think that it’s an inspiration that she can share these stories and tell us a bit of her experience. I didn’t really understand a lot of it either because I’m just learning Anishinaabemowin, but I could understand like the story that she was relaying, right, and I think it really helped my learning, too. Bits and pieces, banjii, just a little bit. I just got some, so it was really cool.”

Ali Darnay, Anishinaabemowin Manager for the Anishinabek Nation, works closely with Commissioner Nolan, helping organize and provide language learning at every opportunity, including conferences, workshops, and online teaching. She’s a huge supporter of Commissioner Nolan’s efforts to spread the language throughout the Anishinabek Nation.

“She goes around doing the very important work of promoting Anishinaabemowin, encouraging our communities to engage in reclamation, revitalization, preservation, and really, you know, doing amazing work to support language for our Nation, for our communities, and for our children.”

Commissioner Nolan will be adding to her very popular Anishinaabemowin videos for children with more video production slated for this year on her YouTube channel and website.