Opinion: Minor in Nishnaabemwin another Laurentian University casualty?

By Mary Ann Corbiere

Further muddled information emerging piecemeal from Laurentian University sows much confusion on this question. Two new pieces are related to Laurentian University’s April 16 announcement that it will offer six Indigenous Studies (INDG) courses this spring only (its emphasis). This is to assist Indigenous Studies students impacted by its actions concerning federated universities. Indigenous Studies (IS) faculty, who were neither consulted about this nor informed which INDG courses Laurentian University will offer, were left unable to answer questions from students stressed out about how they are to complete their IS program.

In seeking details about the six INDG courses, we found two inconsistent listings. Laurentian University’s Webadvisor, which lists courses offered each session, shows both Introductory Nishnaabemwin A and B as two of the spring courses. An advisory a student received from Laurentian University administration on the other hand lists “INDG 1016 EL 10” (the distance course on Introductory A) and “INDG 1016EL” (section unspecified) among those to be offered. A Bachelor of Arts in Indigenous Studies requires six credits in either Cree or Nishnaaabemwin. But, what of the requirements for the Minor in Nishnaabemwin which still appears on Laurentian University’s website as among the Indigenous Studies programs “students can do”?

The fate of Laurentian University’s short-lived initiative to revitalize Anishnaabemwin is apparent from its termination of this strategy’s project manager. However, Laurentian University has yet to say anything definitive to anyone regarding the minor. Students who completed Introductory Nishnaabemwin A & B, and Intermediate A in the past two years, and may have intended to do this minor, might be under the impression they can still do it. The three sections of Intermediate A offered in 2019-2020 had 17 students combined. Some new applicants to a Laurentian University B.A. program who may have been interested in the minor would have the same impression. However, the University of Sudbury will be unable to offer Nishnaabemwin after this spring. Will Laurentian University? And if so, under what program rubric?

Laurentian University President Dr. Robert Haché speaks of courses “rooted in Indigenous perspectives…[in the] Faculty of Arts, in a variety of disciplines” to replace Indigenous Studies. Is he thinking Anishnaabemwin can be taught through such courses? If he has in mind Laurentian University’s Indigenous-content courses (i.e., have 50% Indigenous content) as also serving Anishnaabemwin learning needs, none of those involve Anishnaabemwin. Besides, teaching a language requires courses that focus exclusively on it. The plan to offer a course (or two) on Anishnaabemwin this spring also presents an immediate question. Who will be teaching? Laurentian University has no eNshinaabemjik and eNshinaabebiigejik (those literate in this language) among its small Indigenous faculty complement, which is not surprising.

We well know that eNshinaabemjik (speakers of the Nishnaabek’s language) are diminishing in number as this generation ages. Both post-secondary institutions and K-12 schools have increasingly had to hire teachers who are learners who have completed only an introductory Anishnaabemwin course since hardly any universities offer higher-level courses regularly. While I was away on sabbatical last year, the University of Sudbury relied on two part-time faculty — and was fortunate to find a mother-tongue speaker with a Master’s degree to teach its on-campus classes. The second, who supervised the two introductory correspondence courses, is a Laurentian University graduate who excelled in the three or four Nishnaabemwin courses that were offered during her undergraduate studies. I was available to assist this “instructor/learner” if students ever had questions that were beyond her level of expertise to address. The mother-tongue speaker has stated she has too many obligations to teach part-time again. Only at 12:40 pm today (April 22) did an e-mail come out from Laurentian University asking anyone interested in teaching any of the INDG courses to respond “by end of day today.” Spring session classes begin May 3. If the only person available for Anishnaabemwin is a learner, who will be there to mentor this “instructor/learner”? I’m not Laurentian University faculty nor am I interested in teaching for Laurentian University.

Ironies abound. It was at Laurentian University’s behest that the Nishnaabemwin minor was created several years ago. The minor requires eight three-credit courses. Laurentian University left it to the University of Sudbury to address the matter of the additional faculty required in order to deliver these regularly both on campus and by distance. The portion of tuition Laurentian University transferred to the University of Sudbury was insufficient for this program to be staffed properly. Nonetheless, the University of Sudbury facilitated the development of the additional distance courses needed to ensure wide access to the minor. Advanced Nishnaabemwin A being written this term is one such course. Also worth noting is that the University of Sudbury committed to hiring a full-time tenure-track professor to focus on Nishnaabemwin after my retirement. It advertised this position in January, but of course, Laurentian University’s subsequent actions mean there is no longer an Indigenous Studies program to be staffed.

Would such a sorry situation be allowed to transpire for a French-as-a-second-language (FSL) program? Would any institution with integrity claim to do FSL if all it offered was introductory French and had only learners of French who hadn’t attained at least an appropriately high proficiency level teaching its FSL courses? That Laurentian University is prepared to do such speaks volumes regarding its estimation of our language and Anishnaabek.

The honourable and honest thing for Laurentian University to do would be at least to stop misleading Anishinabek communities regarding its putative Nishnaabemwin programming and to leave Anishnaabemwin revitalization to Algoma University which offers a B.A. on the language. Anishnaabek deserve more respect than for their language to be used merely as a tool in Laurentian University’s efforts to burnish its image as “Laurentian 2.0”.