Ida Lennie was taught to speak the Dene language by her grandmother as a young girl, but over the years, Lennie forgot much of what she learned of North Slavey.
That is quickly changing thanks to her involvement in the GNWT’s mentor-apprentice program.
“After losing my grandmother, I gave up on my language. I just stopped speaking Slavey. When I did speak it after, as a teenager, I was laughed at, so I never really bothered with it,” Lennie said from her home in Norman Wells. “Now I speak better than I used to.”
The mentor-apprentice program pairs fluent speakers of Indigenous languages with committed learners, like Lennie.
Mentor-apprentice pairs are expected to spend 7-10 hours a week together, participating in everyday activities, while speaking only in their chosen language. Over the course of the program, pairs spend a total of 200 hours together “living life in the language,” according to the GNWT website. Both mentor and apprentice are paid for their time.
Lennie is currently enrolled in her second year of the program, and has once again paired up with fluent Dene language speaker Cathy Pope.
Both women grew up in Fort Good Hope, but now call Norman Wells home.
“I have always known her,” Lennie said of Pope. “I asked her if she wanted to be my mentor for this program, and she said, sure, why not? She was really excited.
“She speaks fluently. She always speaks to me in the language.”
Each week, the two women meet at each other’s houses and take drives together, exchanging stories and conversation in North Slavey. When Lennie has a question about the language, she asks Pope about it. Pope also provides helpful tips and pointers when the need arises.
“She’ll tell me stories in Slavey, and then I will question her,” Lennie said. “Or if I know I can’t say a word that she’s saying, then we will practice on that.”
While Lennie feels like she’s making great strides as a Dene language speaker, she acknowledged there were times during her first year in the mentor-apprentice program that she considered giving up.
“Working a full-time job, going to [see Pope] in the evening once or twice during work days, and then on the weekend for like four hours, I felt like I wasn’t getting a break for myself,” she said.
She also admits to having some confidence issues about her ability to converse in the language, particularly with people other than Pope.
“I’m shy to speak in front of other people,” she said. “I’m trying to get out of that. I’m trying to speak more.”
Lennie wants to be able to use the language of her ancestors because her grandmother took the time to teach it to her, and hopes that when she is fluent, she will be able to impart the ability to her own grandchildren.
“At a very young age, we spoke Slavey all the time, and answered my grandmother in Slavey, because she had no English,” she said. “To me, it’s very important to hang onto it. I would like to teach my grandchildren too.”
As of 2019, there were 1,080 North Slavey speakers in the NWT, according to the GNWT website. It is spoken by the Sahtu Dene people, and is the primary Indigenous language in the communities of Norman Wells, Tulita, Colville Lake, Deline and Fort Good Hope.
The mentor-apprentice program is also available for the Dene Suline, Dene Zhatie, Dinjii Zhu’ Ginjik, Inuinnaqtun, Inuvialuktun, Nehiyawewin (Cree) and Tlicho languages.
The program is currently accepting applications for its next session. It is open to any adults over 18, however, priority will be given to Indigenous applicants living in the NWT, and those who “commit to sharing their language with others upon completing the program,” according to the GNWT website.
Interested mentor-apprentice pairs can fill out an application online, and submit their applications to Indigenous_languages@gov.nt.ca. Applications for the upcoming session are due on Feb. 10.