A DREAM COME TRUE

A dream come true.. with Piktol Sakej Mius and Jasen Benwah As a young man Piktol Sakej Mius (Victor) had a dream to bring the Mi'kmaw Language back to his people. He had managed to retain some of his Ancient Mi'kmaw Language and when I met him in 2012 , he said; "I keep trying to find a way to bring the language back to the people. I have to find a way". I was and still am chairwoman of the Mi'kmaq Burial Grounds Research Restoration Association. The MBGRRA is a volunteer not-for-profit under the societies act since 2004. The society works alongside communities to protect sacred sites and under e) of MBGRRA's objects our Board is mandated to support specialized training and public education via exhibits, publications, documentaries, work shops, curriculum development, lectures, ceremonies, etc. (in all Mi'kmaq districts; (directly related to Mi'kmaq Language and Culture). When I returned to Ktaqamkuk in July of 2013, I stayed at Victor's home and we talked about how we might bring a 5 day Mi'kmaw Language-Culture Camp with on going lessons to the community of St. George's. The plan to do exactly this was formulated during the week of the pow wow. Victor introduced me to some caring people who he thought might volunteer in putting the final touches on the plan to make his 'dream come true'. I spoke with Terry Mius, Paula Cutler, Tami Park-Tighe, Odelle Pike and Anne Hart; and we began to put a frame around how we would proceed. After meeting with these people I had a profound sense of fortuitous hope and called an MBGGRA board meeting and requested the directors to pass a resolution. Once the resolution was in place, we proceeded to apply for a language-culture grant through Canadian Heritage under the Aboriginal Language Incentive program known as ALI. It took many telephone conferences to help get the ball rolling. At the end of 2013, MBGRRA was positioned to send off the ALI grant application. In May of 2014, MBGRRA received an official letter from Canadian Heritage advising us our grant application for St. George's had been approved. In 2015, MBGRRA received a grant to bring a 5 day Mi'kmaw Language Culture Camp to Flat Bay. In late 2015 MBGRRA applied for another grant to bring a 5 day Mi'kmaw Language - Culture Camp to the Benoit First Nation in 2016. In addition, we aspire to certify 20 people to teach basic Smith-Francis orthography. We will approach those who completed a 5 day Mi'kmaw Language- Culture Camp and continue to excel in learning their Mi'kmaw Language and Culture. Source: Delina Petit Pas , chairwoman MBGRRA