N.B. woman recording elders speaking Maliseet for posterity (fwd)

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N.B. woman recording elders speaking Maliseet for posterity

Last Updated: Wednesday, August 8, 2007 | 2:40 PM AT
CBC News
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/new-brunswick/story/2007/08/08/nb-maliseetclips.html

A New Brunswick woman has launched an online campaign to save a dying native
language.

Imelda Perley says her new project hopes to capture the voices of about 100
people in New Brunswick, most of them elders, who speak Maliseet as their
first language.

Perley, who has devoted her life to connecting Maliseet people to their
culture as a university and high school teacher, says the fact children
aren't speaking the language means Maliseet is facing a real threat.

"It's been taught in schools in the community, but it's been taught as a
subject and not something you can carry," she said. "I'm really worried
that it's going to become extinct."

She says she hopes her site will generate more interest in Maliseet.

"I think there's going to be a generation who's going to embrace us and
thank us for leaving it behind for them, and they'll carry it forward,"
Perley said. "If it isn't this generation, it will be a generation coming."