Siraya update

[Heather Souter]

Jimmy,

I am sorry I was not clear!  Our own Metis political leaders have privileged
one of our own traditional languages over others!  This is causing problems
for our own people!  This has been done for nation building purposes....
Somehow the leaders of our Metis National Council have bought into the
misguided idea of "one language, one nation"!  The Council seems to think it
is easier to deal with our Canadian federal government and international
bodies if we have only one "historic and official language".  I guess this
is because they think that in Canada all (?) indigenous peoples only have
one language (with one or more dialects)....  However, that is not the lived
reality of our people!  We have been multilingual since our ancestors
developed their own unique identity and developed into a nation.... (Being a
hybrid of European and Native peoples makes us a bit usual among indigenous
peoples--at least in North America at least!)  However, this insistence on
privileging one language over all others has been really divisive and
particularly painful for our Elders who are speakers of our languages....
Just for your information....

Heather

On Fri, May 15, 2009 at 9:20 PM, Chun Jimmy Huang <huangc20 at ufl.edu> wrote:

> Thanks Heather,
>
> just to comment on this: (Of course, our case may be very different from
> yours in that our leaders have privileged one language over all the others
> our people traditionally speak....)
>
> In fact, the one and only official, national, and most dominant language in
> Taiwan today, Mandarin Chinese, was brought to the island by the Chinese
> nationalists in 1945. Before 1945, NO ONE (either Austronesian indigenes or
> other early Han immigrants) spoke the language...
>
> Jimmy
>
>
> On Fri May 15 20:23:15 EDT 2009, Heather Souter <hsouter at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>
>  Taanshi, hello, Chun/Jimmy,
>>
>> I have been following the story of the Siraya people's struggle through
>> ILAT.  I just want to thank you for sharing this information with us and
>> encourage you and Siraya people to continue on.  I am glad to hear that
>> you
>> are keeping your eyes and hearts on "(re)connection with your
>> foremothers"!
>> When struggling against a large central government, it is easy to get
>> sucked
>> into the other side's rhetoric....  I have seen (and continue to see)
>> language used as a political tool for "nation-building" by our leaders to
>> the detriment of the grassroots people.  (Of course, our case may be very
>> different from yours in that our leaders have privileged one language over
>> all the others our people traditionally speak....)  Anyhow, it is good to
>> hear that you are keeping your focus on what is most important to you as
>> people....
>>
>> Eekoshi pitamaa. That is all for now.
>> Heather
>> Michif (Metis) from Manitoba, Canada
>>
>>
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