Teacher and singer Falynn Baptiste to perform national anthem in Cree at Red Pheasant events this week. (submitted photo/Falynn Baptiste).

By Angela Brown

Preserving Indigenous languages

Falynn Baptiste proud to perform national anthem in Cree

Jul 2, 2019 | 5:54 PM

For Falynn Baptiste, the Cree language is a part of her life and identity.

That’s why it’s important for her to share it with others.

The teacher and singer will perform Canada’s national anthem in Cree at the Red Pheasant Cree Nation Treaty Days celebrations and the historic Treaty Medal Repatriation Ceremony.

“It’s an important celebration to recognize where we all started as a nation, as a country, (with) the signing of Treaties, and what led to the creation of Canada,” she said.

When Baptiste obtained the lyrics to O Canada in Cree a number of years ago, she was thrilled to be able to sing it at events in the hopes more Indigenous people would want to learn the language.

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She has sung the Cree version for quite a few years, but gained more recognition recently, especially in the past year, “as more people start to move towards wanting to revitalize the language and hang on to languages.”

“I find that people are driven to want to hear the language and speak the language,” Baptiste said. “It kind of feels like it is at a height of momentum at this time.”

From the Red Pheasant Cree Nation, Baptiste learned Cree from a young age, as her parents were, as she describes, First Language speakers. She said Cree was only spoken in the home at that time.

She later attended school in North Battleford and went on to complete studies at the University of Saskatchewan. She teaches in Saskatoon but worked at North Battleford Comprehensive High School for eight years.

Baptiste said keeping the language alive and helping more people to understand Cree is important to her.

“I think [knowing the language] is essential or the essence of what it means to be a Cree person, an Indigenous person,” Baptiste said. “It is directly tied to your identity.”

As a teenager, the 35-year-old said not many people her age spoke Cree at all, which was a concern to her. As an adult, she became more interested in the language whenever she came back to Red Pheasant to visit, and realized how important it was for her to hold on to the language.

“As a collective, Indigenous people all over Canada are making efforts to revive it,” Baptiste said.

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angela.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow