Épisode 44 avec Cameron Adams

This week we welcome Cameron Adams.

 

Cameron Adams is a 4th year Integrated Education student in the Faculty of Education at the University of Winnipeg. Cameron is nēhinaw-Anishinaabe and French with Scottish and English ancestry from Gimli, Manitoba and Treaty from Memewiziibiing (Berens River) situated in Treaty 5 Territory. For the last decade, Cameron has been learning about his ancestry. It was in high school where he developed a passion to learn nēhinawēwin after meeting an Elder, Florence Paynter who shared their story in Indian Residential School. It was there where Cameron asked his Great-Grandmother what Indigenous language she spoke, and he found out it was nēhinawēwin/ininīmowin from kinosēwi-sīpīhk.

Cameron has since studied history, Indigenous Studies and Education at the University of Winnipeg. He became passionate about Indigenous Language Revitalization and became literate in the Cree language. Cameron has been working on a nēhinawēwin language app for the past three years which he plans to finish this summer. This app will be unique as it has thousands of audio clips to listen to every word and phrase in the language.

Cameron will be graduating with his Bachelor of Education and Bachelor of Indigenous Languages in two years. He hopes to go on to obtain his master’s in Indigenous Language Revitalization and eventually pursue his PhD someday. Cameron plans to teach the nēhinawēwin language in public schools and at the university level. He has been inspired by so many people along his journey from teachers, elders and fellow peers.

For fun, Cameron likes to travel the world helping build homes with Habitat for Humanity. He also is politically active and loves learning languages. Most importantly, his passion for learning, sharing and teaching nēhinawēwin has guided him to where he is today. He encourages everyone to learn an Indigenous language. Imagine being able to ask an elder ‘where they are from’ or say tānisi!