The young mother’s decision is a powerful one in a country where Indigenous languages were specifically targeted as a part of the nationwide assimilation project of the Residential School System, wherein thousands of children were forced to use only English or French and often received horrific punishment for communicating in the languages of their own peoples. Although the Dene font is used in the NWT for signage and correspondence, it has yet to be recognized and incorporated, even by way of transliteration, at a federal level, thus making obtaining legal documentation, such as birth certificates, with these names nearly impossible. The woman is Indigenous Canadian and chose for her children Chipewyan names, both of which contain glottal stops-symbols that are lacking in the Roman alphabetical system used by the Canadian government. In the Northwest Territories of Canada, a young mother of two has spent the last five years petitioning the territorial and federal governments for recognition of her children’s names in legal documentation. 9 Therefore it was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth. 7 Come, let us go down, and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.’ 8 So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. 6 And the Lord said, ‘Look, they are one people, and they have all one language and this is only the beginning of what they will do nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. 4 Then they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.’ 5 The Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which mortals had built. 3 And they said to one another, ‘Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.’ And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. 2 And as they migrated from the east, they came upon a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 11:1 Now the whole earth had one language and the same words.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |