Day Care With A Difference

At first glance this day care centre seems pretty much like any other. The sound of children singing Wheels On the Bus rings out from the kitchen area. In the main room, two four-year-old boys are having a burping contest while a little girl tells them to mind their manners. Pictures of fruit, vegetables and animals cover the wall. Numbers are everywhere.

But the Millbrook Mi'kmaq Day Care has a difference. Take a closer look at some of those pictures on the wall. Many boast bilingual labels. Not English and French as you might expect but English and Mi'kmaq.

Staff member Vera Gloade says the day care has been teaching a small bit of Mi'kmaq to its children since it first began operation in 1996. The kids, who range in age from 18 months to five years, have little problem with the language. "At this age it's very easy for them," says Vera. "They catch on real fast."

Bob Gloade, whose three-year-old son Christian attends the day care, says he is happy the centre is giving its young clients a grounding in their own language. "We're losing our language as it is and by teaching it to our children we can ensure that it survives." He hopes that introducing the language at an early age will help Christian realize his cultural identity. Christian has been at the day care since he was 18-months-old and Mr. Gloade hopes his son can continue studying Mi'kmaq as he moves through the educational system.

Tim Bernard, whose three-year-old son Jace also attends the day care, says he, too, is happy with the use of Mi'kmaq at the day care. "I think it's very important, because our language is in a very bad state. If we lose it we're losing part of our culture."

Mr. Bernard works as the director of history and culture for the Confederacy of Mainland Mi'kmaq and has a special appreciation of the importance of the Mi'kmaq language to the First Nations community. He says there is a gap in the community's knowledge of its own language. Many of the community's elders are fluent, and an interest is being created in younger band members, but Mr. Bernard's own generation was seldom given the opportunity to learn to speak Mi'kmaq.

"My dad was fluent in Mi'kmaq but, for him, teaching it to his kids was not a priority," he says. Mr. Bernard's father attended the Shubenacadie Indian Residential School where use of Mi'kmaq was actively discouraged. "It has a lot to do with his being in a setting where speaking his own language was virtually beaten out of him ... We're feeling the effects of that now."

Carol Francis, another staff member at the Millbrook Mi'kmaq Day Care, agrees with Mr. Bernard. She says that none of the staff members who teach Mi'kmaq at the day care learned it at school. They had to learn it at home from their parents.

Mr. Bernard, however, says he hopes the situation will continue to improve. "Mi'kmaq culture is being much more accepted now than it was when I went through the school system. It's exciting to listen to my son participate in language instruction at the day care. It makes my day when I pick up Jace and, as we leave, he turns and waves to his classmates and day-care staff and says Nmu'ltis (I'll see you again)."

Day cares on other reserves across Nova Scotia are also teaching Mi'kmaq and there is a growing interest in after-school and web- based programs, such as www.firstnationhelp.com , that teach Mi'kmaq.

Learning simple Mi'kmaq phrases and the Mi'kmaq names for fruits, vegetables and numbers may not seem that important, but it is the start of a long journey, a journey on which Jace, Christian and other Mi'kmaq children have already taken their first steps.