On paper, Floyd Favel says it looks like the number of people learning the Cree language has grown. But in practice, he says, the reality is very different.

“I have not met one person who [has] learnt [Cree],” Favel said at the outset of the fifth year of his Plains Indian Sign Language (PISL) Workshop on July 9, 2024, held alongside the Poundmaker Performance Festival later in the day.

Rhonda Rosenberg, MCoS Executive Director, brings greetings at the outset of the first day of the Plains Indian Sign Language Workshop and Performance Festival on July 9, 2024

“Yes, it’s good to talk about [language] on social media, how important language in culture is, share things … but it’s even better to learn, spend your time learning.”

“The reality is … I personally don’t think language will last the next generation, to be honest,” he said, in the same way he feels that Sundancing will not last 10 years. He worries that the vast majority of people aren’t learning.

But together, roughly two dozen participants gathered on a hot July morning in the Poundmaker Museum on Poundmaker Cree Nation, approximately 75 kilometers west of North Battleford, to do just that — learn.

A Window to the Cree Worldview: Plains Indian Sign Language

“Without Cree language — Cree language is our worldview, it’s how we perceive, it’s how we interact, it’s how we look at things — you can’t really talk about worldview, unless you speak the language, unfortunately,” Favel said at the outset of the workshop.

Dr. Lanny Real Bird at the Poundmaker Museum and Gallery during his lecture on language-keeping, colonialism, and the importance of Indigenous spirituality on July 9.

Favel noted that it was his observation that there is not enough real language learning happening, coupled with his desire to find another way to teach Cree, where he first met Dr. Lanny Real Bird. He quickly invited the Indigenous Knowledge Keeper up to Poundmaker, and they’ve been going ever since.

After Dr. Lanny Real Bird prayed and Poundmaker Councilor Leon Antoine and Multicultural Council of Saskatchewan (MCoS) Executive Director Rhonda Rosenberg brought greetings, he began to share.

In his lecture, he spoke to themes of technology, the nature of colonialism in relation to capitalism, and the sharing of cultural knowledge. Afterward, both he and Favel spent hours teaching the attendee’s how to communicate in Cree Sign Language.

Divided into pairs, they staged a faux greeting in Cree sign language:

“Hi, how are you?”

“I’m good, and you?”

“Everything’s good.”

“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you.”

“Yes, a long time.”

Charles Koreneho, a performance artist from New Zealand, shares his poetry chronicling his childhood struggles with epilepsy.

Later, after the workshop, Favel explains to MCoS that in some week-long Cree language learning camps, it takes 50 years to become fluent, and only if the language plan develops every year. He notes, laughing, that most of us have less than 50 years.

But you can quickly learn enough to hold a conversation by learning key phrases used in every day speech, like times, locations, actions, colors, or days of the week.

“That’s what we’re working against; we’re working against a tide of forgetfulness … so you must find the right method,” he said.

Though Favel notes reception and attendance have been growing since the first festival and workshop in 2019, it is sharing language in a way that can be learned, which is crucial.

“It’s slowly catching on. It’s a dialogue between the old and the new. Whereas our ‘new’ method is ancient, it precedes all other methods by millennia. But it’s new because we’re bringing it back from the brink.

“It’s been almost extinct in our area.”

Karoline Fortuna, an actress and performance artist from Poland, performs in the Poundmaker Lodge as the event draws to a close on July 9.

He adds that attendees are minor cultural anthropologists, noting that the workshop swims against the tide of complacency. The impact on those who attend is apparent as the Cree language returns from the edge of extinction.

“But for me, I don’t give up because this is the legacy of my parents. They gave me a language. They gave me learning … so this is my mission in life.”

Celebrating Indigenous performance: Locally and Internationally

Later in the day, post-workshop, the attendees reconvened at the Sarasa Culture Site at Poundmaker Lake to share in both local and international Indigenous performances. He explained before the outset of the event the significance of the building, down to the number of poles and the stove nestled in the center of the building.

“I think we’re one of the few performance festivals that is Indigenous and multicultural in focus. Because to this day, a lot of the arts in this province is divided by identities, but I believe that art, culture, festival, should include all people,” Favel said when asked about the festival’s impact.

The festival included Indigenous investigations of their own cultural practices coupled with dialoguing between local, international, and Indigenous performance artists. Artforms included spoken word poetry, performance art, and musical performances shared from Poland, New Zealand, Montreal, and various Indigenous nations from Saskatchewan.

Performers included:

• Charles Koreneho
• Sabina Sweta Sen Podstawska
• Teneil Whiskeyjack
• Szymon Budzyk
• Karoline Fortuna
• Peter Farbridge and Post Marginal
• Mercedez Tate
• Janelle Pewapsconias
• Grayson Nordstrom
• Cheyenna Sapp
• Serena Nicotine
• and others.

“For far too long, my whole adult life, I would say, we’ve been outsiders and not included in mainstream societal events and festivals,” Favel said, adding that it’s important that Indigenous people can seek alternative methods of presenting their art.

One attendee noted that the highlight of her day was returning to the space, seeing familiar smiles, and refreshing kinship while learning something new.

Sabina Sweta Sen Podstawska pictured here before both her joint and solo performance’s at the festival.

“It’s been [great] every year, both with the Plains Indian Sign Language Workshop and Performance Festival; it’s a great variety of performance art and relationship building,” Heather O’Watch said, noting that she’d also attended in 2023.

But what’s next?

Favel notes that society is good to acknowledge the festival and his efforts to share Indigenous culture and language, referencing his recent Saskatchewan Order of Merit or Multicultural Awards.

“But my people are slowly catching on, which is the learners you see today. They came to learn,” Favel said, adding that to see his community coming out to learn makes him happy. It makes the fight worthwhile.

“I smile. I think, ‘Wow, this is what it’s all about.’ That’s what it’s all about.”