A project is in the works on Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory to revitalize the Mohawk language and culture in the community.
Plans have been made and funding applications to the Band Council and federal and provincial governments will come next with the aim of building a 13,000 square foot Language and Cultural Centre in Tyendinaga.
The Band Council has already offered a lease, at nominal cost, on over eight acres of land to the group organizing the project (TTO) along Salmon River Road. The project’s cost is estimated at $8 million and after completion would create 11 jobs.
At present, TTO offers Mohawk language- and culture-related instruction in various locations on the Territory.
The Mohawk language, last used as a first language in the 1920s, is considered endangered and only 2,500 fluent speakers remain in all of North America.
TTO Executive Director Callie Hill says the plan has been in the works since 2017 and support for it amongst community members is strong. “There’s a group of 20-somethings these days that are very interested in learning the language and more about their culture and they are really the ones that we want to encourage, especially young women before they have children, so they can be raising their babies with the Mohawk Language.”
Hill describes what a dedicated language and culture hub should accomplish long term.
“That it (language) is being used in our community in different facets of life, when we go to the Band Office to get services, the gas station or any place that we’re conducting business, our children are speaking, we have intergenerational transmission between grandchildren and grandparents and parents and it’s just the language (Mohawk) of choice.”
Hill adds that “providing a dedicated hub where those working to revitalize our culture can work together is an important next step in the transition from language survival to language growth.”
The centre is seen as a logical extension of a recommendation in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s final report which calls for more educational and cultural spaces in First Nations Communities.
The Tyendinaga Language and Cultural Centre would feature classrooms, offices, adult education rooms, a teaching kitchen, an art studio, a rooftop medicine garden, an outdoor playground, and a gathering space for up to 300 people for community events.
Part of the project would be a traditional Mohawk longhouse, a feature Hill says will welcome visitors from everywhere and provide important information and education to anyone interested.
Executive Director of TTO Callie Hill. (Photo submitted)
