The lost community of Tokyo, Saskatchewan: Michifs vanishing voice [Video]

It was not a term of shame, but one of identity, of belonging. “That’s who we are as a people. Our language is Michif. We have common culture. We have common language. We have a common history, and, most importantly, Michif have a common consciousness. In other words, we have a common world view.”

Flammand was raised in a world where Michif was the heartbeat of daily life. It was the sole language he spoke in his early years, only encountering English when he started school at six years old.

“The Michif language is made up of Plains Cree verbs,” he explained. “It’s not Woodlands Cree or Swampy Cree. It’s Plains Cree, as well as French.”

But like the community he grew up in, the language of his youth is slipping away.

Michif is now classified as ‘critically endangered’ by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), with only a handful …