With English as a first language, it would be easier to learn the closely related German language than an unrelated language like Ojibwe. Others taught classes over the years, but no effort imparted the fluency neces sary to preserve the nuances of Ojibwe. In the community, opinions varied about the importance of regaining the language. Other elders took the opposite point of view. Peters views the Anishnabe language as a sacred gift.
Language is a first step to recovering culture.
It's authentic culture because the Native perspective is not taken out of it. His fellow graduate, Sidney Martin, agrees. The language means everything. It is everything. Boissoneau entered the picture in 1996 after the tribal college offered her a free hand to develop a curriculum for its summer language institute program.