The first episode looks at how the Mohawk language has survived in Kahnawake, which lies just across the St-Lawrence River from Montreal. Language Among the Skywalkers shows how the legendary Mohawk ironworkers helped preserve their native language by using it as they worked. As teams of four men rivet steel beams high up on skyscrapers and bridges, they speak to each other continuously in Mohawk. Despite Kahnawake's urban location and the growing pressure there to speak French and English, the community is still trying to hang on to its language by using Mohawk in real-life situations. There's Mohawk language instruction for adults, teenagers, and children.
Preschoolers learn the language by being immersed in it.
Other episodes of Finding Our Talk look at Inuit, Cree, Algonquin, Innu and other aboriginal communities in Quebec, Ontario, Saskatchewan and British Columbia. In the James Bay Cree communities of Waskaganish and Chisasibi, the program highlights their successful Cree language immersion program. Another segment, filmed at Lac Simon, Que., called The Trees are Talking, shows how an Algonquin couple, George and Maggie Wabanonick, take a group of high school students into the woods to show them their traditional language and culture. The differences in how native communities deal with language issues amazed Rickard. That's because creating jobs and dealing with social problems, is often seen as more important than language preservation in many aboriginal communities.