Northern entrepreneurship program focuses on Indigenous languages

A group of Indigenous entrepreneurs from across the North were in Whitehorse last week, learning about building sustainable businesses and livelihoods with a focus on Indigenous languages.

The participants in the EntrepreNorth initiative are from all three territories. The Whitehorse event was the second of three in-person meet-ups, with a final one planned closer to spring.  

EntrepreNorth is a Yellowknife-based organization that offers support and training programs for Indigenous entrepreneurs.  

The United Nations has declared 2022 to 2032 the International Decade of Indigenous Languages, and so EntrepreNorth decided to put the focus of its sixth iteration of its Entrepreneur Growth Program on Indigenous language innovation too.

The organization has been working with a cohort nine individuals, each working on some kind of project or business focusing on an Indigenous language.

Xina Cowan, a co-director at EntrepreNorth and co-lead, says the goal is to blend cultural programming and business education.

"How can we create an experience for people that is anti-hustle and really quite restorative — so that they can heal and take care of themselves as they're building their business?" Cowan said.   

Carl Jr. Kodakin-Yakeleya, from Tulita and Deline First Nations, N.W.T., has a business called Ever Good Medicine and he's focused on the Dene Kǝdǝ́ (Dene Kede) language. Ever Good Medicine delivers workshops and programs designed to teach people about traditional medicines and the protocols behind them.   

"What we believe is that … using our language, it activates the medicine. That makes [the medicine] … stronger,"  Kodakin-Yakeleya said, explaining how people would speak the language while harvesting medicines.

He says participating in the EntrepreNorth program with other entrepreneurs from across the North is fantastic.

"We bounce ideas off of each other," he said.

Pallulaaq Friesen's business is called Arctic Acting Inuit and is based in Rankin Inlet, Nunavut. She is aiming to make language learning interactive with technology available now, using everything from films, videos, and live events like theatre. Her language of focus is Inuktitut. 

Participating in the EntrepreNorth cohort, Friesen says, has helped incredibly with planning her business. 

"I know what I want to do and what needs to be done," she said.

"It has been inspiring just to meet other people that want to keep [their Indigenous language] alive and share it with their communities and the world too," Friesen says of meeting, learning, and spending time with other northern neighbours.

Joelle Charlie was born and raised in the Northwest Territories and now resides in the Yukon. Charlie is focused on the Gwich'in language and is planning to create an online language course.

"People can learn the language self-directed, and it'll have recorded videos of lessons that I'll be teaching."

She had always wanted to be part of one of the EntrepreNorth cohorts and when the theme of Indigenous languages was announced they knew it was the right time to apply. Charlie says she comes from a line of strong language matriarchs and says this work is deeply personal and very meaningful.

Charlie hopes to expand her project to include the Kaska language sometime in the future.

"Our languages … belong to all of us and I really believe that it's the right of every person in my Nation and community to be able to have access and the opportunity to learn their language."

Sandy Kownak, is from Iqaluit and Baker Lake, Nunavut, and her project is focused on Inuktitut and is called Uqauhivut, which means "our way of talking." She says the EntrepreNorth program is providing an opportunity for introspection.

"I feel like I'm going through a transformative change in my view of the world and how I live in it," she said, describing the experience as a yo-yo between fear and excitement, hopefulness and being overwhelmed.

"The number of [Inuktitut] speakers is declining and our elders are declining," Kownak said.

"It's really good to have a forum where you feel safe to discuss … ideas but also learn from others as to how they're moving along."

Whitney Johnson-Ward, a member of Champagne and Aishihik First Nations in Haines Junction, Yukon, participated in a two-year language intensive program in her community, focusing on Southern Tutchone. She is now continuing the legacy of what her parents began with Long Ago People's Place, or Kwädāy dän k'enjì, a cultural tourism business in the Yukon.

Johnson-Ward says it feels like just the start of her journey as a language learner but she says it's building her confidence.

"It really has given me a lot of strength and … it's been a journey, for sure."