68.) Attention indigenous language students and instructors: There is an old saying among the ancient empires of the worid- "if you forbid the people from speaking their language, you can change their history and change the meaning of their words." (15 min. read )

 Before we begin, it needs to be made clear that the indigenous students who are learning their language and the instructors who are teaching the language, are not at fault or blame for the damage that the United States and Canadian government's Indigenous Language Programs have done to the indigenous language. The indigenous students and instructors must be encouraged to continue their good work. Their work of learning the language is necessary for the continued existence of Our People.

The title of this Article is an old empire saying, taken from a YouTube video narration, reviewing a 110 year old book titled: God-man: how the word was changed to flesh.

This article is not about that book.

It's about the old empire saying-

" if you forbid the people from speaking their language, you can change their history and change the meaning of their words."

This old empire teaching has been applied to the indigenous people of Canada and the United States. And perhaps all indigenous people around the world for thousands of years, who have been the victims of empire assimulation. 

This was the reason for the residential schools. To forbid the children from speaking their language.

Let's update that old empire saying- If you forbid the Indigenous People of the United States and Canada from speaking their indigenous language, you can change their true and oral indigenous history and change the meaning of their indigenous words.

First, let's talk about how forbidding indigenous people to speak their language, allowed the United States and Canadian governments  to change the true and oral history of the indigenous people.

The indigenous language is so intertwined as one, with the meaning of the words and the oral history of the indigenous people, that it is impossible to separate. But for the purposes of this article, an artificial separation will be made to help bring clarity to the government funded "Indigenous Language Programs".

Whenever the United States and Canadian governments and educated people use the word "culture", it means or includes "religion".

The language of any people is of primary importance as expressed by Saulteau Band: "The importance of language cannot be overstated. Language is an integral part of any culture and if language dies so does that culture."

And also expressed from a different perspective, by Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and Renee Levesque, in the 1983 First Prime Minister's conference: "If you no longer speak your language and no longer practice your culture, then you have no right to demand Aboriginal rights from us, because you have assimilated with the ruling power."

And an interesting side note. We have seen how well the french "canadians" understand this old saying and how vehemently the french "canadians" in Quebec feel about not losing their french language and separatism. Remember the FLQ? The french "canadian" terrorist organization that murdered Canadian government officials to protect their language.

At the First Prime Minister's conference in 1983, Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and Renee Levesque were fully aware of this old saying of the empires. They knew what they were doing to the indigenous people of Canada, by sending the indigenous children to the Residential Schools. It was to make sure the indigenous children would no longer speak their language and assimilate to the "ruling power". Fitting the indigenous children for full Canadian citizenship.  Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau also tried to push the "1969 White Papers", which was the complete abolishment of "Aboriginal rights", culture,language, treaties and land claims. Fitting the Indians for full citizenship.

And that's why Canada and United States of America inflicted genocide on the indigenous children by use of the residential schools- to forbid the Indian children from speaking their language. When the indigenous children can no longer speak their language, their "culture" dies . And once their "culture" dies, they no longer have a right to demand "Aboriginal rights", because they have assimilated with "the ruling power" . 

This genocidal perspective of Canada and the United States continues on today. This was one of the main reasons for the residential schools. Along with religious conversion to Christianity, "fitting the Indians" for full Canadian/American citizenship and a solid, guaranteed funding source. This last one is something that is not talked about too much.

The Indian Act states that an Indian is not considered a human being until they become a christian.

This heinous form of genocide was successful and we can now see the results. "Serious mental harm" has occurred to the survivors of the residential schools, their descendants, friends and nation. This "serious mental harm" is sometimes called "historical trauma". "Serious mental harm" is a form of genocide, under the United Nations definition of genocide. See: Article II, (b).

Many of the current indigenous children do not know their real, oral history. They only know what has been taught to them by the schools and books of the empire assimilation process.

They were forbidden from speaking their language, so now they don't know their true oral history. They become educated in the english language and then try to change their indigenous people to assimilate with the "ruling power". The indigenous young people now say "these are different times". The indigenous young people who feel they have no choice but to change, is a direct result of the genocide indoctrination of "forbidding the people to speak their language".

It is well known, that the worst thing a people can do, is to fool around with their religious belief. It can make people sick, it can kill people. And this has already happened to indigenous people.

" if you forbid the people from speaking their language, you can change their history and change the meaning of their words"

Next, let's talk about how forbidding the indigenous people to speak their language, allowed the United States and the Canadian governments  to change the meaning of their indigenous words.

Again, it needs to be made clear that the indigenous students who are learning their language and the instructors who are teaching the language, are not at fault or blame for the damage that the United States and Canadian government's Indigenous Language Programs have done. These indigenous students and instructors must be encouraged to continue their good work. The continued learning of our language is necessary for the continued existence of our people.

The government funded Indigenous  Language Programs, have changed the meanings of indigenous words.

I have recently learned from an indigenous language program instructor from the United States, that instructors across the U.S. are concerned about and expressing this damage. The damage that these government funded Indigenous Language Programs have done to the indigenous language and students. They are now beginning to make some changes to the Indigenous Language Programs, to help correct the damage that has been done. 

One such change is that the people who publish the indigenous language dictionaries are now separating into categories, "religious words and phrases" from "every day language".

The United States and Canada fund the Indigenous Language Programs. But there are strict guidelines to receive and continue funding. If guidelines are violated, funding may be withdrawn. Indigenous Language Programs police and enforce these guidelines.

The main guideline for these indigenous language programs is you cannot use indigenous "culture" to teach the Indigenous language.

The Canadian government can no longer enforce this guideline that states: you cannot use indigenous "culture" to teach indigenous language. Because this is now a clear violation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, also known as Bill C15. See: UNDRIP/Bill C15, Articles: 8-2(a), 13-1, 14-1, 15-1, 31-1.

And as an interesting side note, indigenous youth must go to public school by law, K-8 and high school. And in these public schools, they are taught the english language through the mandatory use of the "culture" of the ruling powers- the United States and Canada. But the indigenous youth are forbidden from learning their own indigenous language, through their own indigenous "culture".

It is a mandated, that indigenous youth must learn the english language through the "culture" of Canada and the U.S.

And it is also mandated, that indigenous youth must learn their indigenous language through the "culture" of Canada and the U.S. This is how they change the meaning of the indigenous words.

Canada and the U.S. like to use the code word of "culture" for "religion". So anytime you see the United States or the Canadian government using the word "culture, " they also mean "religion". Another example of these code words is, when they say "administration" they actually mean "government".

This is how the U.S. and Canadian governments use guidelines to change the meaning of the indigenous words without getting into trouble. They forbid the indigenous people to speak their language, in the true religious context since creation. They changed the meaning of all the indigenous words to secularism. The U.S. and Canadian governments have created new meanings for indigenous words and language, with no connection to the Creator, through these strict funding guidelines.

In other words they have created an entirely new indigenous language. Many times the elders can't understand this new language.

But this raises a complex and involved discussion about indigenous religion and indigenous language. When in fact, every word in the indigenous language, has a "religious context". As one Peruvian Indian was explaining to an anthropologist, "It's not spirituality, it's not religion, it's a way of life". This is a difficult concept for non-indigenous people to understand. As Empires separate their language and culture into secular and religious meanings. There is no such separation or concept like this, in the indigenous language or thought. None. All indigenous language, thought and life are all inclusive of Creator and Creation.

But again, this raises a quite involved discussion about using the phrase "indigenous religion". Because everything in an indigenous person's life is centered around the Creator and Creation. There is no such thing as religious and non-religious. We'll have to leave it at that point, as this is a long and involved conversation, to be left for a future article.

So let's get back to how forbidding the indigenous people to speak their language, allowed the U.S. and Canada to change the meaning of indigenous words.

All indigenous words are religious, in context of non-indigenous people's thinking of religion vs. secular. What the U.S. and Canada funded Indigenous Language Programs have done, is to use words that are only used during "religious" ceremonies, and change the meaning of these words into everyday "non-religous" usage.

This is secularizing the entire indigenous language.

I will just use one example here. There is a phrase used only during a Ceremony in which the indigenous person is speaking directly to the Creator during this cermoney. This phrase has now been changed by the Indigenous Language Programs, to mean an every day, ordinary secular expression.

I have spoken to older indigenous people about this and they are shocked. The older people always say "no change".

And now the true meaning of this phrase is being lost, by the young indigenous children who are learning to speak the indigenous language in this manner. And the way these indigenous children are learning the language, is mandated by the strict guidelines of these Indigenous Language Programs, funded by the United States and Canadian government.

And the indigenous children don't even realize this. They believe they're speaking their indigenous language correctly. They have heard no other way to speak the language

The U.S. and Canadian governments have changed the meaning of indigenous words and language. 

This is genocide. And in violation of UNDRIP/Bill C15.

The U.S. and Canadian governments can no longer forbid the teaching of the indigenous language to the indigenous children through the residential schools. So they devised a plan to change the indigenous language through these government funded Indigenous Language Programs. This was done to stop the generational passing on of indigenous language, oral history, knowledge and teachings, through the "real indigenous language" to the indigenous children. They have changed indigenous history, by disconnecting the indigenous children from the previous generations- by language. This was accomplished by teaching the indigenous children through the "disconnected from the Creator" Indigenous Languages Programs, funded by the government. 

And by changing the meaning of indigenous words, they changed how the indigenous children now use their language and think. In some indigenous language programs, words are being used in english grammar type sentences and expressions. Simply substituting indigenous words for english words. Speaking the indigenous language by english grammar rules. The older indigenous people cannot understand what the children are saying. The U.S. and Canadian government have changed the indigenous language into english meaning and grammer.

The U.S. and Canadian government have perverted the language of the indigenous people in this way.

The U.S. and Canadian governments have used these government funded Indigenous Language Programs to kick the Creator out of the Indigenous language. 

Since Creation, the Indigenous language was given to the Indigenous People from the Creator, to live by and give thanks to the Creator, every day.

" if you forbid the people from speaking their language, you can change their history and change the meaning of their words."