Dakota language to be added to Saskatchewan’s Indigenous language curriculum

Secondary school students in Saskatchewan can get course credits while learning and helping to preserve an Indigenous language thanks to a new addition to the province’s Indigenous language curriculum.

The Dakota tongue will soon join the growing list of Indigenous languages offered to high school students in Saskatchewan, with 10-, 20- and 30-level courses expected to be offered starting in 2023, the Government of Saskatchewan said Wednesday. Similar courses in Dene, Nakawe, Nakoda, Nēhiyawēwin, and Michif are already being offered.

“The Government of Saskatchewan supports the preservation and growth of First Nations and Métis languages in Saskatchewan,” Dustin Duncan, Saskatchewan’s minister of education, said in a statement.

“Providing Dakota language curriculum ensures more opportunities for First Nations and Métis languages to be learned and used by younger generations, and supports revitalization of First Nations and Métis culture and heritage.”

The curriculum is currently being developed, the government said, with input from Dakota nations in Saskatchewan. Development will continue throughout the upcoming school year, with the Dakota courses expected to begin in schools in the 2023-24 school year.

According to Wahpeton Dakota Nation Chief John Waditaka, the language is “in a perilous state,” with very few fluent speakers left in the nation.

“The new curriculum will support the revitalization of the Dakota Language, will provide an authentic Dakota Oyate worldview for the greater provincial student population and will open the doors for further authentic research of the Northern Dakota Peoples,” Waditaka said in a statement.

“Our elders have prayed for a way to bring our language back to our youth.”