For over 30 years, CBC North’s Cree-language Winschgaoug radio show has provided listeners with stories on events across Eeyou Istchee, regardless of the challenges in terminology.
Winschgaoug airs every weekday morning from 8am to 9am covering a wide range of topics, including hunting, traditional practices, the environment, sports and music.
Eastmain’s Elma Moses, who had worked primarily in English and French in her career as an educator, became the new host last year and started sharing her stories in Cree.
“I enjoy working in Cree, it is a privilege,” Moses said. “Working for Eeyou Istchee is an honour. I enjoy finding out about what’s going on in my people’s lives, what’s happening in the communities, and what’s going on with the youth.”
A Cree speaker since childhood, Moses considered her mother tongue skills “rusty” when she first started the job in January.
“I make an effort to research Cree terms,” she said. “My audience told me that my Cree, especially numbers and months, are getting better.”
The employees of CBC North’s Cree unit gather once a week for a Cree language conversation to determine new terminology.
“For example, tariffs with the US, how to say it in Cree, so we teach each other,” Moses said.
“I love my language,” she added. “Cree is a very poetic language; it is different from English. For example, we call the moon tipiskâwi-pîsim, meaning ‘the night sun’, Miyo-mahcihoyān means ‘living good life’.”
Although Winschgaoug is not heard in all the Cree communities, Moses wants her audience to grow. Sometimes she travels to Eastmain for interviews and tries to get people involved in the show via CBC Listen.
Altogether, CBC North’s Cree unit produces two daily radio shows in Cree, Winschgaoug and Eyou Dipajimoon, as well as the weekly TV series, Maamuitaau producer Lachlan Madill believes the objective of these programs is to promote the Cree language for the younger generation.
A Saulteaux/Cree from Saskatchewan, Madill doesn’t speak Cree but has taken classes to be able to create stories on Montreal’s Odea building, the Fort George Island ground search, a metalcore band from Whapmagoostui, and the 50th anniversary of the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement.
“It’s a beautiful language,” Madill said. “I listen to it all day, everyone is talking back and forth, and they speak different dialects. Sometimes they check with each other about certain words, like medical terms.”
He says there is always a challenge in learning Cree. While doing a story on the Odea building, the staff had to find the right words to explain “26-storey tower” and “the second floor”.
Madill meets people in the communities and says they love their language and want to speak it.
“Our target audience is Eeyou Istchee, people want to preserve the language and culture,” he said. “It is their language and no one else is going to do it. That is what we are trying to do. Everyone who works here is super dedicated to the language.”
Former Winschgaoug host Betsy Longchap from Mistissini has worked at CBC North for 25 years.
She says Cree stories for the shows are about promoting and strengthening the language, “because today there are so many challenges, especially for the younger generation.”
Changes related to new technology, different dialects and the mixing of Cree and English often create challenges.
“When I talk to my colleagues or my friends up North, it’s a different style of Cree,” she explained. “If I talk to my grandfather, he speaks a different Cree. Even though I’ve been speaking Cree all my life, I always say ‘I’m not fluent’. I still need to work on it.”
Longchap often visits the communities to find stories. “I find people are more open when you are there in person for the exchange and communication,” she said.
Growing up mainly on the land, Longchap is grateful to her grandparents for teaching her Cree.
“Ancient Cree is more pure, it is the language of our ancestors,” she pointed out. “It is who we are as Cree. That’s our culture, our land, and when we do it in the Cree language, it is our part of our goal.”