We are so grateful to all the people who are helping us with the translation of my words for this work. Tonight I just received the last of the Michif words from an elder in western Manitoba. Last week the Salteaux women helped us. The week before the ladies from St Laurent helped us, and before that a gentleman from St Laurent helped us.
When I began thinking about this work it became clear to me that I could not write it in French and English alone – our homeland was once a rich cantata of hundreds of languages. Some, such as Bungee (from the mixed-blood Scots/Irish), had Gaelic words that were as old as time, as were the Ojibwe and Cree words.