- [Ernie] On this edition of Native Report, learn about Orange Shirt Day, an annual remembrance of the harm of Canada's residential school system, and catch up with the woman who inspired the specialty of recognition, Phyllis Webstad of Canada.

- [Rita] We then talk with Dakota language professor at the University of Minnesota, Sisoka Duta, as well as his mother and several Dakota language speakers about the importance of preserving the Dakota language.

- And we speak with an Ojibwe language instructor, Brian Kingfisher, about the critical concern of language loss across Indian country and what can be done to grow the number of speakers.

- [Announcer] Production funding for Native Report is provided in part by the Blandin Foundation.

(hopeful music) - Welcome to Native Report, and thanks for tuning in, I'm Ernie Stevens.

- Thanks Ernie, I'm Rita Aspinwall.

Every year on September 30th, Orange Shirt Day, Every Child Matters gatherings occur globally in recognition of the harm caused by Canada's residential school system.

Indigenous children were separated from their families and culture as a result of governmental policy in Canada.

Native children had similar experiences, here in the United States and in other countries, resulting in many around the world recognizing and participating in Orange Shirt Day.

Native Report traveled to Minnesota's Deer River High School as teachers and students paid respects by holding a march.

(gentle music) - So this is like what life was like with granny on the reserve, before going to the residential school, granny's garden.

Granny would use tubs to irrigate her plants and it was a good cooling off in the long, hot summer days.

We would play in her irrigation water.

I think, even if I was told or prepared for what was to come, I would not have comprehended as a newly six year old.

All I knew was that I was excited to be going to school and I was a big girl now, I'm going to school.

And the kids often ask, "What did it feel like?"

And I tell them it was pee-your-pants terror.

Orange Shirt Day is September 30th of each year, and it's based on my story of my grandmother, bringing me to town to buy something to wear, to go to school in.

And I chose a shiny orange shirt for my first day of school, and when I got there, my clothing was taken away and no matter how much I cried or protested, they took my shirt and I do not have a memory of ever wearing it again.

So, this one where I'm shopping for my shirt, it says "Granny took Phyllis to a shop full of clothes, with hats for your head and socks for your toes.

Phyllis picked out a shirt that was so orange, shiny and bright, and granny bought it for her to wear with delight."

(she laughs) And the hair was longer, and then you can see it getting cut and then being different, given different clothes and being made to pray, and the Catholic rosaries, the crying in the bed at night, wondering why granny wasn't coming to get me.

There was a lot of crying.

In Canada, there were 150,000 children that were taken from their homes.

And so my story is every survivor story, and everyone got their clothing taken away.

Then we would be made to take a shower, 'cause we were, yes they wanted to make sure that we were clean and didn't yeah, I had lived with granny, we didn't have running water.

Oh, when I got there, it was to be made to take the shower.

I'd never seen water coming out of the walls before.

That was just terrifying, for myself and a lot of the other kids.

The residential school that we, the three generations attended, was called the St. Joseph Indian Residential School, or simply, "The Mission" is what we called it.

And it was a Catholic-run school open from 1891 to 1981, the same year my son was born.

One of the staff members that I remember, but she said she convinced the nuns to take me to her room because I was visibly sick, and I was not being tended to.

It felt good to be looked after and cared for by somebody, so I always remember that in my heart, and it was nice when I did finally find her.

From the very first year in 2013, people in the States did participate.

(people singing) (drum beating) - Every year, our Anishinaabe education program tries to bring light and share knowledge and education about the importance of history and the trauma that our ancestors have forgone.

- I felt very strong and resilient together, standing with my peers and with my teachers.

And you know, in this culture, we need to bring recognition to those things that did happen before us, so people understand and can have an understanding about what happened and why we are doing this.

- I think about my grandmother, almost every single day, and my grandparents and all the pain and suffering that they went through, that they never told me about, but I felt.

I asked my grandmother one time, I said, "Grandma, how did you make it through boarding school?"

And I said, "They took you when you were seven years old and you didn't come back until you were 12."

And I had a tear in my eye and grandma looks at me and she goes, she said, "I just thought I was a flower."

So when I think about how, how these people were abused in these systems, it's uncomprehensible to me that you could do that to a child.

(people singing) (drum beating) - There was no physical contact.

Like, I was not abused in any way while I was there.

Worst I can remember is kneeling for a very long time for my knees to be hurt, and I don't recall what I did.

It had changed a lot by the time I was there.

I always say my experience was a walk in the park compared to granny and her 10 children.

My story is way different than their stories, and there's awful stories of being beaten and strapped and all kinds of craziest things happening to members of our family and others while they were there.

I am third generation Indian Residential School survivor.

My mother went from 1954 to 1964, and I went for one year in '73-'74.

And unbeknownst to me, my son, I have one child, I never did have any more, was at the last operating residential school in Canada, when it closed in Saskatchewan in 1996.

We thought that it was a hockey school and it wasn't until the government of Canada was giving out the payments to survivors in 2007, that we found out that it was the last operating school in Canada.

Everyone in our family is accounted for, and then I give thanks to the creator for that every day.

However, there are many families who have loved ones that never did come home, and in some cases they don't know where they are.

This is where I get to go home with my grandfather and my grandmother and the blue bus taking me back home and the pigtails too, to show that my hair had grown again.

(upbeat music) - Acne is a common skin condition that results from oil and dead skin cells, plugging hair follicles.

This can range from very mild to severe cystic acne and can have huge effects on self-esteem.

Pores in the skin and sweat glands are usually not involved in acne.

Acne causes pimples, whiteheads, blackheads and sometimes can cause cysts under the skin.

It is most common in teenagers and young people, but can persist well into adulthood for some people.

Pimples and bumps can heal very slowly.

Even with effective treatments, acne can linger and cause scarring.

Sebum glands are oil glands that lubricate the skin and hair.

If the opening to the hair follicle gets plugged with skin cells, the sebum gland keeps producing oil and then bacteria from the skin can cause inflammation.

This results in a whitehead, if the follicle opening is closed and a blackhead if the follicle is open.

Air reacts with the thickened sebum and turns it brown.

The earlier acne is treated, the better the chances are of preventing scarring and the emotional distress that comes with it.

Puberty is a time when glands are activated and this causes an increase in sebum production and is when acne typically begins, if it's going to happen.

Unfortunately, this is also when self-awareness and self doubt start to happen.

Acne typically happens in the face, upper back, chest and shoulders.

There are some expensive treatments that don't need a prescription, and for some people, these treatments work well, and for others, they don't work at all.

If self care remedies and over-the-counter treatments don't work, you should see your primary care provider.

There are multiple treatments that can be tried.

These include prescription strength topical treatments, such as creams and gels and oral medicines such as antibiotics.

In some cases, a referral to a dermatologist is needed.

A dermatologist is a specialist who treats skin conditions.

Severe cystic acne sometimes need to be treated with medicines that can only be prescribed by a dermatologist.

For some women, acne can persist for decades, with flares common a week before menstruation.

This type of acne tends to clear up in some women who use contraceptives.

If there was one medicine that worked for acne, treating it would be easy.

Acne remains a difficult problem for many.

Your healthcare provider can guide you and answer questions and help with medicines.

As always, remember to call an elder, they've been waiting for your call.

I'm Dr. Arne Vainio and this is Health Matters.

(upbeat music) - Next, we hear from Dakota language professor at the university of Minnesota, Sisoka Duta and his mother on the revitalization of the Dakota language in the twin cities area of Minnesota.

We also hear more perspectives on the importance of carrying on the Dakota language from Dakota kindergarten teacher, Carol Charging Thunder of the Bdote Learning Center, as well as from the school's project director, Elizabeth Cates.

Native language intern coordinator at the Minneapolis American Indian center, Summer Lara, also weighs in.

(gentle music) (singing in a foreign language) - Grandfather, thank you for the part that you have given us.

Grandfather, thank you for the life that you have given us.

(speaking in a foreign language) I teach the Dakota language.

I've been to one boarding school, where we were not allowed to speak, it was American merit system, and we were punished for speaking our language.

- Due to the boarding schools, my parents would not speak the language to us, but even though they didn't speak to us, we still kind of heard a few words here and there, (she laughs) but I didn't know my language.

- I am proud of that I am Lakota, being raised by my grandparents and learning our ways, our history, which was kept in our privacy of our homes and are now on books, and now we can teach it to our children without having to be afraid that we're gonna be punished.

And it's been a long struggle and also we have, the government is putting money into teaching our ways to our children that we were forbidden to do, without being punished.

And our children are running around speaking it and singing the songs, and knowing who they are.

They have Lakota names and that makes me feel proud to see, as young as they are, they know who they are.

- [Teacher] In order to revive an endangered language, the most efficient way to bring it back is to create more speakers, and teaching children how to speak is one of the most direct ways that one can do that, apart from learning it yourself.

(people singing and drumming) - Children, when they're young, they will retain everything that is taught to them.

And they will not forget.

(speaking in a foreign language) is "weekend", (speaking in a foreign language) is "week", so (speaking in a foreign language) have a good weekend.

- Prior to the pandemic, when we were still teaching in-person, you would still hear some English.

A lot of the kids would communicate with each other in English, a lot of the time.

And because we have two languages in this school, Ojibwe and Dakota, a lot of the staff's common language will be English, unfortunately.

So, perhaps if we were in separate buildings or something it would be a little easier to enforce immersion in our target language only.

There is some English, but we have other rules surrounding that, such as trying to keep it at a whisper and and no English in the target language area hallways, and whenever there's a visitor who isn't a speaker of the language, they just try to stay (speaking in a foreign language), they try to be quiet and speak softly or not at all.

- We've gotta continualessly, develop the new talent and the teachers that are gonna come after us.

Myself, you know, I'm not old, but I'm not like young anymore.

So, you know, we have to like think, well, who's coming next and start looking at those people and say, "Oh this person has the qualities, they could make a great teacher, or you know they could be great at making curriculum or they could be great as a community outreach, you know" and look at those people and start training them to be the next generation, so that when we get to retirement age, that we know we did a good job and we were leaving the language in good hands.

- I want to be fluent, but not for me per se.

I want to be fluent for friends and family and relatives, like future generations.

And so that's why I feel like, even though I'm not quite fluent or proficient as I wanna be, I try to teach whenever I can, because there are plenty of other people who don't have a starting basis.

And I feel like I kind of have this, almost like a responsibility, and sometimes it's really heavy to have but there's almost this responsibility of passing at least whatever little that I know, 'cause someday it might not be there, you know?

So for example, one of our elders, Danny Siboy, he just passed away and he was a huge in the Dakota culture language world, yeah, he was huge.

And that's just like heartbreaking, you know, but that's why I feel like for me, my goal was to learn as much as I can and pass it on.

- We deserve sovereignty at every level, and education is a very big part of that.

And the language is one of the biggest indicators of a sovereign nation.

So, it's important for not only as second language learners to understand more about the Dakota way of looking at the world, but also for us to be an independent nation and to decolonize ourselves.

- There's a lot that goes into being a Dakota person.

It might not necessarily just be languages or culture and life ways and everything like that, but the language is definitely probably the center of it.

- This is our language and it's our responsibility to keep it going.

And if we don't, nobody else is gonna do it.

- [Director] You wanna read it from the computer?

- Okay.

Brian King Fisher teaches the Ojibwe language at the college level, and before the COVID-19 shutdown in March of 2020, we interviewed Brian about his experiences as an instructor, and what led him to this path in life.

(gentle music) - Brian (speaking in a foreign language), how you been?

- (speaking in a foreign language) I'm doing pretty well.

- Continuing from our last discussion up at St. Scholastica, and since that time we met the week before the stay at home order came in, that week, everyone left.

What did that mean for you and your classes that you were teaching them?

- That meant going full remote, for the most part, and we spent, I think a week after spring break even, preparing for the whole, like the whole lockdown and shutdown and everything.

And we, I basically spent two weeks converting everything over to like an online format, and basically turning all my lessons into something a little more interactive, a little more, what we call like asynchronous.

So where they're doing things outside of class, rather than just doing stuff in class with me.

- How big of a process is it for you to transfer from the classroom teaching to distance learning?

- It's honestly been a little bit of a challenge.

(he laughs) It's you know, and I've got full support from, you know, from CSS you know, that's something that I'm not worried about.

It's more so like how, because there's not very many resources for (speaking in a foreign language) in general, you know, what do I use?

How do I use it?

What am I comfortable with?

Teaching in a camera to camera setting versus an in-person setting, what are they not going to get?

I've definitely spent a lot more time doing explanations in English, which is definitely a challenge for me, as now it's put me in a situation where like, okay, how do I explain that?

(speaking in a foreign language) How do I explain that in English, right.

So yeah, definitely been a challenge.

And then like, to now, I have students who were like on camp, like we met on campus for a week before I had to go back into quarantine because that was two weeks out from my son being born.

And in order to meet my son, they wanted me to sit two weeks at home.

And by the time that he was born, I ended up just staying home.

(he laughs) So I've been here ever since, I've been here since the second week in September, but they, that first week they were, they were really receptive, they were really responsive but there was another type of learning curve there for them, because you can't see my face and you can't hear me really well when there's a mask over my face, right.

And so, you know, and they can't see my mouth move, so, I had to back up into a corner, sometimes, remove my mask, so they could see my mouth move because there are certain sounds in Ojibwa Mon, right, that, you know, you need to be able to, like the glottal stop and like the edge sound, like that 'jer' sound.

And you know, as every once in a while you gotta stop them and just like, "Listen, you need to listen clearly."

- What comes next, I guess?

- I'm hoping to develop a few things on our, our learning environment online and just start producing like, little videos and snippets and stuff like that, and teaching my students how to like, hey like make a three minute video of talking about this, so, they're not in class all the time, because when you're explaining things for 15 minutes, they sit, they start to, you know, they start to get a little bored with, you know, even if it's in Ojibwe Mon, it's like, "I have no idea what he's saying.

I think I'm gonna take a nap now."

(he laughs) Be persistent, that's what I say for both students and teachers, be persistent in what you're doing.

If it's something that you're passionate about it'll come to you.

Things will start clicking and be patient with the teachers, for the students be patient with the teachers, they're trying to teach a different way that they're not used to, and for the teachers be patient with how they're learning.

They're not used to learning this way.

(gentle music) - Like, what does the vaccine mean?

And I still think that the choir's out on a majority of the population feeling confident and comfortable about doing this, but I think that there is a good chunk of our population who are, they're excited about it.

I think for whatever reason, this issue too has become so like a line drawn in the sand.

People are split right down the middle in regards to when it comes to COVID-19 and the coronavirus.

So, there's a lot of people who are excited about a vaccine coming and there's a lot of people who are very skeptical, and I think that they, they wanna see more, here again, we're talking about mistrust of the federal government, again and this falls right in line with that.

And I think that there's a narrative that's being pushed both ways, but there's also a narrative that's being pushed in trying to build trust that people can trust taking another vaccination.

And so, I think the vaccination needs to happen in order for things to move forward.

(gentle music) - [Ernie] For more information about Native Report, look for us on the web at nativereport.org, on Facebook, Instagram, and on YouTube.

- Thank you for spending this time with your friends and neighbors across Indian country.

I'm Rita Aspinwall.

- And I'm Ernie Stevens.

We'll see you next time on Native Report.

(upbeat music)