Michif

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Michif is a unique French-Cree creole using French nouns, Cree verbs, and some local vocabulary borrowed from Indigenous languages like Ojibway and Dene. The Métis are well known speakers of many languages. In the past, many Métis spoke up to five or six languages, including Michif, French, Cree, Ojibway and Bungee.

At Indigenous Languages of Manitoba, we are committed and dedicated to the revitalization and preservation of Indigenous Languages and want to shed light on the dire situations that our languages are in;

Michif has 1 170 speakers in Canada (0.003% of the total population)(Statistics Canada, 2017), with 80 of those being in Manitoba (0.006% of the provincial population)(Statistics Canada, 2017). The language is considered severely endangered (ELP, n.d) as it is no longer the primary language that both children and adults use. 

References:

Statistics Canada. (October 25, 2017). Census in Brief: The Aboriginal languages of First 

Nations people, Métis, and Inuit. https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/as-sa/98-200-x/2016022/98-200-x2016022-eng.cfm. 

Statistics Canada. (2017). Census Profile, 2016 Census. 

https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/prof/details/page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo1=PR&Code1=46&Geo2=PR&Code2=01&SearchText=Manitoba&SearchType=Begins&SearchPR=01&B1=Language&TABID=1&type=0. 

Endangered Languages Project. (n.d). Michif. 

https://www.endangeredlanguages.com/lang/1755.