Chelsea Vowel's Blog

tânisi nitôtêmitik! A while ago, I wrote about my dream to make nêhiyawêwin/Cree language learning more accessible. In short, we need a free-to-access online, asynchronous course for absolute beginners that blends instructional videos with exercises, answer keys, and listening exercises. The goal? Learners who get beyond memorizing word lists and […]

As a direct result of colonial violences including the residential school system and successive child welfare scoops, all Indigenous languages in Canada are considered endangered. Put more plainly, for generations Canada has waged a campaign of linguicide – the killing of languages without (only) killing the speakers. In the post-TRC […]

This is the first May in years where I don’t feel like a hollowed out husk, incapable of spending any meaningful time with my family, much less pursuing any passions of my own. Maybe this is why, after a solid year of complete burn-out, I finally have a sense of […]

I would like to begin by acknowledging that I am writing this at my kitchen table which is located on Treaty 6 territory and within the Métis Homeland, a traditional gathering place for diverse Indigenous Peoples (land and kitchen table both). I acknowledge my unhoused relatives in nearby encampments who […]

To access the signable Google form please click here. kitatamiskâtinân nikotwâsik-tipahamâtowinihk ohci, êkwa ôta otipêyimisow-askîhk ohci We greet you all from Treaty Six territory and the Homeland of the Métis. ôta amiskwacîwâskahikanihk ohciôma kihci-kiskinwahamâtowikamik Alberta kâ-ayâk Garneau otipahaskânihk sisone sîpihk mîna pâhpâscês okayâsi-askîhkânihk Here, from Edmonton (Beaver Hills House) where the University of Alberta occupies...

I started writing this at 5:30 a.m. because as usual I couldn’t sleep. This is going to be a nerdy language post, so feel free to disregard if you aren’t obsessed with nêhiyawêwin (Plains Cree)! If you are a fellow nêhiyawêwin nerd, please leave all the comments and thoughts you have! nêhiyawêwin, like most Indigenous...

Folks, we need to talk. I’m shut up in the house again, windows tightly closed, air-filters running, because the outside air quality is absolutely terrible. It’s “wildfire season”. Meanwhile, a neighbour is burning leaves in their back yard, apparently oblivious to the smouldering garbage smell already permeating the block. With all the recent concerns about...

tânisi kiyawâw, hello everyone! It’s been a while since I’ve written about Métis identity, and since the same misconceptions keep coming up, I thought I’d spend a little time addressing them, yet again. I’ve written about Métis identity before, specifically in this piece “You’re Métis? So which of your parents is an Indian?” and in...

In her 2015 work, The White Possessive: Property, Power, and Indigenous Sovereignty, Aileen Moreton-Robinson (Goenpul from Minjerribah, Quandamooka FN) explores the way in which white nation-states (Australia, Canada, the United States, New Zealand) use racial logics to disrupt Indigenous territorial sovereignty explicitly through structures of colonial territorial possession. “The white possessive” is not simply the...

I am excited to announce that due to me getting serious about having a year of “saying no,” my schedule is finally starting to clear up. I’ve gone from doing an average of forty events a year to having just a handful in 2022. So what does this mean for my Patreon? Well, most importantly,...