Nakoda Radio Supports Language Revival
Language is the foundation of culture. At the Îyârhe (Stoney) Nakoda First Nation, the urgency of protecting and promoting language is becoming clear.
Îyârhe Nakoda Elder Terry Rider is a community leader who is involved in many aspects of life. A fluent Stoney speaker, Rider hosts a morning radio show on Siktoge ja Radio (CFIR FM 88.5) and a podcast that are both spoken entirely in Stoney.
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1. WHAT ROLE DOES NAKODA RADIO PLAY IN THE COMMUNITY? WHY DOES IT MEAN SO MUCH TO YOU?
Rider: The intent was to help share community updates from the chief and council. The station was also used to bring in local and non local artists young or experienced, giving them the opportunity and space for 2hrs of air time of any style of music or broadcast of what they want to share. We do both live broadcasts and podcasts as well. They can be found here.
Actually we have been working with Exshaw students with their school updates and with worked with their hosts on how to behave live as broadcasters. We aired the students work Wednesday evenings at 8 p.m..This is from last school year 2022.
2. WHY DOES IT MEAN SO MUCH TO YOU AND IS IT A FAMILY BUSINESS?
Rider: It’s a hobby. I do it on the side. It is a family business, this year it will be 25 years on September 18 (from 1998). In 1995 or ’96, we had investigated that the Stoney tribal administration had space in the basement that nobody was using and at the time Hobbema and Standoff had their own radio stations, so it just created the idea of Morley having one too.
Siktoge ja FM Radio is a family-owned business that broadcasts community news, updates in the Stoney Iyethka language, podcasting Stoney Elders stories and teachings.
3. WHAT ARE SOME KEY PROGRAMS ON THE STATION?
Rider: Monday to Fridays from 11am-12 pm, we broadcast a feed in the States where some people from Albuquerque are a part of the Native American Calling and they just talk about what’s going on in the States and other related news so we broadcast that for us and the community because of how we have similar problems compared to over there.
Sometimes we go live and do podcasts, but right now the health center has been the only one to do some broadcasting. We also broadcast Native America Calling, a popular call-in show that airs across Turtle Island out of Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Also, young people have designed and created their own show with their own style of music that runs evenings Monday to Friday from 7pm until 9pm.
4. HOW IS STONEY NAKODA LANGUAGE SUPPORTED THROUGH THE RADIO STATION?
Rider: Every 2nd Wednesday at 9pm is the elder podcast. We do interviews on our podcast with other members (knowledge keepers) in the community spoken all in Stoney.
5. HOW CAN THE BROADER COMMUNITY AND OTHERS SUPPORT YOU
Rider: By listening! CFIR FM 88.5! Tune in for event happenings from Kananaskis,Canmore,Banff, Lake Louise and Cochrane. We support and play about 65% Aboriginal music and the rest mainstream music. We play the BEST Indigenous music!
WHAT IS THE STATE OF STONEY LANGUAGE TODAY?
According to the latest available census data in 2016, there were 3,050 people in Canada who identified Stoney as their mother tongue, with 2,550 speakers living in either Mînî Thnî, Eden Valley or Big Horn. At that time, the three Îyârhe Nakoda First Nation communities shared a population of about 4,546 people.
Of those, 4,525 people identified English as their first official language spoken. Another 15 people said neither English nor French was their first spoken language; the census did not specify which language they spoke.
In 2016, there were more Stoney speakers in Îyârhe Nakoda First Nation than there had been in at least 20 years, according to census data. But proportionate to the First Nation’s population growth, Stoney – like so many other Indigenous languages – has been on the decline.
(Data from the 2021 census could not be compared as Stoney Nakoda First Nation chiefs and council did not give Statistics Canada surveying permission, thus no information is available).
