Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House today to recognize the remarkable student-led initiative in the city of Thunder Bay, which is helping preserve the Ojibwe language, Anishinaabemowin, and increase its accessibility to the new generation of speakers.
The Preserve Our Language Project was started in 2016 by three indigenous students at Bishop E.Q. Jennings School. Rayne, Gene, and Tarcisius, with the help of principal Mike Filipetti and native language teacher Joan Esquega, designed the first Ojibwe keyboard for Macintosh computers. Two years later, these students continue to innovate by working with Google to create the first Ojibwe keyboard extension for Google and Chrome users.
This project is an example of the resilience of indigenous youth across Canada and offers an inspiring model for indigenous nations across the world who are working to preserve their languages. To these young, innovative, inspiring students, I say, “meegwetch”.