Digitized Language Books

In 2019, the Manitoba Government made a significant donation to the Manitoba Indigenous Cultural Education Centre of more than 6,400 Indigenous education materials which included 38 teaching manuals. The production of the manuals were led by the Manitoba Native Education Department in partnership with First-language speakers and Indigenous community linguists from 1971 to 1985.

These materials were created in four of Manitoba's Indigenous languages: Ojibwe, Cree, Oji-Cree (Island Lake), and Dakota. These publications are some of the best (and only) documentation of specialized Indigenous-language vocabulary from that time period specific to Manitoba and include regional information such as plant and animal names, descriptive verbs and sample dialogue. There are approximately 4000 pages of language teaching resources in this collection.

By the summer of 2024, MICEC successfully digitized all 37 books identified as educational materials. The work focused on preserving these important resources with the highest preservation standards possible.

Searchable Documents

These 37 PDF documents are digitally preserved in a way that allows users to search the documents for specific words. Allowing you to quickly search for specific terms and/or topics in these documents. Simply find the search bar in your pdf viewer (top right corner in Adobe Reader) and type in keywords that might help you locate content you are looking for. You should also be able to copy and paste text from the document into your own.

Syllabics and scanning documents written by hand and/or with old typewriters

These documents were scanned and run through Optical Character Recognition software or OCR. These programs effectively look through the scanned documents for pixel patterns that resemble letters and words and convert these images into text you can search, copy, and edit. While this process is very accurate, the software does not always interpret the letters and syllabics properly. In our experience, syllabic characters, handwritten notes, and/or accents are the most impacted by these OCR errors. As result, please be aware that searching for content using syllabics and or accents may not always provide accurate results. More over, when trying to copy content from these documents into another document, you may not get the same characters you see in the pdf copy into your new document.

If you have any questions or need further assistance with these documents, please contact us and we will do our best to help you out!

Document List

Click on the links to download the resource in PDF format.

Multiple Languages

Native Language Test : Cree, Ojibway, Island Lake Cree/Ojibwe, Dakota

Oral Native Language Fluency Test : Cree, Cree-Ojibwe, Ojibwe

Oji-Cree

Guide To Spoken Cree / Ojibwe (Island Lake Dialect): Native Language Course, Part 1, Lessons 1-24

Dakota

Native Language Instruction Guide: Levels I to IV (K-3) Dakota

Native Language Instruction Guide: Level V Dakota

Native Language Instruction Guide: Level VI Sioux (Dakota)

Dakota/Sioux Language Course - Book 1

Dakota/Sioux Language Course - Book 2

Dakota/Sioux Language Course - Book 3

Ojibwe

A Collection of Saulteaux (Odjibwe) Lessons

Native Langauge Basic Program Grade 1: Ojibwe

Native Langauge Basic Program Grade 2: Ojibwe

Native Langauge Basic Program Grade 3: Ojibwe

Native Langauge Basic Program Grade 4: Ojibwe

Native Langauge Basic Program Grade 5: Ojibwe

Native Langauge Basic Program Grade 6: Ojibwe

Guide To Spoken Ojibwe : Native Language Course, Part 1, Lessons 1-24

Guide to spoken Ojibwe : Native Language Course, part 2, lessons 25-102

Native Language Instruction Guide: Level V Ojibway

Native Language Instruction Guide: Level VI Ojibway

Native Language Instruction Guide: Levels I to IV (K-3) Ojibwe

Odjibwe Phrases: Units 1-7

Cree
A Cree Dictionary: Itwewina Masinayigan
A Cree Phrasebook: Based On The Dialects Of Manitoba
A Syllabics Supplement (writing paragraphs): Cree
Cree Stories From Moose Lake
Guide To Spoken Cree: Native Language Course, Part 1, Lessons 1-24
Guide To Spoken Cree : Native Language Course, Part 2, Lessons 25-102
Native Langauge Basic Program Grade 1: Cree
Native Langauge Basic Program Grade 2: Cree
Native Langauge Basic Program Grade 3: Cree
Native Langauge Basic Program Grade 4: Cree
Native Langauge Basic Program Grade 5: Cree
Native Langauge Basic Program Grade 6: Cree
Native Language Instruction Guide: Level V Cree
Native Language Instruction Guide: Level VI Cree
Native Language Instruction Guide: Levels I to IV (K-3) Cree

 

This project has been made possible with support from Library and Archives Canada.