Wendake is the Huron-Wendat reserve located 15 minutes from downtown Quebec City. It is one of the Seven Nations of The Iroquois Confederacy—a historic confederation of First Nations living in and around the Saint Lawrence River valley at the start of the eighteenth century. I have been to this small town once. There are buildings such as the Huron-Wendat Museum, the Traditional Huron site “ONHOÜA CHETEK8E“, several souvenir shops, and many tourists as well. It was fun learning about their history and culture, but the most interesting part of my visit was their language. I saw many signs written in Wyandot—even traffic signs.

Wyandot is one of the Iroquoian languages. This website give some background on the Iroquoian language. Unfortunately, Wyandot essentially died out as a spoken language nearly a century ago; however, there are attempts at revitalization such as the village school in Wendake, which offers adult and children’s classes in the language.

Not only Wyandot, but also many indigenous languages have been struggling to stay alive. According to this article, only 545 Canadians claim Mohawk, which has the largest number of speakers of the Northern Iroquoian languages, as their mother tongue according to 2011 census data. Language and identity are closely connected and intertwined; it is so difficult to imagine losing a part of our identity. Even if the language manages to be somehow revived, it would soon be endangered again if there are not enough people dedicated to protecting it from extinction. Conversation can be recorded and preserved as an archive for future generations, but losing languages and its speakers are very regrettable.