Six Nations’ Joe Martin and Nikki Shawana, of Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, were both featured in City of Hamilton highlight reels on social media as part of its broader effort to honour Indigenous Languages Day 2026 on Mar. 31.
Each shared messages in their Indigenous languages, with Shawana speaking in Anishinaabemowin and Martin speaking in Mohawk. Martin introduced himself in the language and provided a few examples of how to say hello and thank you in Mohawk.
“She:kon actually means ‘still’,” said Martin. “And when we greet each other, the long version is She:kon skennenko:ken? And it means, ‘is still the Great Peace With You?’ And it refers to our Peacemaker in the formation of our Confederacy. And I think that’s a really beautiful thing when we say hello.”
He said his language “means the world” to him. “It connects me back to my ancestors, connects me back to my history…there’s like a spiritual connection for me, too. It’s kind of like how I communicate to the Creator. I’m just very thankful that our language is still alive. I hope that the youth and families can continue to pick it up, continue to try to learn the language and pass it on and that’s my best hope.”
Shawana introduced herself with her Indigenous name, saying, “Waasnodeekwe Nihindzihikaaz,” which means, “Northern Lights Woman.” She explained the meaning of the greeting “ngichinendam waabinaan” which means, “I am happy to see you.” She said she grew up in Southern Ontario away from her community so her language is one of the ways she’s been able to learn more about who she is as an Anishinaabe person and connect her to her culture.
Indigenous peoples have historically spoken a wide variety of Indigenous languages. As a means of assimilating Indigenous peoples, restrictive colonial policies like the Indian Act put Indigenous languages at threat of endangerment and extinction. One of the largest impacts on Indigenous languages was the Residential School system in Canada.
Statistics Canada released data from the 2021 census that shows about 243,000 people reported being able to speak an Indigenous language, which is a decline from the 2016 census when that figure was around 251,000. While the number of people with an Indigenous mother tongue has been in decline, there has been growth in the number of Indigenous second language speakers.
In 2019, the federal Indigenous Languages Act was signed into law to support and promote the use of Indigenous languages. The Office of the Commissioner of Indigenous Languages was established with a mandate to support the efforts of Indigenous peoples to reclaim, revitalize, maintain, and strengthen Indigenous languages. Canada is home to more than 70 Indigenous languages.
The federal government issued a statement saying it acknowledged the harms colonialism did to Indigenous people, their culture, and language, which continue to be felt today. “These colonial policies aimed to assimilate, have endangered many Indigenous languages and placed others at risk of being lost.” Statistics show that since 2019, the share of students attending First Nations-administered schools who are taught at least one subject in a First Nations language has increased from 83 percent to 94 percent.
