Dear Farkhad (please call me Cassandre),
It was a true pleasure to meet you at the conference.
My colleagues and I were VERY impressed by the quality of the simultaneous interpretation, especially in such a difficult environment (long hours, many accents and fast pace). Thank you again, to you and your colleague.
These are very interesting and important projects. I am so surprised that you know about the Atikamekw language and nation! FYI, I previously worked for seven years for an Indigenous organization called Wapikoni (which means flower in Atikamekw) and that was co-founded by the Atikamekw Nation Council. This language (and nation) is thus close to my heart. Speaking of which, you might also be interested in knowing that Wapikoni is a UNESCO recognized organization that has over 1,000 short films made by Indigenous youth, a quarter of which are recorded in Indigenous languages and subtitled in French and English (Atikamekw, Innu, Cree, Inuktitut, etc.). You can find most of the films on their website. Here are some examples :
· Ute Canada (Here in Canada) in Innu language.
· Wearing my culture in Inuktitut.
· Ki Otenamino (Our Town). A film from Manawan in part in the Atikamekw language.
The Wikipedia Education Program and the genesis of the Wikemedia Indigenous Language project are very interesting; involving Indigenous students, teachers, academics and schools Wikipedia contributors in their language. This might be of interest to other Indigenous schools or communities, as an active way of revitalizing and/or promoting Indigenous languages. I will talk about this with my CCUNESCO team tomorrow, especially with my colleague Katharine Turvey, who is Program officer in Culture. Wikimedia can be an important media for promoting Indigenous languages and cultures in the future.
On our side, we are taking the opportunity of 2019 Year of Indigenous Languages at UNESCO to co-host a Symposium on Indigenous Languages in Summer 2019, probably in British Colombia with the First Peoples Cultural Council, as well as supporting and organizing other initiatives on this theme across Canada. I will keep you informed.
Lastly, you will find in attachment a brochure we just made with Onawa McGivor about Indigenous languages in Canada and that we are sending to all the Embassies in Ottawa.
Congratulations on being named Wikimedian of the year and on all your efforts to actively promote Indigenous languages!
Räxmät! Merci Mikwetc!
Cassandre Pérusse
Program Officer, Education | Chargée de programme, Éducation613-566-4414 ext. | poste 5567 | 1-800-263-5588
150 Elgin Street | rue Elgin, PO Box | CP 1047 Ottawa ON K1P 5V8
en.ccunesco.ca | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube
From: Фархад Фаткуллин / Farkhad Fatkullin [mailto:frhd@yandex.com]
Sent: Monday, September 10, 2018 11:22 AM
To: Pérusse, Cassandre
Cc: info@wikimedia.ca; Викимедиа РУ; nlarionova@tisbi.ru; education; Samantha Weald
Subject: UNESCO ASPNET + Wikimedia Canada
Dear Ms. Perusse,
I hope this email finds you well. This is to follow-up on our conversation in Kazan City Hall on 6 September 2018 during UNESCO ASPNET National Coordinators meeting, dedicated to the 65th Anniversary of the movement.
I am one of the conference interpreters, who was speaking to you in my Wikimedia movement volunteer capacity. In our home regions (Republic of Tatarstan in my case) and wider Russian Federation, Wikimedia Russia volunteers are also actively exploring avenues to introduce secondary & vocational schools, as well as universities, to using Wikipedia Education Program opportunities, just like this is done in North America by Wiki Education Foundation. Ms. Sabine Detzel mentioned discussing global level cooperation with Wikimedia Foundation, which didn't yet reach fruition. Our volunteering contacts with UNESCO are mainly developing on the level of WikiProject:United Nations.
We very much appreciate the contribution our Wikimedia Canada colleagues are making to promote both tangible & intangible heritage of your country and its people. During Wikimania 2017 in Montreal I've personally attended the session on Atikamekw Wikipedia development, presented in French by the Atikamekw Community. I know that in May 2018 this experience of preserving indigenous languages & cultures at the times of information society and knowledge economy was presented at UN among other best practices. This example is inspiring all other members of Wikimedia Indigenous Languages project.
I am copying this to your Russian Federation counter-part, as well as all other mentioned parties.
With kind regards,
farhad
a.k.a. 2018 Wikimedian of the Year
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Farkhad Fatkullin - Фархад Фаткуллин http://sikzn.ru/ Тел.+79274158066 / skype:frhdkazan / Wikipedia:frhdkazan