Why locate CCLAS in Chisasibi?
Of the several communities in Quebec and Labrador that might have hosted a first language acquisition study, Chisasibi seemd to offer optimal conditions for assuring the success of the study. Back in 2003, when we were deciding which community to approach with our idea to conduct a study, research team member Marguerite MacKenzie already had a 30 year long working relationship with the community of Chisasibi. Her knowledge of the East Cree dialect which is spoken in Chisasibi was also an important factor in our considerations.
In terms of infrastructure, the Cree School Board in Chisasibi generously offered our project office space and has made financial contributions to the project. The Cree School Board in Chisasibi is also home to a pool of talented Cree language consultants, many of whom Marguerite MacKenzie has worked with on other projects (e.g., the East Cree Lexicon, now available on-line at the East Cree Language Web). With their knowledge of the structure of the language, our project would, if situated in Chisasibi, have access to native speaker insights into the language, essential as we proceed with the task of transcribing and translating the video-recordings.
CCLAS operates in two locations, a modus operandi made possible by the existence of the internet. Our most basic requirement was for a high speed internet connection – this was offered to us by the Cree School Board in Chisasibi. Along with this, we required on-site technical support for occasional trouble-shooting, especially in the early days when we were setting things up. This was also generously provided to us by the Cree School Board.
The Chisasibi community is predominantly Cree-speaking; crucially, Cree is still acquired by children as a first language. The school system offers Cree-language medium education from Kindergarten through Grade 3 through the Cree as a Language of Instruction Program (CLIP). Additionally, the Anjabowa Childcare Centre, where a number of the children in the study were filmed, is Cree-medium. We required an environment for our study which would assure our participants were really growing up acquiring Cree as a first language -- Chisasibi assured us this environment.
Finally, the fact that Chisasibi has a relatively large population ensures that the privacy of participants in the study is not difficult to protect (as it might otherwise have been in a smaller community).
In terms of infrastructure, the Cree School Board in Chisasibi generously offered our project office space and has made financial contributions to the project. The Cree School Board in Chisasibi is also home to a pool of talented Cree language consultants, many of whom Marguerite MacKenzie has worked with on other projects (e.g., the East Cree Lexicon, now available on-line at the East Cree Language Web). With their knowledge of the structure of the language, our project would, if situated in Chisasibi, have access to native speaker insights into the language, essential as we proceed with the task of transcribing and translating the video-recordings.
CCLAS operates in two locations, a modus operandi made possible by the existence of the internet. Our most basic requirement was for a high speed internet connection – this was offered to us by the Cree School Board in Chisasibi. Along with this, we required on-site technical support for occasional trouble-shooting, especially in the early days when we were setting things up. This was also generously provided to us by the Cree School Board.
The Chisasibi community is predominantly Cree-speaking; crucially, Cree is still acquired by children as a first language. The school system offers Cree-language medium education from Kindergarten through Grade 3 through the Cree as a Language of Instruction Program (CLIP). Additionally, the Anjabowa Childcare Centre, where a number of the children in the study were filmed, is Cree-medium. We required an environment for our study which would assure our participants were really growing up acquiring Cree as a first language -- Chisasibi assured us this environment.
Finally, the fact that Chisasibi has a relatively large population ensures that the privacy of participants in the study is not difficult to protect (as it might otherwise have been in a smaller community).