Apisheesh is a monthly interview podcast where Omushkego (Swampy Cree) host Lenny Carpenter shares his journey to learn his Cree language through interviews with fluent speakers and other resources. Lenny aims to understand the words of his late mooshoom (grandfather) whose Cree stories are preserved in recordings.
Recent
8
April 16, 2026
Episode 8: Dr. Kevin Brousseau
Kevin Brousseau’s interest in linguistics was sparked as a child when he browsed a list of Proto-Indo-European roots in a dictionary. A member of the Cree First Nation of Waswanipi in northern Quebec, Kevin went on to develop dictionaries of his own in the Cree language, including the Dictionary of Moose Cree. As a 35-year-old, he switched paths and went to medical school and now practices family medicine in Oujé-Bougoumou. In this episode, Kevin talks about his journey growing up not speaking C
March 27, 2026
Episode 7: Jules Spence
If you grew up or lived on the James Bay area for the past 40 years, then you’ve heard the voice of Jules Spence on the radio. And if you’ve been to a community gathering in the region that featured live music, chances are you’ve also heard his guitar playing as he belts out classic rock tunes. Originally from Fort Albany First Nation, Jules is a broadcaster with Wawatay Radio based in Timmins, providing daily programs in Cree to the James Bay communities and Timmins area. And he is currently th
Feb. 19, 2026
Episode 6: Geraldine Govender
In 2014, Moose Cree First Nation launched the first edition of the Dictionary of Moose Cree which featured 6,000 Cree to English entries in the community’s unique L-dialect. The dictionary now has more than 34,000 Cree entries after the fourth edition was launched in December. The dictionary’s development is led by Geraldine Govender, director of language and culture for Moose Cree First Nation. In this episode, Geraldine discussed how the dictionary came to be despite limited resources. She als
Jan. 15, 2026
Episode 5: Adrian Sutherland
In this episode, Lenny shares the Cree words for January, Happy New Year, and briefly discusses the Cree cycle of life. He talks about watching the Apple TV+ show Chief of War, a historical drama series featuring Indigenous Hawaiians before colonization and how they speak Ōlelo Hawaiʻi, the Indigenous Hawaiian language, in the show. He also talks about the CBC Indigenous article about the podcast published on Christmas Eve. Lenny shares his learning update, where he is using flashcards and the s
Dec. 24, 2025
CBC Indigenous story on the podcast
I was recently interviewed by CBC Indigenous and the story was published today, just in time for Christmas!See story here: https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/apisheesh-cree-podcast-9.6994808Thanks to Candace Maracle and the CBC Indigenous team f…
Dec. 18, 2025
Episode 4: Greg Spence
Lenny describes his progress from reading and repeating Cree stories from a book (“atalohkana nesta tipacimowina or Cree Legends and Narratives: from the West Coast of James Bay”) and recordings. He also shares his venture into learning linguistics and research into language learning methods. Then he speaks with Greg Spence, a Cree expert originally from Fort Albany. Greg talks about learning music as a youth and starting the Spence Band, working as a Cree translator, Omushkego vs. inninew vs. a
Recent Blog Posts
Dec. 24, 2025
CBC Indigenous story on the podcast
I was recently interviewed by CBC Indigenous and the story was published today, just in time for Christmas!See story here: https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/apisheesh-cree-podcast-9.6994808Thanks to Candace Maracle and the CBC Indigenous team f…
Nov. 17, 2025
Article in TimminsToday.com
Last week, I was interviewed by TimminsToday.com reporter Marissa Lentz-McGrath and the article was published over the weekend.The story covers how I discovering the recordings, coming up with the name Apisheesh, selecting my guests, and hopes for…
Nov. 12, 2025
Finding my mooshoom’s recordings
Undated photo of my mooshoom (grandfather) Alfred Carpenter.My family visited my grandparents a lot when I was growing up in Moosonee. We’d go there on Saturdays for radio bingo or stop by after church on Sundays. Other times, they watched o…
About the Host
Lenny Carpenter
Host / Producer / Composer
Lenny is an Omushkego (Swampy Cree) writer, musician, and filmmaker based in Timmins, Ontario. A member of Attawapiskat First Nation, he grew up in the James Bay community of Moosonee before relocating to Timmins during his high school years. He has worked in media as a reporter/editor/publisher with Wawatay News, a reporter intern at CBC Thunder Bay, and the Indigenous Reporters Program manager at Journalists for Human Rights. He graduated from Confederation College's Film Production program in 2011. He was most recently a Gladue Writer and Gladue Manager with Nishnawbe Aski Legal Services.