Episodes

Adam Mack grew up in one of the northernmost communities in Ontario, near the Hudson Bay coast where polar bears wandered through the community. For high school, he relocated down to St. Catharines, one of the southernmost cities in the province. After resettling in Timmins and a stint working with Indigenous people in the justice system, Adam is now working to revitalize the Cree language and learning Cree himself through his role with Mushkegowuk Council as the Cree language assistant. In thi...

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 ...

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 curren...

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. S...

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 th...

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...

In this episode, host Lenny Carpenter announces that the podcast now has a website: https://www.apisheeshpodcast.ca/ where listeners can listen to and share the episodes, read bios, sign up for a newsletter, and find links to all of platforms and socials. He'll also be writing blogs. Listeners can leave reviews on the website which might be featured in a future episode. There is also a Cree Resource page on the website with links to resources to help learn Cree, including apps, online dictionari...

It’s been a minute but we're back with Episode 2. In this episode, host Lenny Carpenter talks about the podcast logo and its design, how he chose “Apisheesh” for the name, and his Cree language learning progress. He chats with guest Jocelyn Cheechoo, who is a Cree language learner from Moose Cree First Nation currently based in Thunder Bay. Jocelyn talks about growing up in Moose Factory, going out on the land, and competing at the North American Indigenous Games (and later becoming the Team ...

Host Lenny Carpenter introduces himself and his plan to learn Cree so he can understand his late mooshoom (grandfather)'s telling of legends in audio recordings. He speaks with Angela Shisheesh, an elder, Cree translator and residential survivor. She shares her journey to becoming a translator, confronting an abuser from residential school, the origin of Cree last names and tips to learn Cree. TRIGGER WARNING: this episode contains discussion of sexual abuse at residential school. Hosted on ...

Omushkego (Swampy Cree) host Lenny Carpenter introduces Apisheesh, a monthly interview podcast where he documents his journey to learn Cree after he discovers recordings of his late mooshoom (grandfather). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.