Kate Binesigichidaakwe McDonald first came to UWinnipeg right out of high school at age 18, but left just two credits short of a 3-year Bachelor of Arts degree.
“I gave birth to my first son and, shortly after, my first book, Carving My Name, was published,” McDonald said. “I found my birth mom and moved to be closer to her. Between those major life changes and another move out of the city, school got further and further away.”
“I am not the same person I was when I started this learning journey, and I will be forever grateful for all of the opportunities and experiences along the way.”
Kate Binesigichidaakwe McDonald
McDonald said there were a lot of barriers to coming back to graduate, but her focus on the reclamation and revitalization of Anishinaabemowin ultimately brought her back to UWinnipeg.
“I’d hear our Elders and first speakers talk about the importance of our languages and how people need to pick up the work they had started to keep moving the language forward,” McDonald recalled. “So, Anishinaabemowin is really what brought me back to university.”
She received a research grant for her project, Gidinwewin Gimiininaanaanig Odaanikoobijiganaginaan, which looks at how to pass on Anishinaabe Gikendaasowin/Ways of Knowing to future generations of language learners who may not have the opportunity to sit with first language speakers.
She also helped found an Anishinaabemowin language non-profit, Gaagige Ganawendamaang Anishinaabemowin. The non-profit will pilot an Anishinaabemowin immersion project in 2025 through a partnership with Dr. Shelley Tulloch and a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council grant through UWinnipeg.
“More recently I’ve been teaching Anishinaabemowin through Wii Chiiwaakanak,” McDonald said. “I started my language learning journey in community classes there, so to be able to give something back to other language learners through the Centre is a real gift.”
McDonald is graduating with a 4-year Bachelor of Arts degree in Indigenous Languages and a 2-year certificate in Teaching Indigenous Languages for Vitality.
“This has been a long time in coming,” she said. “I am not the same person I was when I started this learning journey, and I will be forever grateful for all of the opportunities and experiences along the way.”
“It’s such an honour to be selected as valedictorian,” McDonald added. “Every one of us in the graduating class has a unique story about the paths we took to our degrees. Some, like myself, didn’t take a linear path, but still, we’ve made it. Some of us are the first in our families to walk across that stage and receive those degrees, clearing the way for those that will come after us.”
McDonald plans to continue her work in language reclamation – learning and teaching Anishinaabemowin, recording first speakers of Anishinaabemowin, and creating resources for future learners.
For those who are just starting on their learning journeys, McDonald’s advice is to just keep going.
“Find the joy and satisfaction that comes from real learning,” she said. “Don’t compare your path to someone else’s. We all arrive where we are meant to be.”
