In hopes of preserving First Nations language and promoting world peace, the first of a network of radio stations sponsored by the Global Country of World Peace was launched Thursday. The station will broadcast from Fredericton, New Brunswick in the native languages of the area, Maliseet, Mi’kmaq and Passamaquoddy. Programming will include songs, chants and stories produced by local people with the help of teachers.
The response to the station has been overwhelmingly positive.
“As soon as the station began to play more programming, elders have come into the station to help,” said Dr. Christopher Collrin, Representative of the GCWP in New Brunswick.
The station is independently owned and operated, but funded completely by the GCWP as part of the “Global Initiative to Strengthen Mother Tongues in order to Re-enliven the Natural Law of the Land.” This initiative was started to restore the mother languages of the world. Organizers hope to help the First Nations people reconnect modern life with their origins and bring peace to all of Canada.
The GCWP is a non-profit organization that promotes world peace through Natural Law which, according to Collrin, is the unified field of law that governs the entire universe. This law is expressed first in sound and structures the topography of the land, including rivers, lakes, mountains and valleys. He went on to explain that through the broadcast of the mother languages of the earth, the entire world becomes more connected and harmonious.
“When we hear the [mother languages] spoken, we become more in touch with the universe and more at peace with ourselves. There is more interconnectedness and we don’t see so much what is different,” Collrin said. “We can see the whole universe rather than parts. We get a broader perspective and there is more connectedness and less self-centeredness.”
According to this line of thought, the First Nations languages will bring peace to all of Canada, even those who do not understand the programming.
“The language just needs to be present in the world. The First Nations languages contain the sounds of natural law. When a language is lost, our connection to Natural Law is lost.”
The radio station will reach around 80 per cent of the First Nations in the area, around 10,000 people, through the single stations and repeater transmitters that are also funded by the GCWP.
Of all the languages native to the people of Canada, there are only three that are not in imminent risk of disappearing, according to the Director of McGill’s Office of First Nations and Inuit Education, Donna-Lee Smith. This station is one of many on-going projects to help keep First Nations languages alive.
“Language is absolutely crucial because if you don’t know your heritage language, then you can’t express your worldview,” said Smith. “What happens to your self esteem and your view on the world if you can’t express yourself?”.
She went on to explain the necessity of keeping First Nations languages alive.
“There’s a difference between a lived language and a learned language. If it’s a learned language, it might as well be Latin.”
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, founder of the GCWP, also expressed his belief in the importance of indigenous languages.
“When children in the schools are not taught in their mother tongue, it creates stress and strain in the brain and greatly weakens their full development, which then leads to mistakes and suffering in life.”
Eventually, the GCWP plans to work within all of Canada and has already begun discussions with four other reserves in Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia.
