Sudbury students sing national anthem in Ojibwe at OHL game
Language teacher Dominic Beaudry says watching his students sing an emotional experience
Dominic Beaudry's students were very excited when they found out that Sudbury's Ontario Hockey League team, the Wolves, wanted them to sing the national anthem at a home game. But it was nothing compared to their excitement when the video of their performance went crazy on Twitter.
Beaudry is a language teacher with the Sudbury Catholic District School Board. His students attend St. James Catholic Elementary and Pius XII Catholic Elementary schools in Greater Sudbury.
Beaudry believes that part of learning is connecting the classroom with the community and there has to be a reason for students to learn.
"When I'm teaching a Native language in the classroom I want to make sure it's a living language," said Beaudry.
"It was very exciting for them to be able to come to the Sudbury Wolves game and share what they learned in the classroom and share the national anthem in Ojibwe with all of the attendees," he said.
Beaudry says watching his students perform was a very emotional experience because the language is so near and dear to him.
My students singing the National Anthem in Ojibwe at the Sudbury Wolves game- students are awesome! <a href="https://t.co/gUwUuZ0TTe">pic.twitter.com/gUwUuZ0TTe</a>
—@DhkBeau"I'm just amazed at the amount of people that responded to the video that we posted on Twitter and social media," said Beaudry.
"A lot of the people that are responding are saying that they're really emotional and proud of the students and they really enjoyed hearing the national anthem in Ojibwe," he added.
Beaudry never thought the video would get so many views. "When it reached 100, I was so excited. Then it reached 1,000, then 10,000, then it's up to over 17,000 views now."
"We're very, very surprised but at the same time we're very, very honoured as well. We often talk about Truth and Reconciliation and ensuring that the language and culture belong in mainstream society," he said.
Beaudry thinks the reaction to the video is indicative of how the students have touched people's hearts and he's glad they were able to have that experience.
"I think it's important that we share our language and our culture here in Sudbury with the community, or Canada in general, and I'm really pleased to see the interest that's out there for First Nations languages and culture," said Beaudry.
"I feel really positive about what's happening and I think only great things can happen from there moving forward."
With files from Waubgeshig Rice