Iakwahwatsiratátie means “our families are continuing”. It is a grass roots, not-for-profit language nest that provides a Kanien’kéha/Mohawk immersion learning environment and support system for families targeting parents / caregivers of children aged 0-4 who are committed to learning Kanien’kéha and teaching it to their children and families. The day program is offered 1x per year with parents committing to attend for 11 months with their child(ren). We currently have 2 groups: a beginner/novice group and an intermediate/advanced group. Groups are facilitated by three proficient second language speakers/educators as well as a first language speaker to ensure language accuracy. Each group is comprised of 8-10 parent participants and their children. The groups gather 2 days per week on their assigned days in a safe, structured home-like language learning and speaking environment.  Iakwahwatsiratátie targets this specific demographic to ensure children hear Onkwehonwehnéha as their first language but is welcoming to  all ages and groups.

Iakwahwatsiratátie also offers evening Kanien’kéha language classes that are open to the community. Evening classes are offered 3 X per year and run for 6 weeks per session. Traditional singing classes and culturally relevant workshops as well as other language related events are also offered periodically throughout the year. Iakwahwatsiratátie creates and offers language resources as well including children’s books, resources for the home and online videos.

Iakwahwatsiratátie was founded in 2005 by a small group of L2 speaking parents who were raising L1 speaking children and who were seeking language support and aóskon Onkwehonwehnéha speaking environments for their families outside of the home. Through research, they modelled the nest after the Kohanga Reo in New Zealand where parents were participating in language learning with their children. The parents found funding through anonymous donations to hire two L1 speaking elders to spend the day with them while they engaged in everyday activities with their children. Without core funding, the group gathered at the 207 longhouse daily and volunteered their time to run everyday operations while inviting other families to participate. They operated in this fashion for 2 ½ years until life circumstances gave them no choice but to close. However, the families involved remained close throughout the years and the core group of founders sit on Iakwahwatsiratátie’s current advisory board.

After consultation with the community and determining that there was a need for a language nest initiative such as Iakwahwatsiratátie in Kahnawà:ke, we were able to secure funding and the program was re-established in 2014 with a new plan. We have had much success throughout the years and continuously re-evaluate our program based on the growing language learning needs of our Onkwehonwehnéha speaking population and the community at large.