Summer Student Employment 2010

Comhairle na Gàidhlig – The Gaelic Council of Nova Scotia will be hiring two returning university students for summer employment as Project Assistants. We are hosting these positions in Inverness County, the site of the Administrative Office, however the positions are open to students from across the province.  All applicants must have access to reliable transportation, a computer, and high-speed internet.

Applicants must be returning full-time university students, and they should be studying in Celtic Studies, or have experience in Gaelic language and cultural activities. Their work will include:

• Assisting with administration, research, report-writing, and communications

• Set-up and assistance at community Gaelic language and cultural events through summer

• Membership development through representation at events, and database updating

 The 14 week positions will provide experience in communications, promotions and research work for students. They will be offered pending funding approval, with an anticipated start date of May 3, 2010. Applications must be postmarked or E-mailed by 6:00 pm, March 29, and include a cover letter, resume, and names and contact information of 3 references.

Comhairle na Gàidhlig Staffing
c/o Caroline Cameron
RR 2 Inverness, NS
B0E 1N0
comhairlenagaidhlig@gmail.com

Media Workshop

There has been a growing demand for a forum to discuss how Nova Scotian Gaelic is being represented in the media, and how this can be influenced to encourage greater participation in and support for Gaelic. Comhairle na Gaidhlig is keen to work on this issue and we are setting up a Media Workshop offered by Communications Nova Scotia which focusses on defining a message and effective use of media.

Mini-Forum and Annual General Meeting

We are now planning a ‘Mini-Forum’ to be hosted in Pictou County on May 29. It will be a smaller version of an annual event – the ‘Forum Series’ which will serve as an annual celebration to bring the whole Gaelic community together. The Mini-Forum features a presentation, dinner and Céilidh. We’ll keep you posted on this event, and we look forward to a great get-together.

Also that day, we will hosting be the Comhairle na Gàidhlig Annual General Meeting at the same location.

Building Bridges throughout Municipal Government

By May 2010, we will have completed a program of making presentations to Municipal Councils throughout the Gaelic regions of the province. We have been very well received, and the meetings have been informative for us; developing personal connections within the governance environment that we’re working has been encouraging. Through this project, we’ve been able to raise the Gaelic profile a little more as some local newspapers have covered our presentations. Our presentation is an overview of our concerns, what we do, and an update on our plans for the next few years.

Creating Spaces for Gaelic Conversation in Communities

We will continue to work with communities to discuss how to provide more informal and accessible ways for people to share Gaelic socially.

Strengthening Comhairle na Gàidhlig’s capacity to support the work of community groups

This project is about how to improve our overall effectiveness in identifying community needs and acting upon them. This requires the development of strong committees which are well connected throughout the community. We are hosting open meetings and developing our membership to that end, and we are beginning to see some real progress.

Language Development and Education (LDE) Open meetings

As a way to gain broader perspective and more participation in our Language Development and Education work, we have hosted two open meetings in Antigonish and Ainslie Glen. We’ve had very good discussions at each, with outcomes of a general task list and direction to move forward on communications with the Department of Education. Notes on both these meetings are available at the links below. All are welcome to join in this discussion, and we plan to develop a discussion board on our website, as a way to continue our work without the travel that is required for face-to-face meetings.

LDE Meetings notes December 6, 2009
LDE Meeting Notes February 22, 2010

Recent Projects

Mid-term Review of Strategic Plan
At our November 2009 Board of Directors Meeting, we reviewed the strategic plan which we developed in November 2008. Our plan had been ambitious, yet we have gotten a considerable amount accomplished, and we are gradually building a solid base from which to continue our work.

Summer Students Hired
It was our first time hiring students and we were fortunate to receive funding for summer positions from both the federal and provincial. Our employees were Colin Watson of Queensville, and Ashley MacKay of Stewartdale, both from Inverness County, where the Administrative Office is located. However, we hope that as we gain more experience in directing student work, we can consider basing student applications in other counties.

Gàidhlig aig Baile Tutor Training Workshop
Comhairle na Gàidhlig  is very excited at the outcomes of our November 2-6, 2009
Tutor Training Workshop. Gàidhlig aig Baile Gaelic classes were provided for students, while training new tutors. The tutors were a mix of community and school system tutors – and for the first time, we engaged our own Nova Scotian instructors to host the session.

Gaelic Awareness Month Meeting
On May 30, 2009, the Gaelic Council facilitated a meeting to discuss how community groups and the Gaelic Council can make best use of May as Gaelic Awareness Month. The discussion focused more generally on the messages and mechanisms for communication, and a report was produced to summarize our work.

To view this report, click here: Gaelic Awareness Month Meeting, May 2009

Eilean nan Òg
Eilean nan Òg (Island of Youth) is one of the most popular projects now organized by Comhairle na Gàidhlig. Hosted by the Highland Village Museum, this apprenticeship program gives youth the opportunity to learn Gaelic language and cultural skills, such as singing, storytelling and dancing, while introducing them to tradition-bearers from the local community. Coordinated by noted Gaelic singer Mary Jane Lamond, this year's program saw ten young people between the ages of fourteen and eighteen take part in the two-week paid program.

Visual Image
The importance of a visual image for Gaelic Nova Scotia was first identified in the 2002 community consultation process undertaken jointly by the Gaelic Council and the Department of Tourism, Culture and Heritage. Comhairle na Gàidhlig has made this project a priority and commissioned a visual artist to develop an image based on extensive consultation with the community. The image was unveiled in May, 2008 and we hope it will serve as a rallying point for Gaelic language and culture for years to come.

Cainnt mo Mhàthar www.cainntmomhathar.com
One of the most ambitious initiatives Comhairle na Gàidhlig has yet undertaken, Cainnt mo Mhàthar (My Mother's Language) is a project designed to record idiomatic, everyday Gaelic from fluent speakers in Nova Scotia. With its third and final stage complete, the project has produced nearly twenty-five hours of video recordings based on an extensive questionnaire developed with the needs of language learners in mind. Project Coordinator Shamus MacDonald and Fieldworker Jim Watson, who volunteered his time on behalf of the Highland Village, visited Gaelic speakers in all four Cape Breton counties to complete the project. Their recordings feature individuals and pairs speaking on a variety of everyday topics including the weather, folklore, childcare, baking, chores, music and clothing.

The Department of Canadian Heritage and the provincial Office of Gaelic Affairs have contributed more than $45,000 in combined funding for the third phase of the project. This funding was used to create a premiere website showcasing video and audio recordings of contemporary Gaelic speakers in Cape Breton. Besides making the Cainnt mo Mhàthar collection available online, it allowed Comhairle na Gàidhlig to continue its fieldwork with some of the province's best Gaelic tradition-bearers. Funding also allowed for the inclusion of recordings from other sources as well; including two important collections completed at the Highland Village Museum. The completed project gives language learners and the general public a good overview of Gaelic Nova Scotia, as related by contemporary tradition-bearers in their native language and available anytime, anywhere, free of charge.

Community Meetings
Late in 2007, Comhairle na Gàidhlig hosted a series of twelve community meetings in Nova Scotia. Held in collaboration with the Office of Gaelic Affairs, the meetings represented an opportunity for the communtiy to hear about recent inititatives, take stock of our progress, and share ideas for the future. The meetings also marked the fifth anniversary of an historic community consultation process in which the Gaelic communtiy was engaged by government. Each evening began with clips from the Cainnt mo Mhàthar project and ended with open discussions and an invitation to join Comhairle na Gàidhlig. Approximately two-hundred people attended the meetings with nearly half filling out questionnaires; their comments have proven invaluable in defining our short and long term vision for Gaelic Nova Scotia.

Spòrs (Fun)
Back by popular demand, Spòrs is a program that sees university students visiting elementary schools in the province to teach children about Gaelic language and culture through music, dance, songs and stories. Coordinated by the Gaelic Council and supported by the Service Learning Program at St. Francis Xavier University, this year students from the university visited schools in many areas of eastern Nova Scotia. These visits are intended to spark an interest in Gaelic culture among young people and provide an opportunity for university students to become Gaelic role models in their community.