Several Six Nations organizations held events focusing on language on March 31 to celebrate National Indigenous Languages Day. At the Gathering Place on Chiefswood Road, the Aboriginal Legal Services (ALS) of Brantford held an event focused on "Creativity on the Courtroom" and language in a legal setting.

Lisa VanEvery is the coordinator of the Road to Your Name Program and the Indigenous Knowledge Helpers for ALS and has been with the organization for more than 11 years. She says people must have been eager for the event because it filled up quickly. Language also plays an important role in the courtroom, VanEvery says, especially with the Indigenous Knowledge Helpers who strive to use the language as much as possible when assisting in the courtroom.

Several language and knowledge keepers from Six Nations attended the ALS event including Tehanhete Miller. He says creativity plays an important part in the courtroom and the knowledge is passed down through the creation story to help the convicted to see new ways of viewing life in order to create new paths to a better future.

The ALS event was well attended with justice and legal participants from Brantford, Niagara, St. Catherines and the surrounding areas. 

Listen to the report below: