The author of Passamit Wilfrid Hervieux wants to preserve and share the innu ancestral knowledge. To this end, he is preparing a series of five trilingual pounds on the Innu nation. Titled Trees in the hinterlandthe first volume in this self-published collection has been available at the Passamit tourist office since July 18.
The work makes it possible to familiarize yourself with the vegetation of the Innu ancestral territory, the Nitassinan. Wilfrid Hervieux has on the beaches of Pessamit learned to listen to nature
.
You have to listen to the forest, listen to nature, then learn to appreciate it. Then, above all, learn to reconnect with our roots.
Written from ancestral knowledge acquired from the elders of Passamit, the book was also revised by several members of the community.
From the hinterland to the coast, the author explores the nature of the region through the innu legend of Carcajou.
In our cosmogony, it is he who creates the universe. He is as much the creator as the destructive, and Carcajou served as a teacher
he explains. He adds that legend allows him to explain the meaning of words in innu-love.
Wilfrid Hervieux is a tourist author and guide in Pessamit.
Photo: Radio-Canada / Benoît Jobin
A pictorial and oral language
This language is an educational tool in itself, according to Wilfrid Hervieux, which affirms that innu words are imagined and significant.
While the Innu-Aimun is a language which is transmitted orally, the author indicates that QR codes can be read using intelligent devices in order to hear the pronunciation of the terms which appear in the book.
Wilfrid Hervieux called on the graphic designer of Pessamit Julie Charland and artificial intelligence for the visual of the book.
Photo: Radio-Canada / Benoît Jobin
An educational tool
The author wishes to join an allochtone and indigenous audience, but his book is above all intended for the libraries of the Passamit schools.
There is a gap in terms of teaching with teaching materials. The teaching materials that we have dates from the 1980s
he notes.
Wilfrid Hervieux donates a copy of Trees in the hinterland For each primary and secondary class of the Innu community.
Trees in the hinterland is the first volume in a series of five pounds through which the author wishes to build an atlas or a codex
of the innu nation, accessible to everyone.
He also hopes that his work inspires indigenous youth to pursue studies in natural sciences.
