Storyteller who grew up without my language

 I’m born in the area Tornevalley by the arctic circle in northern Sweden. Our lives follow the seasons, nature and the animals that we live beside. We’re a ethnic minority population with our own language, culture and flag.

I moved away young and my parents and grandparents hesitated to teach me our language meänkieli . “Learn something else, something useful” my grandma would say and by the shoulders lead me out of the kitchen before I could ask anything else. 

The Swedish government implemented assimilation policies during the 20th century towards Tornedalians and other minorities, which resulted in the suppression of our language and culture. These policies, known as “Swedification,” included measures like banning the language Meänkieli and encouraging the adoption of Swedish norms in schools and other institutions.

Breaking generational shame

These banns were eventually lifted, Meänkieli became an official minority language in 2000 – but my parents and grandparents grew up with this “we’re less than real Swedes” point of view because of how they were treated (dialect made fun of on tv, jokes about being slow, high number of unemployed combined with the government paid people to move to the cities etc).

I had passed my 30s when I started learning Meänkieli – which translates to my language after moving back to the arctic circle. I finally had words to describe my experience. I slowly learned more about our life and culture and I felt proud to be a Tornedalian. But if I said as much was still met with silent headshakes from older generations.   

Found my courage on Turtle Island

I never thought I would leave Tornevalley, but I ended up moving to the Canadian prairies.  For a decade now  these beautiful grasslands and rolling foothills have taught me about life and helped me find my voice.