Margaret Cote | |
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| Born | (1950-08-02)August 2, 1950 Cote First Nation, Saskatchewan, Canada |
| Died | March 31, 2021(2021-03-31) (aged 70) |
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Margaret R. Cote (alsoMargaret R. Cote-Lerat,[1] August 2, 1950 – March 31, 2021), was a Canadian educator, author,linguist, and historian. ASaulteaux, she is best known for her work concerning the preservation ofWestern Ojibwe language andculture, as well as being the first teacher inSaskatchewan to teach aFirst Nations language in apublic school.[2][3]
Cote was born August 2, 1950, on theCote First Nation, Saskatchewan, where she was raised.[1] She was one of four children of John F. and Madelaine M. Cote.[4] She grew up surrounded by Saulteaux culture and spoke the Saulteaux language until she began attending theCanadian Indian residential school system.[1] Cote attended theCote Day School and then theFort Pelly Residential School (St. Philip's Residential School), where she attended grades one through eight.[1][4] She attendedKamsack Junior High School for grade nine, she then attended theQu'Appelle Indian Residential School (Lebret Indian Residential School) for grade ten.[1] She finished her final two years through avocational upgrading program by theCote First Nation.[1]
Cote acquired aBachelor of Education atBrandon University in 1980.[4] During her time at Brandon University, she attended Saulteaux language courses and worked as alanguage lab assistant andtutor.[1] In 1990, Cote graduated from theSaskatchewan Indian Federated College with a degree inlinguistics withdistinction.[4] She was one of the first three to do so, alongside Solomon Ratt and Billy-Joe Laboucan.[3][5]
In 1968, Cote began working with thePelly Indian Agency office at the age of seventeen.[1] From 1971 to 1978, Cote worked as a secretary and accountant for the Cote Band.[1]
According to Charlene Crevier writing inSaskatchewan First Nations: Lives Past and Present, Cote "was the first person to teach aFirst Nations language in a public school".[1][2][3] In 1979, Cote developed Saulteaux language curriculum guides during her time within the Indian Language Program at theSaskatchewan Indian Cultural College (now the Saskatchewan Indigenous Cultural Centre).[1][2] Cote worked for the SICC as a sessional lecturer from 1982 to 1984.[1] She went on to teach at the Brandon University and at the Kamsack Junior High School (now Kamsack Comprehensive Institute) in 1980, before moving on to teaching at theFirst Nations University of Canada.[2] Cote was a member of the FNUniv faculty from 1980 until her retirement in 2010.[4]
Cote published her first book,Nahkawewin Saulteaux (Ojibway Dialect of the Plains) in 1984.[3] Throughout her career she published 20 books regarding Saulteaux language and culture.[3] Her worksNahkawewin andSaulteaux Verb Book primarily concern Saulteauxsemantic andmorphological structure.[1] Cote published 16 children's books for herSaulteaux Talking Books series.[1] She also participated in the translation of four stories forCD-ROMs by Pebble Beach Interactive Fiction Inc. for Saskatchewan Education.[1] A linguist, Cote presented within several conferences and workshops, including during the 33rd AnnualAlgonquian Conference on theSemantic and Morphological Structure of SaulteauxConditional Sentences andRelative Clauses (2001).[1]
Cote's parents aided her in beginning to preserve the Saulteaux language. She eventually mentored her niece, Lynn Cote, to continue her work in preserving the language.[3] Cote strongly believed in the importance of preserving First Nations languages and recorded 17 elders for the purposes of transcribing and translating as many narrative categories as possible.[1]
While attending the Lebret Residential School, Cote met her first husband, Ivan Cote, with whom she had three sons and a daughter.[1] Before she died, Cote was engaged to Andy Pascal and the couple planned to wed when theCOVID-19 pandemic subsided.[3] Cote's death was announced onFacebook on March 31, 2021. She was buried in theCote First Nation.[3]
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