Indigenous man's 'jaw nearly hit the counter' when told he could write driver's test in Ojibwe

The former chief of Chippewas of Kettle and Stony Point First Nation got an early birthday surprise when he was able to write part of his driving test in Ojibwe.

Jason Henry, who holds a commercial (Class A) driver's license, said he went for the 5-year renewal last week at the Ontario Drive Test centre in Sarnia. When asked what language he preferred, he said he gave his usual answer.

"English, unless you can offer me Ojibwe," Henry said. The clerk's response was a total shock.

"My jaw nearly hit the counter. Out of principle, my entire life, I've always asked for Ojibwe. I've never gotten that offer anywhere until Monday."

Ojibwe, or Anishinaabemowin, is an Algonquin language with a variety of dialects spoken across Canada and the northern United States. It's considered an endangered language, with 14,535 Indigenous people in Ontario self-reporting in 2021 that they spoke Ojibwe.

That same year, the Ministry of Transportation (MTO) added Ojibwe, Oji-Cree and Cree as language options for driving tests. In total, there are 27 languages available.

As an Indigenous language learner who started studying Ojibwe as an adult, Henry was thrilled to not only write but to pass the knowlege of signs test in his language. The road knowledge and air brake endorsement tests were only available in English

"We will continue our work to eliminate barriers and improve access to driver licensing services for Indigenous communities across Ontario," MTO spokesperson Julia Caslin wrote in an email Wednesday.

Henry was told that if he failed the test in Ojibwe he would have to pay a fee to retake it, but he said it was worth the risk.

The grammar of Ojibwe makes a multiple-choice test tricky for a second language learner, he explained, as it is incredibly precise.

Harder still, in the absence of direct translations, the language leans heavily on description. If a sign indicates a divided highway merging into a single-lane highway, it could be described something like 'ahead the road will come together.' Henry gave another example of a stop sign question.

"It's 'you definitely must stop now and not move further,'" he said. "It's very explicit in the language, not just 'stop,' which was pretty cool for me to see."

Henry has since shared his discovery on social media, in the hopes that others in his community will follow suit. The Drive Centre clerk told him he was the first to ever ask for an Ojibwe test at that location.

"For the young Indigenous boy who always asked for Ojibwe first and was always got told 'no', it's unbelievable how happy I was to actually have somebody say, 'that's an option today'," Henry said.

"Anytime there's an option to have good representation with our language, our images, our people and institutions, it makes it a little easier for us to succeed."