Learning a language re-enforces self-identity,” Parkhill said, and he wants children to do so at an early age.
The creators of a new children’s book want to help ease stress for kids coming from remote locations to Winnipeg for their first visit to the hospital. The book, Nindooshkinagadenima My New Friend, is a collaboration between author and illustrator Mike Parkhill and the Children’s Hospital Foundation of Manitoba. The book will be available in English and three Indigenous languages—Cree, Oji-Cree and Ojibwe. The book was developed to help those languages thrive and to educate children about going to the hospital. It addresses some of the anxiety that children can feel on their first trip through the story of Dolly the deer, who twisted her hoof and needs to go to a Winnipeg hospital.
