What is Nitap?

Supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, Nitap is an app that is being created under the Ni'gweg Collective banner. Tara Audibert, Phyllis Grant and Kirsten Tomilson came up with the idea to tell aboriginal stories that have been told orally for decades, moving them to a technical space where they can be shared freely. "We wanted to create something that utilized all of our skills and bring it alive to the world of technology," says founding member Kirsten Tomilson.  "It is a place where artists and storytellers can come together and share their collective experience."

When we started this project in 2017 we were very much focused on the provinces that we are familiar with but as this grows and gains momentum we are hoping to collect and tell stories form all the Canadian provinces. Right now our app has collected stories from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. There is such a vast amount of knowledge that is at risk of fading into history if we don't make a conscience effort to make these stories available to the general public.

Another compelling reason to create this application is to make it available for everyone to use. That is why the app is available on both iOs and Android. It is also available for free to download to any of your mobile devices. The stories are also available on you tube. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4f3aR_jE9U8qVwza8uqUjQ

The most compelling reason to create this application is language preservation. This is an effort to prevent languages from becoming unknown. According to the 2016 census many aboriginal languages are spoken by less than 10,000 people and some communities only have a handful of people who can speak their mother tongue. A language is at risk of being lost when it no longer is taught to younger generations, while fluent speakers of the language die. Language is an important part of society, because it enables people to communicate and express themselves. When a language dies out, future generations lose a vital component of their culture that is necessary to completely understand it. Canada is at a pivotal turning point in our history and acknowledging that aboriginal language has reached a crisis point provides us with hope that these languages will be preserved and reconciliation can begin in an environment that welcomes collaboration. Nitap is proud to be a part of this change.

You can also check out our website here: https://www.nigweg.com/