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By Lynn Capuano, with files from Shannon Morrow, Army Public Affairs
August 9 marks the 37th International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples. The 2019 theme is Indigenous Peoples' Languages. The clever use of Indigenous languages to create an unbreakable secret code played a vital role in the victory of the Allies in the Second World War.
Ottawa, Ontario — Secrecy in communication during the Second World War was as important as it was difficult. What better way to create an unbreakable secret code than to use a little-known language as its base?
Messages, whether in plain language or in code, were constantly being intercepted, stolen, overheard or deciphered. It was vital that Canada and its Allies find a way to send secret messages that the enemy could not decrypt.
They finally succeeded towards the end of the war. Termed “Code Talking,” it cleverly used Indigenous languages to create an unbreakable spoken code.
The job was simple but ingenious in its application. The Code Talkers would translate a secret message into words from an Indigenous language, speak it over the radio and another Indigenous soldier would translate it back into English at the other end.
One of the languages used was that spoken by the Cree First Nation people in Alberta and Saskatchewan. There were many patriotic Cree men and women who served during the Second World War and, since Cree was little-known and only…
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