{{Short description|Indigenous Canadian academic and author (1950–2021)}} {{Use Canadian English|date=February 2023}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2023}} {{Infobox author | name = Margaret Cote | image = Margaret R. Cote (1).jpg | caption = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1950|08|02}} | birth_place = Cote First Nation, Saskatchewan, Canada | death_date = {{Death date and age|2021|03|31|1950|08|02}} | death_place = | nationality = {{cslist|Cote First Nation|Canadian}} | other_names = | occupation = {{cslist|Author|linguist|historian}} | years_active = | known_for = | education = {{ubl|Brandon University (BEd)|Saskatchewan Indian Federated College (BA)}} | notable_works = {{ubl|''Nēnapohs̆ Āhtahsōkēwinan / Nēnapohs̆ Legends'' (2011)|''Mācī-Anihšināpēmowin / Beginning Saulteaux'' (2021)}} }} <!--Cote-Lerat is referred to as Margaret Cote in more recent publications but it is uncertain which is the standard, this page uses both--> '''Margaret R. Cote''' (also '''Margaret R. Cote-Lerat''',<ref name="ccrev" /> August 2, 1950 – March 31, 2021), was a Canadian educator, author, linguist, and historian. A Saulteaux, she is best known for her work concerning the preservation of Western Ojibwe language and culture, as well as being the first teacher in Saskatchewan to teach a First Nations language in a public school.<ref name="cthomp" /><ref name="kben" />
==Early life and education== <!--Andrychuk was confirmed by the CBC Article to be where Cote's funeral was to be held and therefore the information listed on it should be reliable--> Cote was born August 2, 1950, on the Cote First Nation, Saskatchewan, where she was raised.<ref name="ccrev">{{cite book |last1=Crevier |first1=Charlene |title=Saskatchewan First Nations: Lives Past and Present |date=2004 |publisher=University of Regina Press |isbn=978-0-88977-161-1 |pages=40–41 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ji14s_ESoooC&dq=%22margaret+cote%22&pg=PA40 |language=en}}</ref> She was one of four children of John F. and Madelaine M. Cote.<ref name="afh" /> She grew up surrounded by Saulteaux culture and spoke the Saulteaux language until she began attending the Canadian Indian residential school system.<ref name="ccrev" /> Cote attended the Cote Day School and then the Fort Pelly Residential School (St. Philip's Residential School), where she attended grades one through eight.<ref name="ccrev" /><ref name="afh" /> She attended Kamsack Junior High School for grade nine, she then attended the Qu'Appelle Indian Residential School (Lebret Indian Residential School) for grade ten.<ref name="ccrev" /> She finished her final two years through a vocational upgrading program by the Cote First Nation.<ref name="ccrev" />
Cote acquired a Bachelor of Education at Brandon University in 1980.<ref name="afh" /> During her time at Brandon University, she attended Saulteaux language courses and worked as a language lab assistant and tutor.<ref name="ccrev" /> In 1990, Cote graduated from the Saskatchewan Indian Federated College with a degree in linguistics with distinction.<ref name="afh">{{cite web |title=Obituary for Margaret R Cote |url=https://www.andrychukfuneralhome.com/obituary/Margaret-Cote |website=Andrychuk Funeral Home |access-date=February 24, 2023 |language=en}}</ref> She was one of the first three to do so, alongside Solomon Ratt and Billy-Joe Laboucan.<ref name="kben">{{cite news |last1=Benjoe |first1=Kerry |title=Saskatchewan loses premier Saulteaux language teacher Margaret Cote |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/saulteaux-language-speaker-margaret-cote-1.5975146 |access-date=February 24, 2023 |work=CBC News |publisher=Canadian Broadcasting Corporation |date=April 4, 2021}}</ref><ref name="ncra">{{cite news |last1=Raine |first1=NC |title=A life-long fight to keep the Saulteaux language alive |url=https://www.eaglefeathernews.com/news/a-life-long-fight-to-keep-the-saulteaux-language-alive |access-date=February 24, 2023 |work=Eagle Feather News |date=April 5, 2022}}</ref>
==Career== In 1968, Cote began working with the Pelly Indian Agency office at the age of seventeen.<ref name="ccrev" /> From 1971 to 1978, Cote worked as a secretary and accountant for the Cote Band.<ref name="ccrev" />
According to Charlene Crevier writing in ''Saskatchewan First Nations: Lives Past and Present'', Cote "was the first person to teach a First Nations language in a public school".<ref name="ccrev" /><ref name="cthomp" /><ref name="kben" /> In 1979, Cote developed Saulteaux language curriculum guides during her time within the Indian Language Program at the Saskatchewan Indian Cultural College (now the Saskatchewan Indigenous Cultural Centre).<ref name="ccrev" /><ref name="cthomp" /> Cote worked for the SICC as a sessional lecturer from 1982 to 1984.<ref name="ccrev" /> 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 the First Nations University of Canada.<ref name="cthomp">{{cite web |last1=Thompson |first1=Christian |title=Cote-Lerat, Margaret (1950–) |url=https://teaching.usask.ca/indigenoussk/import/cote-lerat_margaret_1950-.php |website=Indigenous Saskatchewan Encyclopedia |publisher=University of Regina Press |access-date=February 24, 2023}}</ref> Cote was a member of the FNUniv faculty from 1980 until her retirement in 2010.<ref name="afh" />
Cote published her first book, ''Nahkawewin Saulteaux (Ojibway Dialect of the Plains)'' in 1984.<ref name="kben" /> Throughout her career she published 20 books regarding Saulteaux language and culture.<ref name="kben" /> Her works ''Nahkawewin'' and ''Saulteaux Verb Book'' primarily concern Saulteaux semantic and morphological structure.<ref name="ccrev" /> Cote published 16 children's books for her ''Saulteaux Talking Books'' series.<ref name="ccrev" /> She also participated in the translation of four stories for CD-ROMs by Pebble Beach Interactive Fiction Inc. for Saskatchewan Education.<ref name="ccrev" /> A linguist, Cote presented within several conferences and workshops, including during the 33rd Annual Algonquian Conference on the ''Semantic and Morphological Structure of Saulteaux Conditional Sentences and Relative Clauses'' (2001).<ref name="ccrev" />
==Personal life== 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.<ref name="kben" /> 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.<ref name="ccrev" />
While attending the Lebret Residential School, Cote met her first husband, Ivan Cote, with whom she had three sons and a daughter.<ref name="ccrev" /> Before she died, Cote was engaged to Andy Pascal and the couple planned to wed when the COVID-19 pandemic subsided.<ref name="kben" /> Cote's death was announced on Facebook on March 31, 2021. She was buried in the Cote First Nation.<ref name="kben" />
==Bibliography: List of works== *1982: ''Nahkawētā : a Saulteaux language course'' {{OCLC|56243971}} *1985: ''Nahkawēwin Saulteaux : Ojibway dialect of the plains'' {{OCLC|56269753}} *1985: ''Nihso mahkwak'' {{OCLC|56268050}} *1985: ''Saulteaux Verb Book'' {{OCLC|56276331}} *1987: ''Conditional Sentences in Cree and Saulteaux''<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Cole |first1=Margaret R. |last2=Ratt |first2=Solomon |last3=Klokeid |first3=Terry J. |title=Conditional Sentences in Cree and Saulteaux |url=https://ojs.library.carleton.ca/index.php/ALGQP/article/view/937/821 |journal=Algonquian Papers - Archive |access-date=February 24, 2023 |language=en |date=November 1, 1987|volume=18 }}</ref> *2008: ''Ānı̄n ēntōtamān kikis̆ēp'' {{ISBN|9781551655109}} *2011: ''Nēnapohs̆ Āhtahsōkēwinan / Nēnapohs̆ Legends'' {{ISBN|9780889772199}} *2019: ''posâkanacîweyiniwak : nitaskînân = The Touchwood Hills People : Our Land'' {{OCLC|1104081879}} *2021: ''Mācī-Anihšināpēmowin / Beginning Saulteaux'' {{ISBN|9780889777514}} *''Nahkawewin Workbook''<ref name="cthomp" /> *''Saulteaux Syllabics Book''<ref name="cthomp" /> *''Nahkawewin'' recordings<ref name="cthomp" /> *''Saulteaux Talking Books'' series<ref name="cthomp" /> *''First Edition Saulteaux Dictionary''<ref name="cthomp" /> *''Anihsinape-Apinoci Nakamowinan: Children's Saulteaux Songs and Nursery Rhymes''<ref name="cthomp" />
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *[https://www.nccie.ca/knowledge-space/indigenous-governance/margaret-cote/ National Centre for Collaboration in Indigenous Education interview with Cote]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Cote, Margaret}} Category:Indigenous Canadian women academics Category:First Nations women writers Category:Brandon University alumni Category:University of Regina alumni Category:Academic staff of the University of Regina Category:Linguists of Algic languages Category:1950 births Category:2021 deaths Category:Saulteaux people Category:First Nations academics Category:20th-century Canadian women writers Category:21st-century Canadian non-fiction writers Category:Canadian women non-fiction writers Category:Cote First Nation Category:21st-century Canadian women writers Category:20th-century Canadian historians Category:Canadian women academics Category:20th-century Canadian linguists Category:21st-century linguists