Winnipeg tech company creates Ojibway ‘Netflix’

A Winnipeg company has launched a TV app with programming all in Ojibway.

Ogoki Learning Inc. created Ojibway TV, which it describes as a mix of YouTube and Netflix for Ojibway speakers.

“Just like you would be at home and you would load up Netflix, you want to watch some wonderful movies you can do the same thing with this Ojibway app,” creator Darrick Baxter said. “We’ve created all our original programming, we’ve created some cartoons for the app. We also have speakers from around the Ojibway territory that are contributing their videos to the app and we are constantly creating content.”

Frank Beaulieu is an Indigenous teacher and voice actor. He’s starring in the new cartoon for the app called Frankie and Friends following a fun loving squirrel going on adventures.

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“Frankie has got a lot of friends. And it’s in the animal world. They all communicate and respect each other. And all the teachings that go along with Frankie’s friends,” he said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Frankie has got a lot of friends. And it's in the animal world. They all communicate and respect each other. And all the teachings that go along with Frankie's friends," he said.

Everything from the scripts to animation are all being done at the studio by Polo Park. It’s all done on a program that matches the animation character to the facial expressions and movements of the voice actor.

The goal of the app is to teach and preserve Indigenous languages.

“We can teach language by identifying the object, we can teach language by identifying the scenes and also speak in an immersive way. I think that’s the key to teaching,” Baxter said.

If all goes well Baxter hopes even teachers in the classroom will want to show the videos.

“Within the school, a teacher may be able to load up the Ojibway app on the smart board and they can watch Ojibway TV. So instead of watching some other program in English, they can actually watch it in the Ojibway language so that will be a huge boost to the teachers,” he said.

The app officially launched in December with hopes more people would contribute their own content to the app.

“What we’re doing is basically scouring YouTube, we’re looking over Vimeo, we’re looking over Facebook posts and we want that Viral-type Ojibway language content. So we’re actively going and seeking content from content producers,” Baxter said.