FIRST PEOPLES' LANGUAGES AND CULTURE
THE HIGHEST OF PRIORITIES
A language long associated with the culture is best able to most exactly, most richly, with appropriate overtones, [relay] the concerns, artefacts, values and interests of that culture. Fishman, 1996
Language is the cedar canoe which carries culture and healthy ways of living for its people.
In this canoe, elder and youth can be together and we will understand one another – we can find the right words and we can move forward. If the elder speaks one language and the youth speaks another – they do not have much in common. Without a common language, we journey separately – we don’t know the right words so we stop talking and we become isolated from each other. When we are isolated, it is only a matter of time before someone becomes lost. If many individuals are lost – it does not take much time and a whole community can become lost. We all must stay close together to speak and listen to one another and to share our culture as we paddle on our journey. We all must work together to make sure the precious things we carry in this canoe are delivered to the next generation as intact as possible. In this way, we give our greatest gift to our children, their children, and the generations to come – we give them who we have been and who we are now - and we give them hope for a good life in the future.
Links to important web resouces
First Voices - Celebrating Language and Indigenous Cultures
First Peoples' Language Map of BC
Xwi7xwa Library at UBC, First Nations Languages
First Voices - Celebrating Language and Indigenous Cultures
First Peoples' Language Map of BC
