Kamloops This Week
Seventeen students at Thompson Rivers University are among the first to be certified to teach First Nations language and culture in public, private and First Nations schools.
The courses, taught by Mona Jules, were designed to introduce and immerse participants in the Secwepemctsin language.
Tk’emlups Indian Band Coun. Ed Jensen is also doing his part to bring back his culture.
He is writing down phrases he’d like to see in Secwepemctsin, to help him revive words such as those that explained the terminology of traditional knapping (the art of knapping stone into usable tools).
Those words and phrases in English have their own identity within Secwepemctsin.
“Language and terminology can be lost with the loss of tools, like arrowheads,” Jensen said.
As new technology was introduced to native culture, some of the language was left behind.
It’s elders like Mona Jules, Jensen said, who are the link to rescuing these lost words.