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CRANBROOK – A $100,000 grant from Network BC will help preserve the unique Ktunaxa language, Labour and Citizens’ Services Minister Olga Ilich announced today.
The funding will enable the Ktunaxa
Nation Council (KNC) to record, archive and preserve its language using
FirstVoices, a suite of web-based tools and services
developed by the First Peoples’ Cultural Foundation and supported by the
federal and provincial governments.
“Network BC was created to help connect B.C.
communities,” said Ilich. “With education and the creative use of information
technology, we are connecting communities with each other and with their past.
In this way, future generations of Ktunaxa can connect with elements of their
language and culture that might otherwise be lost.”
The KNC and the recently-launched Ktunaxa Nation Network intend to create online radio and web-casting programs, new instructional materials, and a language curriculum to be used by students, employees and community members.
“Our language is what binds us as a people,” said Ktunaxa Tribal Chief Sophie Pierre. “We must give our children every opportunity to carry on our beliefs and traditions in our own language. This project will help us preserve the Ktunaxa language and pass along our Elders’ knowledge to future generations.”
“There is an immediate need to preserve the critically endangered Ktunaxa language,” said Don Maki, director of traditional knowledge and language for the Ktunaxa Nation. “The language of the Ktunaxa is a language isolate and is unique among North American First Nations. It does not have the benefits of many other languages that have the same root with different dialects over a wider population base.”
Face-to-face
language training has been difficult, as Ktunaxa Nation communities are spread
out over approximately 70,000 square kilometres. The Ktunaxa people have
occupied the lands adjacent to the Kootenay and Columbia Rivers and the Arrow
lakes of B.C. for more than 10,000 years. Five of the seven bands that make up
the Ktunaxa Nation are in B.C. The others are in Montana and Idaho.
Network BC supports the use of technology to preserve and revitalize First Nations languages throughout British Columbia. Information about Ktunaxa Nation Council language preservation activities can be found at www.ktunaxa.org online. Information on FirstVoices is available at www.firstvoices.com.
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contact: |
Communications Director Ministry of Labour and Citizens’ Services 250 387-2699 |
Communications Manager Ktunaxa Nation Council 250 417-4022 |
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For more information on government services or to subscribe to the Province’s news feeds using RSS, visit the Province’s website at www.gov.bc.ca. |
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