By Cheryl Jahn

Lheidli T’enneh documenting language

Jun 21, 2023 | 3:06 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – The Lheidli T’enneh are embarking on their own venture to document their own language; a significant part of their culture.

“It also ties us to our own stories,” says Josh Seymour with the Lheidli T’enneh. “So the legends that our elders used to share and the stories themselves are significant timeline pinpoints, but their own death count. So in order to understand those stories, we have to understand our language. And then once we start listening to the stories and tying it to timelines of things, we can actually that that goes towards things like strength of the claim.”

This concept of digital storytelling is not new, but it is unique in terms of inter-generational involvement. It’s something Nolan Allan has been spending a lot of time doing.

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“We got to digitize a lot of Fort St. James area’s language, says Allan. “They had some stuff on that got to scan a lot of photos and books they made, like in the eighties and seventies. There’s a lot of recording. There’s just a lot of like media they made that we can adapt today.”

And for Nolan, digitizing the old forms of media was a bit of an educational experience. “When I was growing up like we learn words, but we never really heard a lot of conversation for myself unless it was at the Potlatch or Balhats. We heard a bit of it there, but like at home I never really heard like in conversation and never heard it that much.”

The Lejac residential school just west of here operated from 1922 to 1976. It was an entire generation for whom their language was forbidden.

“It makes that bringing that culture back to life very difficult,” says Seymour. “There’s no fault of their own. We all know where to point the fault of that, that specific trauma. But when it comes to language revitalization, we’re not blaming anyone. We’re not coming from a place of guilt. We’re taking that responsibility to ensure that we are going to do everything we can as leadership for the people to ensure that our people do learn and understand our language, no matter the level they may be, whether they’re beginners or advanced.”

Seymour says, in many senses, that generation does not want to talk about those experiences but he feels, they appreciate the efforts of the generations that follow.

“We’ve lost a lot of our culture in that one generation. And it’s our way to trying to save every component that we can, every shred of the English language that we can to ensure that when my grandchildren are born and they have children, the remnants of our ancestors are still within them. Whether they can get back the old stories or not, they will always be clear.”