On July 3rd, our class was given the opportunity to visit the pit house with Jennifer Pighin and Lheidli T’enneh Elder Edie Frederick. Not only is Edie a fascinating person, she holds so much knowledge of the Dakelh language and local culture. As we begin to learn more about Dakelh and the value it holds on this land, it was so meaningful to have Edie with us as one of the only fluent Dakelh speakers (there are only a few others). During our walk toward the pit house, Edie would tell a story and share information about different plants, animals, and natural resources. Our walk was through Forests for the World, a beautiful stretch of forest that leads to Shane Lake. Though I didn’t grow up in Prince George, Forests for the World is one of the first places that I visited and felt a real connection to. I think holding these conversations on this land made it that much more powerful.
When we reached the pit house, we were allowed the opportunity to explore a little before forming a circle to listen to Edie speak more, and share more stories. Edie talked about the power of schools keeping language alive, and she had hopes that SD57 would be able to bring Dakelh into the classroom and commit to the revitalization of this language. This really resonated with me, as my inquiry entering our 2nd language class was how to embed Dakelh language in a meaningful way. Edie talking about her hopes for us as educators and our contributions to our community was very inspiring and I left feeling very hopeful. Snachailya to Edie for speaking with our class and walking with us (even though it was only the day before that she had surgery on her foot!!).
Photo credit: Arnold Arboretum, Harvard
Edit: Since this post, Elder Edie Frederick has passed away tragically. Being one of the only living fluent Dakelh speakers, this is a major loss for not only our community, but for the efforts in language revitalization. This only sparks a fire to work even harder to bring Indigenous culture and language back to this land.
