My son heads off to kindergarten in September. Game-changer, friends say. You don’t get as much time as you think, say others. I can’t wait to learn to read, he says. What just happened to the past five years? I think. He will catch the school bus, from our driveway, through Mount Currie, to school. … Continue reading Stucum Wi: Wanosts’a7 Dr. Lorna Williams walks in wisdom, Part 2
When Mt Currie’s Xetólacw Community School was created in 1972, it was only the second Band-run school in all of Canada. Starting a school was literally a groundbreaking move for a First Nations community. Lorna Williams was one of a handful of community members, many of them parents with small children, many of them survivors of … Continue reading A warrior for Wisdom: talking with Wanosts’a7 Lorna Williams, Part 1
I’ve been meeting quite a few new folk around town lately, since joining a couple of clubs that have me socializing somewhat more than usual. My running group affords me up to an hour and a half, sometimes more of visiting time and one of the questions many newcomers have for me is “so, how … Continue reading Changes
Gloria Wallace has been recognized by the First Nations Education Steering Committee as a First Nations Language Champion. She was awarded a 2017 Community Education Leadership Award. via Lil'wat Nation Laverne Paul nominated Gloria for her vast contributions to the reclamation and preservation of Ucwalmícwts. Sekya7 Gloria Wallace is fluent in her traditional language of … Continue reading Congratulations to Líl̓watul Gloria Wallace for receiving the 2017 Community Education Leadership award from the First Nations Education Steering Committee for her work as a language champion
We're halfway through our 30 day immersion in local plant knowledge, and happily, I can now recognise the Coastal Douglas Fir by its gnarly-thick bark. Thanks to a great conversation with Dawn Johnson about the project, I also realise that it's okay to approach this kind of learning in small chunks. It won't all stick … Continue reading You are invited to unlock the landscape with language
Last month, I wrote that I believe in the power of naming things, and love learning the Lil'wat word for things. I also have a bit of a fetish for dictionaries, and have scooped a couple of them from the library's "weeded books" shelf lately. ("WHAT? They're THROWING OUT THE DICTIONARY?) There was a time … Continue reading POSTPONED Celebration: the Lil’wat Language Project and new dictionary, June 19, 5pm
CUYSTWÍ MALH UCWALMÍCWTS - Let's all go speak our Language! My 2 and 4 year old friends are learning Ucwalmicts at day-care. Ucwalmicts is the first language of the Lil’wat, and other Interior Salish people. Linguists, working together with Lil’wat, created a writing system with which the Lil’wat community is recording and teaching its language … Continue reading Word of the Week: Ucwalmicwts
Sunflower: séxem Listen to the pronunciation of séxem, here. (From the Lil'wat Community First Voices portal.)
It's June. The month of ripening. In Ucwalmicwts, the language of the Lil'wat, the word for June is:
The Wellness Almanac 