Musqueam language revival sparks cultural pride

Traditional, elegant language is "the heart and soul" of the Musqueam people

The critically endangered Musqueam language is becoming revitalized thanks to the collaborative efforts of UBC and members of the Musqueam community.

"This language has lived in people's hearts and minds for millennia," says Patricia Shaw, director of UBC's First Nations Language Program. "But once an oral tradition ceases to be passed on, revitalizing the language is neither swift nor easy."

Shaw, an associate professor of Linguistics, and Susan Blake, a UBC alumna and sessional instructor, teach the language of the Musqueam people -- on whose ancestral territory UBC is situated -- with Jill Campbell and Larry Grant, both Musqueam band members and adjunct professors in the Faculty of Arts. All classes take place at the Elders Centre on the reserve.

Grant, a retired longshoreman, took the course to re-learn the language he had stopped using 50 years ago. He now teaches to help spark a reawakening among young people about their culture.

"This is a sophisticated language," he says. " I want young people to stand up and say `I am aboriginal and this is my language.' It's not savage, it's the product of a highly sophisticated society."

Grant has been impressed that urban aboriginals, even those from other parts of Canada, start to re-identify and re-connect with their culture as they become more confident in the language.

Campbell started learning the language while working as a homemaker for a Musqueam elder. She has been involved in the program for four years.

"This language is at the heart and soul of people's identity," she says. "It helps to give a deeper understanding of the people who first lived here."

Understanding the language offers a connection to the past, she says, because it becomes possible to appreciate the origins of words and traditional place names used by elders.

Only one fluent speaker remains in the Musqueam community, 91 year-old Adeline Point, and instructors visit her regularly to learn from her extensive knowledge of the language.

Musqueam is one of 26 surviving First Nations languages in BC. Six ancestral BC languages are extinct. At class celebrations, students talk about how important it is to them to finally know and speak their language.

"It's extremely moving to listen to these testimonials," says Shaw who adds that working with the community and elders has been a privilege.

The program has offered a three-year sequence of university-level classes since 1996 to classes ranging up to 40 people. Students are members of the Musqueam or other First Nations communities as well as non-native students of linguistics, Canadian Studies or other subjects.

Instructors use an interactive format of plays, word games and demonstrations of traditional activities such as fishnet mending, to help students learn the language. In addition, an alphabet using English and phonetic characters is used.

Fourth-year Arts student Miranda Huron has completed the first-year language class and reports that the community at Musqueam is "unbelievably friendly and welcoming." She is also impressed by the complementary styles of teaching.

Community involvement beyond the classroom is vitally important to language revitalization, says Shaw. Kids are already seeking Musqueam translations of soccer terms to use for coded plays out on the field. Other community members are collaborating on language research, pre-school and grade-school materials and adult oral fluency programs.

For more information about the courses contact Shaw at 604-822-6481 or Faye Mitchell, Musqueam band education director at 604-263-3261.