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An 'historic' book launch
Fort Resolution celebrates
new Chipewyan dictionaryPaul Bickford Northern News Services Published Friday, March 30, 2012
"I see this as an historic event," said Jackson Lafferty, the minister of Education, Culture and Employment, who was on hand for the special occasion. Lafferty said the new dictionary will be used in Fort Resolution and across the North. "It is imperative that we revitalize our language," he said, noting the GNWT contributed $92,000 to the project, which was an initiative of the South Slave Divisional Education Council (SSDEC) and also involved the Dene Cultural Institute. The finished product is very impressive – a hardcover book featuring English-to-Chipewyan translations of upwards of 6,000 words and a CD so people can hear how words are pronounced. Plus, there is vibrant colour photography of the people, culture, natural surroundings and scenes of Fort Resolution. Lafferty praised the eight elders from Fort Resolution who participated in the project. "We're going to carry on your tradition, your knowledge, your wisdom, your work," he said, noting their efforts will have an impact for many years to come. The elders who participated are Denise McKay, Lawrence Fabien, Tom Unka, Harvey Mandeville, Christine Fabien, Mary Jane Beaulieu, Freddie King and Henry Calumet. King, 82, expects the new dictionary will be good for children and help keep the language alive. "It was a lot of work," he said of the project. Denise McKay, 76, agreed it was a lot of work to come up with the right translations. "I think that it's going to help the kids a lot once they have this dictionary," she said. Dan Summers, principal of Deninu School, praised the elders' efforts on the dictionary. "It's an absolutely wonderful book that will be used for generations," Summers said. Garry Bailey, mayor of the Hamlet of Fort Resolution and president of the Fort Resolution Metis Council, called the dictionary a special gift for the children of the community. "The language is the basis of our Chipewyan culture and we have to speak the language in order to be heard," Bailey noted. Tom Beaulieu, MLA for Tu Nedhe and the minister of Health and Social Services, said the new dictionary is going to be very positive and the timing is perfect. "It's going to improve the language," Beaulieu said. The MLA recalled how residential schools, including the one in Fort Resolution, were responsible for almost destroying the language. "A dictionary like this is going to bring back the language to the community," he said. Brent Kaulback, assistant superintendent with the SSDEC and the driving forces behind the dictionary, said it will create a momentum for change in the community, noting that in some cases children will even help their parents recover their language. Kaulback told students that the dictionary is a gift from elders. "There's nothing more powerful than the gift of language," he said, noting the young people have the responsibility to become fluent in the language and, in time, pass it on to their own children. Kaulback noted the project has been in the works for almost three years, with the meetings of the elders starting in January of 2010. The book is more than just a dictionary, he explained. "It's not just words. We have phrases. We have sentences. We have conversations in there." In particular, he noted the CD allows users to click on a word and hear how it is pronounced. At the dictionary's launch, copies were distributed to every family to take home. Kaulback noted the SSDEC is now looking to identify funding to create a similar dictionary for the Lutsel K'e dialect of the Chipewyan language. In fact, he hopes such a project might begin as early as September, depending on funding. In the meantime, Kaulback said the new dictionary for the Fort Resolution dialect of Chipewyan can be used in Lutsel K'e, although there are some differences in words between the two communities.
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