Paul Bickford
Northern News Services

Fort Resolution (Nov 04/02) - Georgina Biscaye is working to save the Chipewyan language in Fort Resolution.

She is a member of a group that is working towards preservation, but Biscaye knows meeting their goal will involve long-term, constant work.

Georgina Biscaye is the community contact person with the Deninu Kue Chipewyan Language Working Group in Fort Resolution. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

News/North: Why was the Chipewyan Language Working Group formed?

Georgina Biscaye: This group originally started in January of 2000. It was recognized that our language and our culture was being lost in the community.

N/N: Why did you get involved personally?

GB: Well, I didn't realize how much culture and language was being lost in the community. Not so much culture, but the language ... I'd never worked on languages before. All my sisters work on languages. I got involved two years ago and I find it is fascinating. I enjoy doing all the work that I do. I do all the proposal writing, all the report writing. We have regular meetings because the group is so large now. We started off with nine members, and there are 31 or 32 members now. They're all volunteers.

N/N: What makes this one of the most successful language groups in the NWT?

GB: I think it's successful here because of the number of elders that are involved. They overlook everything.

They come in everyday to visit the place. If there is a meeting in Hay River or some place, they'll go out there and they'll attend the meeting. When we first started working on this group, I told them we have to do presentations to let everybody know who we are. So we visited the community and then we went outside the community. A lot of the projects were successful because of the commitment made by the volunteer members, like with the fundraising. They donate baked goods.

I think a large part of the success has been the involvement with the elders and working with the elders.

It's very simple and straightforward. When I ask them what they think of a decision on something, I get a decision right there. There's no waiting or tabling it. Everything is dealt with at the table right there.

N/N: What is the involvement of youth?

GB: We have three youth members on the committee ... I also found out that some of the youth do understand a little bit of Chipewyan, but they're ashamed to speak it because they think they'd be laughed at.

N/N: Why would they think that?

GB: Because of mispronunciation. So people said at one of our workshops not to laugh at anybody who tries to speak the language. They say teach one Chip word a day, and after 365 days you will have 365 words.

N/N: What other problems do you have to overcome to preserve the Chipewyan language in Fort Resolution?

GB: I don't think I had to overcome too many difficulties. The community is involved in all our projects. The youth are involved. We have a youth carnival and a youth culture camp. We do things for the youth and the elders, and they participate.

N/N: How do you gauge the success of the language working group?

GB: At the beginning when we first said we were going to bring the language back, we decided on posting it all over the community. That's why we have Chipewyan street signs and all the buildings are labelled in Chipewyan. You go into the office complex and there's one side of the wall with a bunch of Chipewyan words. So what we're doing is exposing it as much as possible.

Our resource centre is located in such a good area, too. We're renting this building off the St. Joseph Parish. It's close to the Northern and people are always dropping by. On cold days, our door is always open. We always have coffee and tea on, and the place is always warm. A lot of people come around.

N/N: Does the working group's office operate mostly in Chipewyan?

GB: Our answering machine starts off in Chipewyan. When the elders are here, we speak Chipewyan with them.

N/N: What are the goals of the group?

GB: Our five-year goals were completed in two years. Our goal was to help people recognize our Chipewyan identity. People are starting to recognize that they do have an identity and it is Chipewyan. We're not English. We're not French. We're Chipewyan. A lot of the people are starting to recognize that. And because we have things like traditional activities going on, the youth are becoming more exposed to it and more curious and more interested. They say language is culture and culture is language. So eventually the two will fit together. Like, one of the ways Chipewyan is taught to the young ladies is through cooking, sewing and dry meat making. The same thing with the young men. It used to be through hunting and fishing and trapping that they were taught the language and the culture.

N/N: What are some of the things the working group has done in the last two years?

GB: We've done a lot of work. We've had a medical terminology workshop. We've had an environmental terminology workshop. We had a literacy workshop to introduce the community to the alphabet, the sounds and the vowels of Chipewyan. We're going to have more of those. We have Chipewyan hymns and Chipewyan prayers. We did a legends collection.

N/N: Can other communities in the NWT learn from what you've accomplished in Fort Resolution?

GB: I think they could do it. You just have to be really dedicated to it. I worked for a period where I was a volunteer like everybody else. You have to have a whole group of people together who want to do it. You have to have a community that wants this. I think it could be done in any community.

N/N: What makes it different in Fort Resolution in that so many people became involved?

GB: It was recognized that we were losing our culture and language here. This is one of the oldest communities in the Northwest Territories, so you can imagine how much was lost over time. It started in the late 1700s when the first Europeans started coming here for the fur trade. All the way, there is a little something lost. I mean, we're losing a lot of elders every year. There's a lot of knowledge that's going away from us that we can't bring back if you don't take some action right now.

N/N: How important is it to you personally to preserve the Chipewyan language and culture?

GB: For me personally, I think it's very important. I feel really bad that my own daughter doesn't speak the language. She understands it and she can say a few words. My nieces and nephews can say one or two words, but not a whole sentence. I think it's really important for our youth to be proud of being Chipewyan and be very proud of being able to speak the language, whether it's being mispronounced or not. In 10 years from now, I'll be so proud if some kid comes up to me and tells me something in Chipewyan.

N/N: How many people speak Chipewyan in Fort Resolution?

GB: According to the 1996 statistics, there was only 36 per cent of community members who spoke Chipewyan. But that was in 1996.

N/N: Has the percentage gone down since then?

GB: It might have because the majority at that time were elders and adults speaking the language. No youth at all.

N/N: Are there any youth in Fort Resolution now speaking Chipewyan?

GB: Not that I'm aware of. It's almost like English is the first language. It isn't just Fort Resolution. It's all over the Northwest Territories, people are losing their language. If you lose your language, you lose your identity and it's almost like you adopt a new identity.