Fort Resolution (Oct 18/04) - Ronald McKay is helping keep aboriginal culture alive in two ways.

McKay is a carver and, in July, became the language co-ordinator of the Fort Resolution Chipewyan Language Working Group.

Ronald McKay is a carver and the language co-ordinator with the Fort Resolution Chipewyan Language Working Group. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

"The primary goal of our organization is to promote the Chipewyan language and develop any resource we can to keep it alive," he says.

That includes such things as pronunciation guidelines, he says.

McKay, who is Metis, volunteered with the organization after attending a workshop in 2002 on writing the Chipewyan language.

This summer, he was asked to become language co-ordinator.

"It kind of fell into my lap," he says.

His goal is to get more of the community involved and to provide as many learning material as possible.

"I feel any job is like a wheelbarrow: you've got to push it to make it work," he says.

Language gap

McKay, 49, says his generation can help bridge the language gap between elders and youth. "I think the younger generation has lost (the language), and the people of my generation are the key."

While almost all elders speak Chipewyan, he estimates 30-35 per cent of people in their 30s and 40s speak fluent Chipewyan. Among teenagers and those in their 20s, he says less than 10 per cent can speak or understand it.

McKay grew up in Fort Resolution speaking Chipewyan and didn't learn English until he started school.

He also lived in Pine Point and Yellowknife, before returning to his home town in 1989.

About that time, he completed a public and business administration program at Aurora College and got involved in community development.

Buffalo signature

McKay says he has been carving since he was a child, but became more interested in the art about nine years ago.

"My signature piece would be a buffalo," he says.

Carving more or less became his full-time occupation about two years ago and his work has been displayed at festivals and fall fairs in Inuvik, Hay River and Yellowknife.

"I'm slowly getting some exposure," he says.

McKay, who once worked as a guide on Great Slave Lake, also carves fishing trophies to encourage catch-and-release, explaining more fishermen would likely release a large fish if they could have a trophy in its place.