First Nations fight to preserve languages

[Leslie Saxon]

First Nations fight to preserve languages
								
				
				
				
					Wednesday October 26, 2011

											By Roxanne Stasyszyn
									


There are only two people left in the world who can fluently speak the
Tr¹ondek Hwech¹in First Nation¹s language.

And both elders, Percy Henry and Edward Roberts, are getting on in age,
said Jackie Olson, the aboriginal government¹s heritage director. ³We¹re
really feeling that crunch,² said Olson. ³We¹re at a critical point. We¹ve
been really brainstorming on how we can use the language on a more
everyday use and connect with the youth and our young people. We¹re trying
to think outside of the box.²

The heritage department, along with four children between the ages of
eight and 10 years old, made a movie. Angie Joseph-Rear, the First
Nation¹s language expert, collected and combined a few shorter traditional
stories to create a longer Story of the Crow. Together with a filmmaker,
the children then built sets and props and illustrated the story with an
11-minute film using claymation, animation, puppetry and stop-motion
techniques.

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