Sto:lo Nation deploys FirstVoices iPhone app in fight to keep Halq'eméylem language alive

Thelma Wenman knows all too well that the language of her people is dangerously close to extinction.

For 14 years, the 50-year-old Chehalis resident has worked to preserve and revitalize Halq'eméylem, which is spoken by members of the Sto:lo Nation in the Fraser Valley.

“Without your language, you have no cultural identity,” Wenman said during an interview in the Georgia Straight offices. “In order to be xwélmexw, you have to speak it.”

Wenman is the coordinator of the Sto:lo Shxweli Halq'eméylem Language Program, which develops resources to help people learn the language.

On December 15, she celebrated the launch of the latest tool in their effort—a free iPhone and iPod Touch application.

Developed by the First Peoples’ Heritage, Language and Culture Council—Wenman sits on the provincial Crown corporation’s advisory committee—the Halq'eméylem FirstVoices app features a dictionary and phrase collection, along with audio recordings and images.

(A FirstVoices mobile app is also available for SENĆOŦEN, which is spoken by First Nations on southern Vancouver Island, and apps for several other First Nations communities are planned.)

“So many people have these devices now,” Jared Deck, who works with the Sto:lo language program, told the Straight by phone from his Chilliwack office. “Just to install the app is so easy, and you have a little dictionary in your pocket. That’s pretty cool.”

The council’s Report on the Status of B.C. First Nations Languages 2010 estimates that fewer than five people—all in their 70s to 90s—are fluent speakers of Halq'eméylem, which is the upriver dialect of the Salish language Halkomelem.

“Many Sto:lo communities and Sto:lo Nation members are racing against time and working hard to preserve and revitalize their language,” the report, released in April, states. “Sto:lo Nation members have shown great desire and motivation, but language materials and classes are not able to meet the popular demand.”

The Sto:lo Nation is composed of 11 bands—Aitchelitz, Le’qamel, Matsqui, Popkum, Skawahlook, Skowkale, Shxwha:y, Squiala, Sumas, Tzeachten, and Yakweakwioose—with a combined population of over 2,000.

According to Wenman, the Sto:lo Nation began digitally archiving Halq'eméylem almost a decade ago.

Now, they’ve archived 2,087 words and 533 phrases on the FirstVoices language website, which also hosts Halq'eméylem word games.

As well, Deck noted, storybooks, CD-ROMs, a wiki, and other resources have been developed.

These days, Sto:lo children have the opportunity to learn Halq'eméylem all the way from Head Start preschool programs to Grade 12 classes in public schools. In addition, Halq'eméylem courses are available at the University of the Fraser Valley and Nicola Valley Institute of Technology.

“With us there should be and there is no politics as far as the language is concerned,” Wenman said. “So, we have a strong working relationship with all the bands in our territory in our revitalization efforts.”

From her perspective, efforts to preserve and revitalize First Nations languages deserve more funding from government.

“When a lot of our elders and parents went to residential school, they got the language raped from them,” Wenman said. “These governments should be putting back now in our efforts to revitalize the language.”

There are reasons to be both optimistic and worried about the future of Halq'eméylem, Wenman and Deck agreed.

“Fluency is iffy at the rate we’re going,” Deck said. “But I think there will definitely be lots of knowledge about the language, and lots of people will be able to speak a little bit. But as far as total fluency, it’s tough to say.”

You can follow Stephen Hui on Twitter at twitter.com/stephenhui.