BRENTWOOD BAY, B.C. - The First Peoples’ Cultural Council (First Peoples’) has received the 2012 Award of Excellence – Cultural Heritage and Diversity category – from the Representative for Children and Youth. Recognized for "supporting and building a unique sense of place, culture, language and community while preparing a better path for children," First Peoples’ has assisted First Nations communities in B.C. in efforts to revitalize their arts, languages and cultures for more than two decades.
"We’re honoured to accept this prestigious award," said First Peoples’ Executive Director, Tracey Herbert. "And we share it with the dedicated communities, with whom we partner to make this work possible. The success of language revitalization work depends on the engagement of all members of a community, from its Elders – who are often the only fluent speakers – to the children who will carry a language forward for generations to come."
First Peoples’ has developed a number of innovative tools and resources for all ages, often combining new media and technologies with in-person learning and more traditional methods. Just a few programs and resources targeted directly to children and youth are:
- Language nests: nurturing immersion programs for children aged 0-5 and their parents;
- Language and culture camps: multi-generational camps that facilitate the transmission of traditional knowledge and values while also nurturing the connection with the land, and
- FirstVoices and FirstVoices Kids: a multi-faceted initiative that allows communities to record and archive their languages using the latest technology and apps. Games and activities for children can then be created from the archive.
"Language Nests are an important first step in getting our young people involved and interested in their heritage," says Robert Matthew, Principal of Chief Atahm School. "We are so grateful to First Peoples’ for making this early work possible. In addition to preparing them for language learning in later years, we find children who go through the nests to be more confident and better prepared socially when they start school."
Award winners will be honoured at a celebratory luncheon on November 22, 2012 at the Chief and Petty Officers’ Mess, CFB Esquimalt in Victoria from 12 pm to 3 pm. First Peoples’ shares the Cultural Heritage and Diversity award with a Burnaby Public Library initiative celebrating diversity through songs and rhymes in 15 languages.
