Chinook Wawa Interview And An Aboriginal Perspective
April 20th, 2020
This is likely the first video interview in British Columbia conducted in Chinook Wawa. Prof. Jay Powell is the last remaining speaker of this aboriginal trade language that was widely used on the west coast by both native and non-native people. He has devoted his life to revitalizing First Nations languages and here is interviewed by one of his students Sam Sullivan. Sullivan and several other students have created the BC Chinook Wawa Revitalization Initiative and its website BCChinookWawa.ca. They are searching for people willing to put the time and energy into learning the language so this video interview will not be the last.
Most observations on early British Columbia has come to us through the eyes of Europeans. But there is a letter by several First Nations Chiefs from 1910 that is not filtered by contemporary people. This video is about this document that was written to Prime Minister Laurier and speaks highly of their relationship they had with the Hudson’s Bay Company and very unhighly of their treatment by the democracy that followed. It features a call to action that is still relevant today. “Let us make each other great and good”.
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