DOUGLAS NEWS BRIEFS |

Beyond Uganda: Using the
Media for Social Change
Kelly Parry, Douglas College Media
Writer

With her intrinsic social
conscience, entrepreneurial spirit and
business savvy, Alison Lawton has
dedicated her career to working on
human rights issues. Lawton is Founder
and Director of Mindset Media, a
not-for-profit society specializing in
funding and producing communications
and campaigns that generate public
awareness and social change on
issues that have not previously been
adequately covered by mainstream
media.

Lawson began her career in private
equity sales at Investor First Financial
Corporation where she specialized in
film, television and real estate. In 1997,
she founded Winfield Venture Group, an
angel investment and corporate finance
boutique. Under her leadership, the

organization has grown strategically into
a social venture capital firm investing

in the development of non-profit
organizations, specifically focusing on
child rights initiatives.

As an outspoken advocate, organizer
and producer, Alison has been involved
with many local and international
projects. In addition to completing
the award winning film UGANDA
RISING, Alison recently funded a short
film to raise awareness about children
with HIV/AIDS for UNICEF. Join
Alison as she explores the possibility
of mobilizing change via social justice
communications systems.

The presentation takes place
Thursday March 29th, Thursday from
6:30 to 8:30 p.m. in the Douglas College
Boardroom (4920) New Westminster
Campus (700 Royal Avenue, New
Westminster, one block from the New
West SkyTrain Station). There is free
admission, but limited space. Please call
604-527-5440 to register.

Writers Can Make History this

Summer
Kelly Parry, Douglas College Media
Writer

Aspiring writers seeking to create
the great historical novel can now hone
their skills at Douglas College.

The College’s Summer Institute
in Historical Fiction brings history
to life in a customized program that
combines studies of historical fiction
and techniques in creative writing.

“This unique program is designed
for people who want to immerse
themselves in their passion for
historical fiction,” says Creative
Writing Chair, Mary Burns.

The Institute combines two courses,
Studies in Fiction, an English literature
offering, and Introduction to Historical
Fiction Writing, from the Creative
Writing department, so that students
can study models of historical fiction as
well as write their own.

“Students begin by analyzing and
discussing historical novels and short
stories. They then practice what they’ ve
learned. Writing students may draw
inspiration from any historical period
they wish,” says Burns.

Classes run consecutively, on a single
day, with time set aside for special
events, featured speakers and field trips.

The Summer Institute runs for 13
consecutive Fridays from May 11 to
August 3, at the New Westminster
campus. The class size is limited and
early application is advised. To find
our more about the Summer Institute in
Historical Fiction contact Burns at 604-
527-5289 burnsm @douglas.bc.ca or
www.douglas.bc.ca/programs/creative-
writing.

 

Old Languages, New Techniques

UVic linguists take part in project to save First Nations languages

Rosemary Westwood, The Martlet (University of Victoria)

VICTORIA (CUP)
When Andy Paul
attended classes at the
Tsartlip Indian Day
School in Saanich, near
Victoria, B.C., he was
taught English instead
of his native tongue of
Sencoten.

Now, he estimates that
there are only 12 to 14
fluent speakers of the
language left— mostly
elders —after the
community lost two
speakers in the last two
weeks.

“No matter how you deal with the
language, it’s always on an urgent time
clock,” Paul said. With the knowledge
residing in elders, Paul has an ever-
diminishing window of time to preserve
and revitalize Sencoten.

Now in his 40s, Paul is a coordinator
for a project that partners the University
of Victoria linguistics department
and First Nations communities to
revitalize two Vancouver Island First
Nations languages: Sencoten and
Hul’q’umi’num’.

The project, which began in 2004
and reached its halfway mark last June,
includes working with technology
to increase the accessibility of the
language, such as the creation of

anguage-learning DVDs.

Recorded and written materials

e being collected to create a sort of
anguage library. Mentorship programs
or both Sencoten and Hul’q’umi’num’

team fluent speakers with intermediate
speakers.

“There’s a whole world of
knowledge — of ecological knowledge,
of how to live your life—that is encoded
in Sencoten,” said Suzanne Urbanczyk,
UVic linguist and acting director for
the project. As a current student of
Sencoten, she said elders have told her
that once you learn the language, “those
teachings will stay inside of you.”

But first you must learn the language.
One of the most important aspects of the
Sencoten side of the project is the work
of Earl Claxton Sr., who received an
honorary degree from UVic last fall for
his work to revitalize the language.

Claxton is working with Urbanczyk
to create grammar rules to be organized
into teaching materials that make
Sencoten easy to understand.

Claxton is a “natural linguist,”
though he has no formal linguistics
training, according to Urbanczyk.

Sencoten was traditionally spoken

 

on the southern tip of Vancouver Island
and, during the summer, on the Gulf
Islands. Hul’q’umi’num’ is the shared
language of six First Nations on the.
Urbanczyk emphasized that the three
UVic linguists working on the project
are not the ones in charge.

“The elders and the community
members know what should be done,”
she said, “and then we try to work with
them on developing projects together.”

This may not sound revolutionary,
but the history of linguistic research in
First Nations communities has, to put
it in Urbanczyk’s words, “not been the
very best.”

“Tt’s very often that a researcher
will go in, do their work, have their
own questions and then leave and take
all their material with them,” she said.
“We’re doing things differently.”

“Rather than wringing elders out
like a rag and extracting language as if
they are a scientific project, it’s sitting
down and realizing that without the

language, we don’t
have a project,”

said Paul. “You’re
never on par with the
elders.”

It was only when
Paul entered high
school in the 1970s
that he gained access
to his language
through a movement
in the community to
preserve Sencoten.

“Not knowing
my language as a
child seemed like
a mystery,” he said. “The impact is
immense. You understand at quite
a young age that there’s something
wrong.”

Paul said that preserving his and
other First Nations languages is not only
for the good of the community but also
for the good of all people who live in
the region.

“Each word and phrase, and the
complete language, are keys to living in
the region in which we live,” said Paul.

The project is part of a province-
wide push to record and revitalize
First Nations languages. First Voices,

a website that began in B.C., archives
First Nations languages across Canada
and provides online learning and
teaching tools.

Sencoten and Hul’q’umi’num’ are
two of the 13 languages archived on the
site. Thirty-two First Nations languages
exist in B.C., making up 60 per cent of
Canada’s First Nations languages.

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