Former Kits landmark becomes Squamish Nation Language Nest
Syexwáliya picked up a few words of Squamish as a girl from her grandfather, but was forbidden from speaking it out loud lest she be beaten, as her mother and grandmothers had been for speaking their native language.
So to step inside a new language immersion school on Squamish Nation for the first time was a moment of joy.
The Language Nest — TD Tsíptspi7lhḵn in Sḵwx̱ wú7mesh, in the Squamish language — will mark the first time the language program for babies and toddlers will have its own dedicated space. The program began in 2019 in shared space with Capilano Little Ones.
“Yewanha7ilh skwalwen,” Syexwáliya, also known as Ann Whonnock, said, “yewanha7lh skwalwen.” It means excellent heart and mind, and she can't wait for Squamish Nation's little ones to become the first in a couple of generations whose mother tongue will be Squamish.
“I learned words from my grandfather, and what he was teaching me about how we are supposed to be as people,” Whonnock said. “But I am not fluent because of what the residential schools did to my grandmother and my mother.”
The language school's philosophy is to create an immersion setting in a homelike environment for babies and their families.
The building is a 112-year-old former Kits landmark known as the little yellow school house, which was barged across Burrard Inlet to the North Shore before undergoing six months of renovations to officially open on Friday as the language program's first dedicated home.
The Squamish people were barged across Burrard Inlet, too, and sent to the North Shore around the time the school house was built, so Vancouver could expand.
Wakaystn Campbell, who turns two this weekend, was unaware of any symbolism. He was having a fabulous time exploring the new Language Nest, playing with toy fish and singing Sḵwx̱ wú7mesh nursery rhymes with his teachers.
Fifteen years ago, only 10 Sḵwx w̱ ú7mesh speakers remained. There are now 12 families with 18 babies in the program and the number of Sḵwx̱ wú7mesh speakers numbers more than 100.
“This building was moved from a place where people had an immense love for the building and the work that it did since 1912,” said Samaya Jardey, director of the Language Nest. “For a little bit of a different reason we, too, are so grateful to receive it on this side, to having it moved from the village of Senáḵw to have it come to Sḵwx ̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw.
“In a way it made its choice to be here, to be a part of the land and the language.”