Prophet River First Nation launches Beaver language campaign on Facebook

PROPHET RIVER, B.C. —  Prophet River First Nation (PRFN) has launched a social media campaign displaying a “word of the day” on Facebook.

Beginning in February 2024, the posts display words in the Beaver language of the Dane-Zaa people.

According to Curtis Dickie, cultural coordinator for PRFN, they attempt to make each entry topical and related to a specific theme.

“We try to align words to go with the season,” said Dickie. “With it being winter, we’ve gone through words such as cold and snow. But today, I posted lhaahtsech’ii (pronounced ihaat-se-ch’ii), which is the word for five. It could be anything any day.”

Dickie says the social media campaign is part of a plan the First Nation has for revitalizing language and culture, which will include participation from all Indigenous communities within northeast B.C.

The words posted on social media are from the First Voices website run by the First People’s Cultural Council (FPCC).

Dickie credits Doig River First Nation (DRFN) for doing the “heavy lifting” in revitalizing the Beaver language.

“We credit Doig River for that,” said Dickie. “There’s a lot of content from Doig River on the [First Voices] website.”

“One of the desires for our culture and language was to create this word of the day campaign,” said Dickie. “The [First Voices] website allows you to hear the word and to see it. We utilize DRFN’s dialect in our posts. It’s an amazing tool to have.”

Dickie also feels posting a Beaver word of the day can connect others who have left the community of PRFN for other areas.

“The era of reconciliation and revitalization and those languages, this is in the forefront,” said Dickie. “Having a large portion of PRFN living off reserve, we can only reach them through social media. This idea has a bright future.”

Dickie says there are plans to post ‘word of the day’ campaigns on other social media sites as well.

Word of the day posts, such as how to say ‘windy’, ‘meat’, and ‘yellow’  can be found on PRFN’s Facebook page.
For those looking to learn more about the Beaver language, Doig River First Nation is hosting a two-day event at Northern Lights College in Fort St. John on March 14th and 15th titled, Reawakening our Language: A Gathering to Honour First Peoples Language Revitalization.

The event will be the first of its kind in northeast B.C. and will feature workshops, keynote speakers and a ceremonial tea dance.