10 www.northislandgazette.com
Wednesday, March 2, 2016
Wounded Warriors Run raises awareness
Tyson Whitney Photo From left to right, Port McNeill Councillor Graham MacDonald, Wounded Warriors Run BC Director Ron Mierau, Port McNeill Royal Canadian Legion President Grant Anderson, and Port McNeill Royal Canadian Legion Vice President Cliff Slack, hold up the signed Town of Port McNeill flag that the Wounded Warriors Run BC took with them on last years’ relay run down Vancouver Island. The flag was signed at the stops along the way. The group has the Village of Woss’ flag on this year’s run.
By Tyson Whitney Reporter The 3rd annual Wounded Warriors Run BC started bright and early at Carrot Park in Port Hardy on Monday, Feb. 22, and Rob Lamothe was one of the first runners to take off that morning. “The run went really well. It was dark this morning when we left. I had on lighting, but then the sun came up and it all changed,” said Lamothe. In order to provide increased public awareness and financial support for Wounded Warriors Canada, which is a non-profit organization that helps Canadian Forces members, serving and retired, who have been wounded or injured in their service to their country, the Wounded Warriors Run BC was created. The seven-day event features a team of dedicated runners who relay run the length of Vancouver Island. The first day of the relay is from
Port Hardy to Woss, which covers 104km, the second is from Woss to Sayward, a distance of 76km, the third is from Sayward to Campbell River, a distance of 58km, the fourth is from Campbell River to Comox, a distance of 58km, the fifth is from Comox to Nanaimo, a distance of 120km, the sixth is from Nanaimo to Mill Bay, a distance of 76km, and the seventh day is from Mill Bay to Victoria, a distance of 42km. When asked about what the Wounded Warriors Run means to him, Lamothe replied that he is “a serving member of the military, 34 years, and for me it’s a personal thing, a way to give back and help remove the stigma of PTSD and mental illness. “Invisible injuries still need to be treated. If people get the right help at the right time, then they can get back to a normal way of life, and in some cases even grow from the experience,” he said.
Kwak’wala language class proves popular By Kathy O’Reilly-Taylor Editor Students sit in a circle participating in a question and answer session. Witlas le? (Where are you going?) Widlas le? (Where are you?) Wixlas le? (Where were you?) The questions, and subsequent answers, are offered in Kwak’wala under the guidance of North Island College instructor Sara Hunt-Child who, with Elders and community, developed the course a year ago to bring the language to life in the community. There are 30 adult students enrolled in the Kwak’wala Language Course which is being offered, for the first time ever, at the Sacred Wolf Friendship Centre in Port Hardy. NIC Mount W a d d i n g t o n Campus Community Coordinator Caitlin Hartnett, who is also taking the course said there is a wait list for the next course. About a half-dozen elders, fluent in the language, help teach the course each week. Hunt-Child said each class starts out with some grammar instruction, before the students break into two groups where they play
games in an immersion setting and “we try to get them to stop using English.” What Hunt-Child is trying to do is “reawaken the part of their brain that hears and listens”, which allows them to learn how to speak the language. Teaching adults is different from teaching children, she explained. “With children we rarely teach them how to read and write. Even at the high school level, they’re more open to learning by listening and doing,” said HuntChild. The 14-week course will cover a wide variety of themes including greetings, social interaction, household activities, community, environment, wildlife, food harvesting and preparation and cultural activities which encompass the Kwakwaka’wakw way of life and will also give insight into how the language is essential to who the Kwakwaka’wakw people are. Students give similar reasons for why they have decided to take the course. For the non-aboriginal students, it is about showing courtesy and respect for their neighbours. Stacia Johnson is a language teacher at
Port Hardy Secondary School. She teaches English, French and Japanese and decided to take the course to show respect for, and to support, students in the community. Learning Kwak’wala also fits with new world views and aboriginal education curriculum being taught in School District #85 schools, Johnson said. And, “I love learning languages,” she added. “It’s just a reasonable thing for me to learn,” said Sylvie Giguire, who moved to the North Island from Montreal in December. The aboriginal people in the group are there because they want to learn to speak the language their ances-
tors spoke. Many of them did not grow up speaking Kwak’wala. W h e n Kwakwaka’wakw families moved from their villages to larger cities, or in the case of the Gwa’sala’Nakwaxda’xw people from their village to a reserve in a new location, English often became the main language being spoken in their homes, because it was the language that was needed in daily life. Eight weeks in, the students are making progress. Hartnett estimates her own vocabulary has grown fivefold - from 10 words to 50. For more information contact Student Services directly at: 250-949-7912.
Kathy O’Reilly-Taylor Photo North Island College instructor Sara Hunt-Child writes some Kwak’wala phrases on a board during a language class last Wednesday evening.
Basket winners Ly n n D u n n e , l e f t photo, from Sointula was the winner of the North Island Gazette’s Valentine’s Day draw. Dunne’s name was drawn from hundreds of entries and she won a beautiful gift basket from Port McNeill IGA. Below, Kristy Shaw, from Port McNeill, was the winner of a basket full of goodies from Port McNeill Peoples Drug Mart. Presenting the baskets was Gazette Publisher Kathy O’Reilly-Taylor.