Review contributor

To many First Nations
students in the. public
school system, learning
Senc’oten — the First Na-
tions language of the
Saanich Peoples — has
been aclosed book.

Starting in September,
however, Grade 6 and.7 stu-
dents at the Brentwood Bay
middle schoo! will have the
option of learning Senc’oten
(pronounced —_sen-chaw-
then) instead of French.

“The concern for First
Nations was that many kids
- weren't learning the lan-

guage,” _ said. _ Lorraine
Borstad, the chair. for
School District 63. _

“Now students will be _

able to build ‘strength in
their own language, , since so

~. much culture is tied i in n with
language.” .

- Although many younger
students learn Senc’oten at
home or at the Lau Welnew

Tribal School,. Bayside is
~ the first public school on the
Saanich Peninsula to’ offer
~. an Aboriginal language: The
: Saanich. School District: is’

lariguage’ currict ilum ‘into a

‘The final ee of
“the 20th Century are taking
centre stage."

gown ceremony at UVic on

June 28, and’ held. their

awards presentations the

next morning,

~ Parkland events included

dinner at the Laurel Point
‘Inn onJune 25, —

Stelly's dry grad parties

included an all-night dinner

pone

Drei tote

Wiaeqaterransinianed Gavan shag

t

‘Parkland
grads held their cap and —

1A lively song & dance 7 om :
| show featuring, top’ i

fabulous eostumes!

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fe
ie

“This is very new for us,”
said Barry Underwood,
chair of the Saanich Indian
School Board. Underwood
added that he hopes that the
program takes.off so that it

can eventually be offered in -

other schools.

Already, there are about
24 students registered in
the first class at Bayside
middle school.

About two years ago, the’

Local Education Agreement
advisory . committee
made up of administrators
and trustees «from both
school districts —- made a
commitment to introduce
Senc’oten into the curricu-
lum.
With a special purpose

grant. from the Ministry of -
Education, a committee of .

First Nations people, a
board répresentative, and a
modern language consul-

tant came. up. with the

Senc’oten curriculum.

On Monday; June 21, the
local First Nations commu-
nity and the Saanich Indian
School Board presented the

_ language curriculum to the ©
~ Saanich School Board in a.-:

wp: among only # handful of dis — traditional ceremony led by.

__tricts in the province to have

the. Saanich People.”

7 cruise in 1 May, Awards: pre-
_ sentations took place at the ~
school on June 29 starting

~at. 8:30 am for juniors and
10:30 am for seniors. They
officially finish off with a

graduation. ceremony at.
UVic and dinner at the Em-

press on June 30.
~The usual dry. grad. par-
ties were held successfully,

‘and on Monday night, two.

unofficial apd parties to

| local performers, and

ra)

anys ani ests hci tite tad tba mira ta hi aah bh ka ale msn a Rica ed wal ROUT IAd biAna BUHL); dish: ld ae DIAL GA Aaa ewe Renda ela

_ “It was like they were giv-
ing. our: district. the: ‘gift. of :
“ae anguage t to teach Le a

June 28 - - SEPTEMBER 3

LAUREL BAKER PHOTO: nt

John, Murray, Tom and batey Sampson of the Tsartilp —
band helped to lead a ceremony celebrating the intro-

duction of the Senc'oten language into the curriculum.

at Bayside Middle School in Central Saanich. Since
Senc'oten is the language of the Saanich Peoples, alli.
four Peninsula band chiefs were also at the schoo! on
Monday, June 21, to participate | in the ceremony.

| children,” said Borstad.

All: four. chiefs: of local

_ First Nations bands — Cur- *
tis Olson of the Tsartlip, Ed.
~ Mitchell ‘of Pauquachin, ©
~ Vern Jacks of Tseycum, and >
Alan Claxton of the Tsawout -

Sidney/North
RCMP.
Staff Sgt. Gary Lenz re-

~ ported Tuesday that the in-

cidents went off without any
problems.

“There was. the usual

gathering, and a lot of liquor

was. confiscated,” he said. .
“But overall, everyone was:
well behaved,” .

& ae PM

~ celebrate the end of school “
“were held and attended by
Saanich. ©

‘conjunction with National.
“ Aboriginal Day. ey
..The announcement was. -
also attended by relatives of -
‘the late David Elliott;:;who.
= developed the: Senc’ oten al. ;

phabet.

PENINSULA NEWS REVIEW 15

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