Latest news with #YukonNativeLanguageCentre
CBC
22-03-2025
- Sport
- CBC
Yukon Native Hockey Tournament can't actually get much bigger
'I think we're at capacity. It would be great if we got another arena,' says organizer Michelle Dawson-Beattie It's one of the biggest sporting events of the year in Whitehorse. In fact, the Yukon Native Hockey Tournament can't get much bigger, says one of the organizers. "I think we're at capacity. It would be great if we got another arena," said Michelle Dawson-Beattie, president of the Yukon Native Hockey Association. "It would be great to see it grow a bit more. But in terms of like the infrastructure capacity ... I don't think Whitehorse has it right now." This year's tournament, which began Thursday and ends on Sunday, features 59 teams. That's the most ever, in the tournament's 45-year history, Dawson-Beattie said, and that's after two teams had to drop out. Teams and players come from across the Yukon, N.W.T., B.C. and Alberta. Dawson-Beattie said it's a huge undertaking to organize the event, and she says this will be her last year. "It does take a village and, you know, we're just happy to see it start paying off," she said. "I just feel, you know, I've taken it and I've tried to grow it as much as I can. And sometimes, you know, you have to let somebody else come in and take over and see how far they can take it." Jenna Smith from Alberta is playing in the tournament for the first time this year. her husband has come in the past but he couldn't make it this year, she said. "I've always wanted to come travel up here. I've heard like the landscape is so beautiful, but he's just told me it's a really good time," Smith said, just after getting off the plane earlier this week. "And now that the women's division has been going for a couple of years, [I'm] hoping it's pretty good, competitive hockey. It should be fun." Live online coverage This year, for the first time, some of the games will be streamed live online, so family and friends back home can catch some of the action happening at Takhini Arena. Dan Little is with Ptarmigan Creative, the production company that's providing the live online coverage. He says the company came up with the idea after doing something similar at a skiing and snowboarding event at Whitehorse's Mount Sima last year. "And we just got talking about other sporting events that happen in town, and Yukon Native Hockey Tournament came to mind right away," he said. "And we're like, we gotta do it ... it's so big, it deserves that kind of attention." The company was aiming to broadcast eight games a day for each of the four days of the tournament. The plan was to do "kind of like Olympic coverage," Little said. "So we're going to have five camera angles, live commentary, slow motion replay, graphics — the whole works." The company also partnered with the Yukon Native Language Centre to provide some Kaska-language play-by-play commentary for some of the games. Dawson-Beattie also has some advice for anybody looking to watch some of the action in person at Takhini Arena or the Canada Games Centre this weekend: carpool. "'Cause parking here, as I'm sure everybody knows, can be a nightmare," she said.
CBC
23-02-2025
- General
- CBC
'We need it back in our community': Yukon First Nation starts language immersion program
Some Kwanlin Dün First Nation citizens are learning to speak Southern Tutchone for the first time. They are participating in a new Southern Tutchone Language Revitalization Program facilitated by Kwanlin Dün First Nation in partnership with the Yukon Native Language Centre and Simon Fraser University. The program is meant to encourage citizens to speak and share Southern Tutchone with their community. "I've always wanted to take language but I thought I was too old for it," said Ron Thompson, one of the students in the program. "I have nieces and nephews and if they actually see that it's changed me and the positive outlook on all of it, they will hopefully one day say, 'I want to be like Uncle Ron.'" Chief Sean Smith says the community has lost many of its Southern Tutchone speakers, and this program is a way of bringing the language back. "We did have more speakers 20 plus years ago, but now we've lost a number of our Elders that were fluently speaking, which creates concerns," Smith said. "Using the immersion method of instruction to really promote that and use our language is really great, but it also encourages an understanding of that First Nation worldview." The program includes nine university courses taught by instructors at the Yukon Native Language Centre. It started in January with a four week immersion course, where students were immersed in the language for up to six hours a day. Now, students are also learning to read and write in Southern Tutchone. The program also includes two on-the-land camps where students will participate in cultural activities while speaking in Southern Tutchone. Students hope to become teachers Kiana Blake is just 19 years old. She says she is participating in the program so she can teach her language to others in the community, like her her family and friends. "It's just a way our community can connect together, same with my family and friends," Blake said. "I'm proud to be where I'm from, and how I'm able to hold conversations now and speak my ancestors' language." Blake is not only speaking the language outside of the classroom, she is also sharing it on social media. Over the past few weeks, she has been posting videos to TikTok where she shares the words she's learned in Southern Tutchone. "I have a lot of fun making them and being able to put that out there in the world," Blake said. Students in the course will receive a Certificate of Language Proficiency from Simon Fraser University when they complete the program in June. Many of the students in the program have already put their names forward to teach future courses through the Yukon Native Language Centre after they complete the program. Alisha Malcolm says her grandmother used to speak to her in Southern Tutchone, but she lost the language when she was only five-years-old. Now, after losing her grandmother, she's relearning the language again in her forties. "I think her, my aunties, my uncles, the ones who have all passed away, they would be very proud of me, I say. And right now I can feel it in my body that they're with me and it makes me happy." Malcolm says she hopes she will be able to speak Southern Tutchone with her daughter, who is learning the language at daycare. She plans to teach the language to her own children and others one day.
