Yukon First Nation language program celebrates first cohort of graduates

Kwanlin Dün First Nation's Southern Tutchone Language Revitalization program celebrated its first cohort of graduates Wednesday night and the new alumni say they want to keep going with their new language skills.

Nine Kwanlin Dün citizens received their language proficiency certificates at a graduation ceremony at the Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre in Whitehorse after a seven-month program where students spoke, listened and read Southern Tutchone for up to six hours each day. They also completed nine university courses and participated in an on-the-land immersion camp. 

"It's emotional, but I did it," said one of the graduates, Alisha Malcolm, who attended the ceremony with one of her daughters. 

"She's helped me with learning," Malcolm said. "I've been teaching her how to speak and ask questions."

Now that they've received their certificates, the students can continue on to a diploma program or a PhD and they can also teach beginner level Southern Tutchone. 

"I plan to work with my teachers and help them teach other people," Malcolm said. "And I have a lot of people [to teach], my other kids want to learn too."

Eddy Shorty learned his language for the first time at 65-years-old and now he hopes to share it with his grandchildren. 

"I think we have to keep our language going and I need to talk with my grandchildren and make sure that they know that their grandpa did okay on this Earth."

Another graduate, 19-year-old Kianna Blake, said she learned language skills and culture, including drum making and cutting dry meat. 

"And then we got to write storybooks … and it really taught us how to write in sentences and be able to translate from English to Southern Tutchone," she said.

Blake said learning her language was challenging, but the support she received from her classmates helped her persevere. 

"Some days it was hard to wake up because language takes a lot out of you," she said. "I built really good relationships with all of my classmates and teachers…. And that's what made me keep going … it means a lot to me, having them in my life."

Throughout the program, Blake also shared what she learned on social media by posting videos to TikTok. Now, she says people all over the world have watched her learning to speak Southern Tutchone.

"I started getting these other people from First Nations around the world commenting on TikTok because one video did blow up," she said. "And it was so crazy to see that all these people were so proud to see us younger generation speaking our language."

Blake says she is taking a break from posting on social media for now, but in the meantime she hopes to continue sharing her language with her friends and family and learning more.

"My goal is to become fluent in my language, but I still have quite a bit to go. I will be joining classes as much as I can through Yukon University."

The program was organized by Kwanlin Dün First Nation in collaboration with Simon Fraser University and the Yukon Native Language Centre.