As reported in Friday's Bulletin, Chelsea Nicholas, an employee of the Paq'mi Nuq'yuk Aboriginal Early Years program, is teaching the Ktunaxa language to young children.

The work is vitally important, Nicholas says, because the Ktunaxa language is spoken only in this particular part of the world. It's an isolate, and as such could be in danger of becoming extinct.

"It's spoken within the Ktunaxa Nation only," Nicholas said. "In Grasmere, Invermere, Creston, Bonners Ferry, Elmo, Montana, the St. Mary's and surrounding areas."

Nicholas herself learned the language as a child at the Aqamnik School at St. Mary's.

"They are still teaching it there," she said.

But the number of people throughout the Ktunaxa Nation who are completely fluent is very small, mostly elders.

"Culturally, when colonization occurred, the church enforced attendance at residential schools.

"We were not allowed to practice our culture or language. The penalty was to be beaten or incarcerated.

"It's coming back but a lot of work needs to be done to save it. It's hard breaking down the barriers that were put in place."

There are encouraging signs, she says. While it is mostly elders who are completely fluent, a lot of younger people are learning the language and showing an interest in the culture.

Before contact, the Ktunaxa was not a written language.

"After colonization, it was being lost," Nicholas said. "A linguist was brought in and developed a character system."

Young children are being targeted as a priority because under the age of five, the brain is very capable of picking up knowledge like a new language.

Nicholas began in Invermere at the Little Badgers daycare centre and then in Kimberley at Second Steps daycare.

Daycares that have aboriginal students are her priority.

"In every centre I have been to there have been aboriginal students."

But it's not just through the very young that efforts to save the language are underway. There is a biannual Language Summit where ideas are discussed.

"All the different things people are doing are brought forth and discussed, so we can see who is doing what to save the language. There are a number of language teachers in the community."

According to the Ktunaxa Nation website, the Ktunaxa believe that they were born of this land and 'given' their Traditional Territory to care for, in return for the land providing all that was required for eternal life. At the time of Creation, the Ktunaxa were also given their language as a method of communicating with the other creatures of the world. It is believed that this ability to communicate with nature has deteriorated as the language deviates from the 'original' language. This is why it is very important to recapture the language in its true form as much as possible, so that the integrity of the traditional knowledge contained therein can be protected.