Image Credit: CFJC Today / Adam Donnelly

By Jill Sperling

Story Trail

Chase Secondary students contribute Secwepemc language and culture to province’s first Story Trail

Jun 7, 2019 | 5:24 PM

CHASE, B.C. — When the former Roderick Haig-Brown Provincial Park returned to its traditional Secwepemc name, Tsútswecw, the BC Parks Foundation wanted to bring language into the park.

The foundation embarked on a pilot project with BC Parks and School District 73.

Students from Chase Secondary recorded the names of native plants and landscape using the Secwepmctsin language.

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Those names, and information about each plant, can now be heard as people explore the province’s first ever Story Trail.

“It’s reconnecting to the land,” Secwepemctsin language teacher Ivy Chelsea said. “And, when we say a tree, and we say ‘tsq̓ellp’ and ‘qwllin’, you’re acknowledging that spirit of that tree, of the land.”

Image Credit: CFJC Today / Adam Donnelly

In order to hear the words and stories throughout the trail, people scan QR codes with their phones.

“It’s kind of amazing to see how far we’ve come knowing that this is out to the public now,” said Grade 9 student Brianna Narcisse. “People from all over the world can come and see, listen.”

Image Credit: CFJC Today / Adam Donnelly

“It’s really awesome that this park is open to everybody from all different kinds of nations,” Grade 11 student Susan Romandia said, “and if they have their own language hopefully they can go back to their territory and try to do the same with their youth.”

Chelsea assigned the students one plant each, and they were tasked with finding the Secwepemc word and information about it.

The Story Trail blends nature and technology. People from around the world, who visit the park, will learn about the land, and learn a few Secwepemctsin words along the way.

Image Credit: CFJC Today / Adam Donnelly

“During the dominant years of the salmon run, a quarter of a million people come through this park, which is phenomenal,” said BC Parks Foundation Program Coordinator Jennie McCaffrey, “and they’re from all over the world, so we’re really hoping it will help to connect them to this land and to the local language and to really learn more that they can take back home with them.”

The Story Trail may be the first of the BC Parks Foundation’s Discover Trails Network, but it won’t be the last.

“We’ve already got an email from Squamish Nation that they would like me and my students to go down there and work with them, so this has blossomed, it’s snowballed,” Chelsea said. “So, I’m proud of my kids, I’m proud of the work they’ve done.”