My guests today are Birdy Markert and Doris Rosso, to whom I posed the question, Why is teaching Witsuwit’en to our youth so important?

Skak ha ba dzeen, or Kids’s Week, was how many of our Moricetown youth spent their March break. It was a great immersion into traditional language and culture activities. Several of the village elders--including Birdy and Doris--jumped in to assist with teaching Witsuwit’en in the mornings. The afternoons were devoted to workshops on beadwork, hunting and trapping, tanning hides and traditional methods for cooking bannock and salmon, again led by village elders.

Birdy describes Moricetown's current language situation as a crisis. The efforts expended by these village members to ensure that their language continues are extraordinary, inspiring, and much appreciated across the generations.