VANCOUVER—As Nuu-chah-nulth artist Tim Paul approached the 23-metre tree, lying on the fern-covered Vancouver Island rainforest floor, he knew it was the one he would carve into B.C.’s first pole celebrating Indigenous languages. for the next seven months, commissioned by the First Nations Education Foundation, as part of the 2019 United Nations Year of Indigenous Languages. Of those, however, just six per cent (17,190 people) know any Indigenous language, and just half that consider it their mother tongue. He was elected a Squamish Nation councillor in 2017 and chairs the band's Squamish language committee. Paul said he’s been especially inspired by the language efforts of the Tsilhqot’in National Government in B.C.’s Cariboo region.

Source: thestar March 16, 2019 13:01 UTC