National Indigenous Languages Day on March 31 is an opportunity in Canada to honor the linguistic heritage of First Nations, Inuit and Métis across Canada. The preservation of Indigenous languages is critical to protecting their communities, culture and identity.
In our diocese, we contributed to the loss of their languages at St. Michael’s Indian Residential School located in ‘Yalis (Alert Bay, Cormorant Island) where children were beaten for speaking their language.
Today, we are committed to reconciliation. In honor of this commemorative day, we wanted to share a small piece of that work. In 2003 at our parish, Christ Church in Alert Bay, a very special hymnal arrived and was enjoyed by the community at a Christmas sing in (CLICK HERE for the Anglican Journal Article). Funding for the Kwak’wala Hymnal was made possible by funding from a variety of sources including The Aboriginal Neighbours, a volunteer fundraising group from within our diocese. A reprint is currently in the works, and we look forward to continuing to hear voices singing beautiful hymns in Kwak’wala.