Sure, this will cause the school some expense as they’ll have to provide Rosetta Stone programs to folks who don’t know the old languages. But I think it would be worth it.
Posted on 12/11/2022 3:03:52 AM PST by fluorescence
Vancouver’s Sir Matthew Begbie Elementary School has a new name. It’s now called wək̓ʷan̓əs tə syaqʷəm, which in English means “the sun rising over the horizon.”
The name is written in the Musqueam language hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓, which uses the North American phonetic alphabet instead of the Latin alphabet used for English.
It was selected in collaboration with the Musqueam language and culture department in recognition of Vancouver’s Hastings Sunrise neighbourhood where the school is located, according to a news release Friday from the Vancouver school board.
As for the pronunciation of the new school name, the Musqueam Nation prefers not to provide an English pronunciation guide, and asks people to listen to it instead. People can listen to Musqeuam elder Larry Grant pronounce wək̓ʷan̓əs tə syaqʷəm on YouTube.
A shortened version of the name, wək̓ʷan̓əs Elementary, is grammatically correct and considered a respectful interpretation, according to school board. That word translates to “sun rising.”
The board and Musqueam nation held a renaming ceremony Friday for the school, at 3150 Kitchener St. in Vancouver. They also celebrated the completion of the new seismically safe school.
As part of the province’s seismic mitigation program, B.C. spent $22.4 million to replace the school. The original school was constructed 100 years ago.
“Hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ is the language our ancestors spoke for thousands of years, which was systematically taken from us to the point that there are no longer any fluent hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ speakers in Musqueam,” said Chief yəχʷyaχʷələq (Wayne Sparrow) in a statement provided from the school board. Article content
“Being asked to share our language with partners, and provide hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ names to replace names associated with colonization, is an important step toward rights recognition, reconciliation and hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ revitalization. Musqueam looks forward to continuing to strengthen our relationship with VSB and schools throughout our territory,” he added.
Board superintendent Helen McGregor said asking Musqueam to give the school a hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ name is one way for the school district to show its commitment to reconciliation.
“It increases the knowledge, awareness, appreciation of and respect for Musqueam history, language, tradition, culture and contributions,” she said.
The MLA for Vancouver—Hastings, Niki Sharma, said the collaboration between the Musqueam and the school district’s Indigenous education department on selecting the new name is an important example of reconciliation in schools.
“I’m looking forward to seeing how the new facility and name will support families and shape the wək̓ʷan̓əs tə syaqʷəm school community in the years to come,” said Sharma, in a statement.
According to the board, the new, seismically safe school was built with Canadian mass timber, a new type of engineered wood that reduces greenhouse gas emissions.
Begbie was B.C.’s first chief justice and a controversial figure known as the hanging judge after Tsilhqot’in chiefs, who thought they were attending peace negotiations, were seized and put on trial for murder in the 1800s.
During the Chilcotin War of 1864, several members of the Tsilhqot’in Nation killed workers constructing a road through their territory, according to the B.C. government. The attack and several other small skirmishes between this group and settlers in the area resulted in the deaths of 21 people. Article content
A colonial militia was formed and, soon after, several Tsilhqot’in members agreed to come to the militia camp for peace talks, according to the B.C. government. Instead, the peace party was seized and put on trial for murder. The trial was presided over by Begbie, who sentenced them to hang.
A sixth chief was later captured and hanged in New Westminster.
In 2014, premier Christy Clark apologized to the Tsilhqot’in people. In 2018, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau exonerated the chiefs and offered an apology to six of the current Tsilhqot’in Chiefs on the floor of the House of Commons.
I submit that a better name for it would be “Wokeness Elementary Indoctrination Center”.
I have no words
Is this satire? Cause if it is, it’s pretty good.
Put that on a hockey jersey and then put that on the kids. Can you imagine the parents yelling, “Go, [school name] Wendigos!”
Needlessly complicated. What was wrong with the old name again?
Will the instructions be in Musqueam? Or just the usual Cherokee? I’m partial to Navajo myself, used as code in WW II.
“Sir Matthew” was too easy to pronounce.
Leni
Maybe numbers to change history?
Like 1984?
oh Canada.............falling fast we are right behind you
Political correct is just another way of saying, we are no longer an institute of learning.
1963
2001
2020
if there are ‘no longer any fluent hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ speakers in Musqueam’ how does Larry know how to pronounce the words?
Sure, this will cause the school some expense as they’ll have to provide Rosetta Stone programs to folks who don’t know the old languages. But I think it would be worth it.
Hardly anyone left that speaks the language. They won’t use any kind of useful alphabet. They won’t let us pronounce it.
Yes, that’s about right, dumba$$
The statement "provided" was made in English. Odd how these Canadians who feel so victimized by the British crown and its colonial tendrils are using the language of ENGLAND to complain about the English....
Chief Wayne Sparrow doesn't speak the language "fluently" by his own remarks. In English. Odd, eh? Maybe he should have used Quebec French instead....
Yeah.... that’s real “inclusive”.
The same is happening in, of all places, Morocco. Berber is an unwritten language that is spoken in some tribal areas. The globalist left is now mandating signage and education in Berber, but not using phonetic Arabic or Roman letters, which the people already use.
(French is the second language of Morocco, so historically signs are in Arabic and in French. This way, tourists who don't read Arabic can get around. This is common across the middle east: signs in Arabic and Roman lettering.)
Like in the Canadian example, the globalist lefties created a whole knew Berber alphabet, that never existed in history, and are making children learn it, are putting up signs using it, etc.
Think about Quebec's mandatory French signs, now think of entire new alphabets being mandated, step by step, across Canada, following the Moroccan model.
It reminds me of schools hiring Swahili teachers back in the 1960s. The problem is that no one in government or business in Africa speaks Swahili.
How are the teachers and school secretary supposed to type this on a normal keyboard? I know there are ways, but it certainly isn’t done quickly.
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