Ts'msyen First Nation member aims to revitalize endangered Indigenous language through yoga - Action News
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British Columbia

Ts'msyen First Nation member aims to revitalize endangered Indigenous language through yoga

Kitsumkalum Band language co-ordinator Emily Bryant and yoga instructor Bhavani Britt McDougall have been hosting yoga classes that incorporate words in Sm'algyax.

Only 48 people worldwide speak Sm'algyax as 1st language: First People's Cultural Council

A woman with glasses is pictured wearing a hoodie in front of a sea and rocks.
Kitsumkalum Band language co-ordinator Emily Bryant is helping revitalize Sm'algyax, a critically endangered language spoken by people across northwestern B.C., in a unique way. (Submitted by Emily Bryant)

Emily Bryant grew up speaking Sm'algyax with her grandparents, thoughlater conversed mostly in English with her parents and other relatives.

However, since the COVID-19 pandemic began, Bryant also known as Dm Syl Haaytk Gyibaaw,"the one who stands with the wolves" in Sm'algyax saysshe has been spending more time with her 90-year-old grandmother,speaking her first language more frequently as a result.

"Immersing myself [in the language] for the last four years has opened up memories withmy grandmother that's still here with me today," said Bryant, a member of the Ts'msyen First Nation.

Now Bryant, the language program co-ordinator of the nation's Kitsumkalum Band,is co-leading a unique new project in northwestern B.C., to help revitalize Sm'algyax:by incorporating words from the language to yoga.

A hand showing a meditation sign resting on a leg.
Emily Bryant and Bhavani Britt McDougall have been hosting yoga classes where participants speak Sm'algyax words before the routine. (PopTika / Shutterstock )

Since mid-February, Bryant andher friend,yoga instructor Bhavani Britt McDougall, have been hostinga series of meditative yoga classesonSaturday eveningsin Terrace, B.C.

Participants speakwords in Sm'algyax with a spiritual theme, such as "heart," beforethe yoga routine. While the class is designed forTs'msyen, Nisga'a and Gitxsanpeople, everyone is welcome to join.

Sm'algyax is a critically endangered language spoken by people across northwestern B.C. and Alaska. According to the First Peoples' Cultural Council, based in Brentwood Bay on Vancouver Island, only 48 people worldwidespeak it as their first language.

McDougall, who identifies as a settler of British and Jamaican ancestry, says she didn't know anythingabout Indigenous communities until after movingfrom Toronto to Terrace for high school in 2011.

A woman in green shirt stands in front of a tree amid grasses.
Bhavani Britt McDougall worked with the Kitsumkalum Band as a youth program worker from 2017 to 2021. (Submitted by Bhavani Britt McDougall)

She says she has since become passionate aboutTs'msyen culture,andworkedwith the Kitsumkalum Band as a youth program workerfrom 2017 to 2021.

"[I have] gotten to know the community, and then noticing and falling in love and really just admiring the fire that's being lit among the people who reclaim the language," she said.

Bryant saysthe yoga classes inspire her to promote Sm'algyax to more people in the local community and to use the language more often in her daily life.

"Sm'algyax is what I dream of living one day without speaking English to other people," she said.

"To see my kids [speaking] Sm'algyax together one day without English is the goal."

Clarifications

  • An earlier version of the story said participants in the yoga sessions chant Sm'algyax words during the yoga routine. In fact, they speak the words before doing the yoga routine in each session.
    Apr 21, 2023 2:15 PM PT

Corrections

  • This story has been corrected to say Bhavani Britt McDougall worked with the Kitsumkalum Band from 2017 to 2021.
    Apr 22, 2023 12:01 PM PT
  • An earlier version of the story said Bhavani Britt McDougall joined the Kitsumkalum Band in 2019. In fact, she started working with the band then. She is not a member of the band.
    Apr 21, 2023 3:53 PM PT