Young Gwich'in woman champion of her language

A young Gwich'in woman has becomea champion of her language.

Jacey Firthis driving a social media campaign using the hashtag#SpeakGwichinToMe.

"Speaking and teaching Gwich'in to me is like my personal motive of giving back to my community of Inuvik and giving back to the North," saysthe 21-year-old.

Firth created a Facebook pagecalled Gwich'in Language Revival Campaign.She got the idea for the hashtag#SpeakGwichinToMeat anindigenous languages conference, where she met a young manwhostarted the campaign #SpeakSamiToMea languagespoken by the Sami people inNorthern Europe.

"SpeakingGwich'inand learning about my culture just empowered me so much, it made me feel so good about myself and I hope I can make others feel the same way by like showing people that language and culture is cool."

On the page, people post Gwich'in translations of words and phrases, as well as ask questions about the spelling and pronunciation of words.

Firth says online tools such asdictionaries and appshave made learning the language easier. She uses aGwich'in language app that'savailable to download onsmart phones. It providestranslations for everything from numbers to words for family, commands, and the land.

'It's like a light that will never go out'

Firth says teaching the language to others makes herfeel like she has a purpose.

"It makes me feel like I'm giving credit to my family, my parents, and my grandparents. How I'm here now because of them, learning my language and teaching it as a way of giving back."

Gwich'in is considered "severely endangered" by theUnited Nations' Atlas of the World's Languages.

One study from UNESCO estimates the total number of Gwich'in speakers in the world: about 150 people in Alaska and about 250 in Canada.

Firth says that "definitely" worries her, but she keeps plugging away.

"I just open up my Gwich'in books and read it and practice Gwich'in," she says."Cause I know, I guess, as long as I'm speaking it and teaching myself and I'm teaching others it's like a light that will never go out."