Digitization: Preserving History, Language & Culture

Digitization: Preserving History, Language & Culture

Passing knowledge and teachings from generation to generation has and continues to be a vital practice for Carrier and Sekani people. In the present-day, many communities are at risk of losing the cultural knowledge passed down by their ancestors due to colonization and the legacy of residential schools. Elders often share concerns over children not knowing how to speak their language or not knowing cultural practices, notably children in care and those living away from community. 

The question many communities are asking is what can be done to not only preserve knowledge, but make it accessible for generations to come?

Since the summer of 2022, the Jurisdiction team has been working on a digitization project, gathering historic materials shared by community members, Elders and Knowledge Holders involved with CSFS over the years. Boxes of film tapes, photographs and audio recordings have piled up in the office, keeping the team busy scanning photographs and uploading audio and video files to a digital database. 

The project was awarded funding through the First Peoples’ Culture Council (FPCC)’s Language Technology Program grant, a program designed to support Indigenous communities in converting audio, video and language resources to digital files. The digitization project is trailblazing a new approach to securing Carrier and Sekani cultural knowledge, language and memories for the purpose of cultural preservation and revitalization.

From the ribbon cutting for the Prince George main office to children learning to fish with Elders at Donald’s Landing, the historic materials tell the story of CSFS and the families at the heart of our work. Beyond serving as artifacts of our past, these materials are now playing a key role in our future. 

Transcriptions of historic videos are pulling stories, teachings and values out of the past and into the present; voices across generations are now influencing the development of new child welfare legislation. The experiences from those who came before are being documented and woven in to the development of the very law that will govern child and family matters for member Nations. 

Beyond the Jurisdiction department, having such rich cultural information accessible to staff creates opportunities for CSFS teams to not only deepen their understanding of Carrier-specific traditions, but further apply these teachings to the creation of culturally informed services and programs.

This digitization work also has incredible potential for language revitalization. As materials are collected and digitized, phrases and words are archived in a way that makes them easily transferable to new resources such as digital dictionaries, educational tools and more. 

To date, 4,578 photographs, 397 videos and 79 audio tapes have been digitized. This work could not be done without the contributions of materials from community members. The team is excited to continue the work over the winter with the goal of bringing the stories back to communities in the spring. 

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