In Prince George there are only a handful of fluent speakers of a particular Dakehl dialect left.
Clayton Gauthier’s children’s book, which he created while studying in the Okanagan, hopes to keep the language alive in the minds of kids.
“Our language is getting lost,” Gauthier said.
His book, The Salmon Run started as a project in a creative writing class at the En’owkin Centre last year.
He fatefully chose an alternate class on children’s literature. His assignment was to choose a theme and write a book for children.
A lifelong artist, Gauthier chose to create children’s picture book.
“Before I even wrote it, it was in my head already, the pictures. As I wrote it I was going from pictures in my head,” Gauthier said. “I read it out in class and the teacher was pretty amazed by it. She told me to finish it.”
So he did. He had two weeks to finish the artwork prior to the final presentation for the class.
“As I presented I got good feedback from people. Really good feedback. It kind of surprised me,” Gauthier said.
He was approached by Theytus Books afterwards.
“It kind of fell in my lap, I guess,” Gauthier said.
He wanted not only to promote the language, but the connection we all share with the Earth.
“Our connection with the land is what we’re all about. The land teaches us how to live and that’s the intention of sharing the salmon journey. The salmon as she goes home and lays her eggs for the future, for our children. She goes through the journey,” Gauthier said. “I’m sharing what I think the salmon goes through. To go back home and have the future taken care of.”
It’s something he hopes kids will learn and carry forward.
“There’s not too many books revolving around the land, from what I know, for our children,” Gauthier said.
His uncle, Francois Prince, translated the book into the Dakehl language. The language is spread across a large territory, but under the Dakehl language there are multiple dialects which vary from region to region.
“I stuck with my dialect. My uncle did that in one day. He got it translated for our children to learn and also even just have a visual on our language,” Gauthier said.
Gauthier did some research and as far as he can tell it is the only children’s book to feature the Dakehl language.
“It’s pretty amazing. I feel pretty honoured that I’m doing this and it’s kind of overwhelming a little bit. I’m taking in a lot and it’s pretty amazing how all of this fell together. Good things happen, I guess, to good people, and it’s for the kids, for the children,” Gauthier said. “I wish I had that visual when I was young going to school and had a visual on our language because it would have made my life a little bit different. It might have opened more doors for me. Even this book alone is opening doors to the language for myself, to learn myself.”
The fact that only a few elders can fluently speak the language was a motivator to include it in the book.
“Knowing that, it has kind of driven me. There’s a lot of the writing part of things out there, but the ones that really know it and really speak it, that’s pretty rare,” Gautheir said. “(The book) is opening more doors for myself to learn the language. It’s pretty amazing.”
Gauthier came to the Okanagan during a time of change in his life.
“I was a single father for 10 years and my children ended up living with their mother full time. So I was on my own for the first time in a long time. So I thought, well I’m going to do this, change it up. It was a tough move, but it was worth it,” Gauthier said. “I struggled a lot financially, but it’s all worth it.”
He’s hoping to make it to the Penticton Art Gallery on Jan. 20 to join the Re:Claiming the Taken exhibition opening with fellow En’owkin alumni, including the opening of Joy Munt’s Rain, Steam, Speed. Doors open at 7 p.m. and a welcoming prayer and cultural showcase occurs from 7:45 to 8:30 p.m. The event is free to all and a cash bar and light snacks will be available.
“This is a new journey for me, I don’t know where it’s going to take me,” Gauthier said.