00;00;07;26 - 00;00;40;23
Aaron Pete
Reconciliation is a term we're hearing more and more. My guest today is a proficient chameleon speaker, a thoughtful leader, within his community school, First Nation, and an elder in residence at the university, the Fraser Valley. We dove into the Halq'eméylem language, lessons and teachings within indigenous culture and how we can grow and reconnect with our cultures. My guest today is Eddie Gardner, Mr. Gardner, it's such a pleasure to sit down with you again. We had the pleasure of doing it a couple of years ago now, but it's such an honor to share some space with you. I'm wondering if we could perhaps start with you're often called an elder, and I'm wondering if you could, for listeners, describe what it means to you to be an elder.

00;00;56;24 - 00;01;26;15
Eddie Gardner
Well, I um, first of all, my, my name is T’it’elem Spath meaning Singing Bear. I'm from Skwah first nation and we're part of the Pilalt tribe. But I'm, I've been recognized as an elder by the people and it's it's really the people who decide, you know, if I, if I carry myself as an elder, I'm 77 years old.

00;01;27;28 - 00;02;21;13
Eddie Gardner
But to me, to be a true elder, you need to carry yourself in a good way and be a be experienced in and in what it takes to care for the land and the water. The language and and to be and engage, you know, with, with the community. So as when, when you're an elder you, uh, you make sure that you, you capture as much knowledge as you can from from what we inherited as as well more people and embrace the values of race, the lives of principles, what we call our Eastern Alliance and and those are teachings, you know, from, uh, from our ancestors.

00;02;21;27 - 00;02;51;29
Eddie Gardner
And it's really, it's really, uh, an honor and a huge honor to be acknowledged as a, as and as an elder and be responsible for, uh, for sharing you know, what, uh, what we have elders come from different backgrounds and they have different experience and skills and training and life experience. Um, and can, can share what they know.

00;02;52;10 - 00;03;25;18
Eddie Gardner
Um, so one elder doesn't know everything, but uh, uh, there's a lot of pressure on elders when there's those kind of expectations put on elders. But, uh, um, each elder has a gift that they've been able to cultivate and has, uh, we have that spiritual connection to, to the land and to the ancestors. And we, as we continually guide our cells from that spiritual connection that we have.

00;03;26;09 - 00;03;26;18
Eddie Gardner
Yeah.

00;03;27;01 - 00;03;44;28
Aaron Pete
Do you find that it's a lot of responsibility, obviously, as we lose our matriarchs and elders in our community, there's more pressure and responsibility placed on, on the individuals for youth, the young people to go to for knowledge and insights. Do you feel like that's a lot of responsibility.

00;03;45;13 - 00;04;22;26
Eddie Gardner
Well, it's I think it's a it's a good responsibility. Yeah. And there's there's a lot of reciprocity that goes with it. You know, there's the giving in and the receiving. And elders in our community are held in very high regards and and are very well respected. So, um, in, in exchange for that, we're elders and do a lot of sharing and um, and the work of the work of an elder is a, is never over.

00;04;24;02 - 00;05;21;04
Eddie Gardner
We continue to learn to grow, to adapt to, to uh, uh, look, to be forward looking carrying, carrying the heritage, the, the wisdom and the teachings, you know, that, that, that come from previous generations seven generations. Uh, theme, you know, I've talked about that before. If we're always at the center and, and what we need to do is, is remember, you know, what we inherited said through the past seven generations and live our life in a way that will be of benefit and carry on the good teachings, carry on the good values and our culture and our language and and and live it in such a way that future generations will continue to benefit from what

00;05;21;04 - 00;05;21;21
Eddie Gardner
we have.

00;05;22;13 - 00;05;37;16
Aaron Pete
In our previous conversation. One thing that still stands out to me today that I actually recite for people is that you described bugs as the ones that crawl rather than bugs and you talked about trees and you didn't say trees, you said the rooted ones.

00;05;37;28 - 00;05;38;09
Eddie Gardner
And what I.

00;05;38;09 - 00;05;57;28
Aaron Pete
Really loved about that and what I thought a lot about since that conversation is the derogatory term that can come with the idea of a bug that we sort of look at it like, get it off of me. And when you describe it as the one that crawls, it's almost like there's an added respect to it. Is this intentional or is this something that you think about or is this just a teacher?

00;05;58;24 - 00;06;24;07
Eddie Gardner
Well, everything has it has naturally that life spirit. That life spirit is in the insects, it's in the rocks, it's in the water, it's in the animals and and the moon and stars. And it's and in us you know, that's that's truly that sacredness that's within us connects us with everyone and everything. So we and we thank you.

00;06;24;08 - 00;07;09;08
Eddie Gardner
We we can't take for granted anything, you know, and so we, we need to be very mindful about about how we relate to, you know, to, uh, uh, to, to the insects and, and do everything that we have here. Um, biodiversity is, is something that uh, that, uh, we depend on. And if we lose biodiversity then, and then we won't survive so and the ones that will survive are the insects, the bugs, the ones, the little and you know, they're the ones that are going to last a lot of little when we're long gone and they'll still be around so.

00;07;09;08 - 00;07;37;00
Eddie Gardner
And so we need to acknowledge that that life that they will continue to carry on and, and uh, um, with, with climate change, if there's a huge disaster that happens and, and, and life, uh, the big ones like us and the large animals and whatnot, whether they go by the way or Wayside and those little ones are still there.

00;07;37;00 - 00;07;50;08
Eddie Gardner
They're the ones who are going to revitalize and and allow things to grow back again later. So yeah, we need to give high respect to the, the little ones.

00;07;50;09 - 00;08;07;02
Aaron Pete
Have you always been connected to the land deeply, or was that something that you learned over time? It seems like my generation can often be very disconnected from the land and not understand how everything is connected to each other. Is this something you always knew, or was this a journey as well?

00;08;07;24 - 00;08;52;04
Eddie Gardner
It was. It was something that that I that I sensed as a very, very young, young person. And uh, is that, uh, that energy and spirit has an energy. And when we when we say there's a life spirit and everything, and we, we, we look at the physical side of who we are, but scientists have now, uh, explored that much further and has, has come to the conclusion that everything is is energy matter is energy.

00;08;52;04 - 00;09;32;23
Eddie Gardner
When you break down the molecules and they break down the, the atoms and you go deeper and deeper, you're looking at space. There's a lot of space in that space, carries a lot of energy and energy carries information and information is what is, what uh, brings about, uh, brings about matter in life. So yeah, I kind of sense that and now that, uh, that we have the, the, this, uh, client of what we call quantum physics, that is that that, that reconfirmed what I felt, what I sensed when I was a young, young person.

00;09;33;20 - 00;09;41;05
Aaron Pete
That's so interesting because you, you do seem to enjoy the science and connecting that with your, with the belief systems of indigenous culture.

00;09;41;18 - 00;10;54;15
Eddie Gardner
Yeah, absolutely. We, um, this, this concept of two idea and seeing is, is, is real science and, um, western, western thinking have strayed away from that, that spiritual quality, that, that energy that comes with the spirit that's in everything and everyone and has only looked at, at breaking down the matter and and so, uh, when we look at, when we look at our way of living our teachings or our practices um, it's, it's, it's challenging to, to convey that or communicate that in a way that would capture the attention of Western thinkers because our, our way of dealing with energy and matter and everything around us is through ceremony.

00;10;54;23 - 00;11;36;00
Eddie Gardner
And so that's I think is, is what is lacking, you know, in Western culture, the there's not enough ceremony that is put into the work that they do and when and when you do that, there's magic that happens. There's things that, uh, that, that come about, um, that you wouldn't, that, that is so unexpected. Um, so prayer, spirituality, ceremony, uh, together with, uh, with western, western ways of uh, of thinking and doing and being is, is really where it's at today.

00;11;36;00 - 00;12;18;24
Eddie Gardner
And I think, I think uh, uh, more people are coming to uh, to, to be a little more familiar with this. And there are, there's a growing comfort with, uh, with the, the need to integrate that, you know, with how, how we're going to create, to create a vision for the future that, uh, that will respect and honor, um, natural lives, that will respect and honor the naturally that's, that's in everyone and everything and in our Mother Earth.

00;12;19;00 - 00;13;04;17
Eddie Gardner
And when we treat, for example, um, the salmon, when we treat the deer, when we treat the rooted ones there, the, um, the cedar and all the medicinal plants and foods, when we treat those as relatives, we or when or when people talk about their relatives, they show a lot of care and love and, and, uh, and so if they looked upon the salmon as a relative or the cedar or the other rooted ones that feed us, then as relatives, then they would have much more respect and would work much more likely on mother Earth.

00;13;05;07 - 00;13;28;03
Aaron Pete
This reminds me of the origin story of the creation story in indigenous culture, this idea that they give themselves the plants the animals, the ones in the river, they give themselves to us, but they ask for something in return to be respected, be remembered, be honored, and then respect certain times of not fishing, and then to give to those less fortunate.

00;13;28;20 - 00;13;31;09
Aaron Pete
Do you have any thoughts on on how we think about that?

00;13;32;07 - 00;14;32;07
Eddie Gardner
Yeah, I think religion, Christianity and Western thinking they there's this concept of dominating the earth and for their own use and, and and that's that, that's not the right way to go. And because as if it a way when people look at at loss of biodiversity today and there's alarm bells that are ringing all over the place, hey, we're going down this wrong path, you know, and we need to to change what are they going to do to get change say that they're going to need to change how we relate to the land and the water and, and all of what we call a scam that's in our language.

00;14;33;03 - 00;15;04;05
Eddie Gardner
All our gifts from our creator. We were in our origin stories. We were dead. You know, the last ones to be we created everything came before we came as dependent on all of this that came before us. And so when we raise when we acknowledge that that the the salmon and the trees, the grass, everything is above us, you know, where they're all up there.

00;15;04;14 - 00;15;25;13
Eddie Gardner
We're down here. We need do we need to live in harmony with everything that that's around us instead of that dominating it? That is the biggest, I think, most important distinction, you know, between those two to ways of thinking.

00;15;25;22 - 00;15;42;28
Aaron Pete
I couldn't agree more. You're an individual who does a lot. Before we started, you were talking about all the things you do, yet you bring energy to it in a way that it seems like some people aren't able to. They go into their job. They're not excited about that. They go into their their day to day works. They're not excited about that.

00;15;42;28 - 00;16;01;09
Aaron Pete
They come home. They don't want to do their chores. But you seem to bring this sincere, genuine willingness to engage and support and build others up. I'm just wondering how how does this come about for you? How do you you seem like a person very much at peace. And I'm just curious as to how you found this. Did it take a lot of work?

00;16;01;16 - 00;16;03;17
Aaron Pete
How did you start to work towards this.

00;16;05;23 - 00;16;54;03
Eddie Gardner
Yeah, that's a that's a good question. I and I think that what what is important for me is is putting a lot of joy and love in what you do for them. Every human being is put down here for a purpose, and that is to learn an awful lot of lessons. And I know that I'm I'm one who has learned a lot of lessons about about how we need to to to think and to feel and to behave and we all go down this road where we know that we're, you know, when we're where we're out of balance and we ask ourselves and challenge ourselves why why are we so out of balance?

00;16;54;16 - 00;17;50;25
Eddie Gardner
And why are we feeling this tension? And why are they why are we a stressed and and all those all those feelings about being feeling like we're a victim or circumstances and that kind of thing. We have to go through a river of change to to release and let go of all those ways of thinking and why we we we ended up feeling and behaving and under stress and strain and trauma and all those things and once we go within, I think the, the, the important thing for every human being is to really go in and find that peace within themselves and when we talk of that, we're actually there.

00;17;50;28 - 00;18;15;14
Eddie Gardner
There's a there's a sacredness that is inside each and every one of us. People call it divine energy, divinity and red. And it's in it's real. It is there. That sacredness can never be destroyed by opinions that can never be destroyed by bullets. It could never be destroyed by anything. Hatred, nothing can can destroy it can destroy the sacredness that's within us.

00;18;16;09 - 00;18;46;14
Eddie Gardner
Once we're able to once we're able to go within and focus on on that purity that we have and then we then we can sense why we you know, that fundamental question every human being asks, why did I show up at this stage, you know, during this era, what am I doing here? What is my role? What is my true role to be here?

00;18;46;29 - 00;19;30;23
Eddie Gardner
And once we find that out, then then you can make peace with yourself. And and instead of focusing on all the negativity of the past, what we do is we we are we we think all we we create a good vision for our selves through these great minds of ourselves and elevate our are our good feelings of joy, of happiness, of empowerment, of that that sense of self agency, that that ability that will that we have, you know, to to to move towards that vision.

00;19;30;23 - 00;20;00;14
Eddie Gardner
But in a way that that will bring about joy and happiness and doing things for the greater good and making peace with ourselves and knowing that that we have that confidence within ourselves to just to be who we are and accept our our limitations, but accept the, the, the enormity of of power that we have within ourselves, each and every one of us.

00;20;00;14 - 00;20;40;00
Eddie Gardner
Hazard. But we have to wake up to it. And and that is forgetting that is that is an making it easier for us to forget not to live by by the memories of stress and strain and trauma, but to live by by creating a future that will that we can create and anticipate and, and actually predict by, by elevating, you know, our our emotional connection to that vision for the future.

00;20;40;11 - 00;21;16;10
Eddie Gardner
And that brings about joy, that brings about happiness, that brings about oneness, that brings about singleness. It brings about our connection to everyone and every everything. And so when we go to meetings, when we get out into any social event of any kind, if, if people are disagreeing with you or if people are treating you, you know, in a way that's disrespectful or anything, then if you have that centered ness inside of you, you won't allow that to interfere with you anymore.

00;21;16;16 - 00;21;40;08
Eddie Gardner
Right? You will. You'll feel sorry for those people. In fact, you know, and and recognize that, hey, I was once there before, you know, I was like that person before. And there a little bit of reflection of a reflection of how I was. And so I can release and let that go because I'm not that person anymore. I'm a different I'm an evolving person.

00;21;40;21 - 00;22;07;20
Eddie Gardner
And that's how we need to feel about ourselves. We need to feel that every day when we wake up in the morning, we can create a good vision for the rest of the day. And we can we can celebrate that, that we can make mistakes and fall backwards and that kind of thing. But we use that as lessons, as stepping stones, as has that ability to cross a river of change and evolve and move forward.

00;22;08;11 - 00;22;22;02
Eddie Gardner
And we're always evolving. We always have something to learn and tell. We it's our time to go into the spirit world and then we can do our work on the other side and provide good guidance to future generations.

00;22;22;10 - 00;22;44;08
Aaron Pete
Oh, that is so beautiful. I really appreciate you describing that, because I think that that's where so many people for you talked about the benefits of ceremony. I often see you on the Vendor River just enjoying some peace by yourself. I'm curious as to how do we start to work towards this feeling of oneness? Because so often in the business world we have an agenda.

00;22;44;13 - 00;22;54;13
Aaron Pete
We go through ABC and and then we all get up and leave. There is no breaking bread. There is less connection. How do we strive towards finding that sense of oneness?

00;22;55;07 - 00;23;52;19
Eddie Gardner
I think everything is there for everyone, you know, like we and people from all backgrounds. And when you when human beings wherever they come from on this planet, they have a special we we all have a special connection to the environment. That, that influences us and there are conditions that that are that are there. And it's it's how we respond to the to the conditions that are around us instead of allowing, allowing the environment to do control as we can have some control over over the social and physical environment that we're living in.

00;23;53;11 - 00;24;31;29
Eddie Gardner
So the Chinese people, they have, uh, they have Daoism, you know, and that philosophy of Daoism is, is connected to, to the, and the natural world. They draw a lot of really good teachings. There's a lot of really good stories that they have so the Chinese have a way, they have a philosophy, they're there, they have access to this rich heritage that that has been left through, through the Chinese generations and every other culture has that as well.

00;24;32;19 - 00;25;25;22
Eddie Gardner
So I think, I think because of, uh, because of technology, then the fast pace of, uh, of uh, of work and developments and everything that's going on around us, and we have a challenge of, of, uh, of disconnecting from what is really important right. And being connected to this, uh, there's these technologies that, that create separateness instead of wholeness and so people need to learn how to, to, to be more connected, you know, with, uh, with the physical surrounding and look upon them as teachers, not, not learning about them, but learning from, you know, everything around us, you know, so that's, that's where we need to go with it.

00;25;26;06 - 00;25;39;00
Aaron Pete
Is there a moment that stands out to you teaching young people, supporting them is their advice or the teaching that you have that stands out to you that that seems to be lacking for young people at this time?

00;25;41;16 - 00;26;22;29
Eddie Gardner
Yeah, I think, uh, I think what uh, uh, young people need to, to focus on is, is uh, you know, that uh, the connection to uh, what the elders have to say and listen and open their minds up to, to, to the teachings that are there that day that the elders have, you know, boys, men and women and, and participate in ceremony.

00;26;23;29 - 00;26;51;04
Eddie Gardner
Be a little more curious about who they are and where they come from, looking at their, their mother and their father and their, their, their great lineages that, that trace back to this land, you know, for thousands and thousands of years a lot when they realize how rich they really are, you know, they they can they can elevate, you know, a sense of self-worth, again, a sense of self esteem.

00;26;51;15 - 00;27;46;06
Eddie Gardner
And that's that is the power that those are the engines. Those are those are the the healing qualities that will that will allow them to change the way they think and behave and feel and so so our culture, our language, our stories and that that that relationship to the ancestors is is critical and and and not to be afraid to be curious about all that because the we we have been subjected to colonialism that has that has taken away our language, that has created division, you know, in our in our family and systems that we have.

00;27;46;06 - 00;28;44;00
Eddie Gardner
And that that division is that separateness is is what is troubling you know, our our young people, once they start to reconnect, you know, with that that that culture that language, that heritage that we all have, you know, as as well Mark then there that then and then then they will get a sense of empowerment within themselves and they'll stay away from the drugs and the alcohol and and reduce their their the time and energy that they spend on technology and and refocus their attention to back to the land you know, back to the language, you know, don't be afraid of of learning the language, making a mistake when you're when you're trying to try out

00;28;44;00 - 00;29;13;17
Eddie Gardner
the language trade. I, I find that a lot of, of our people are, are intimidated by learning the language because there are so many dialects and they, they, they don't want to be, they don't want to, they don't want to feel bad because they, they mispronounce something and they feel, feel inferior to those who can speak the language a lot more.

00;29;13;17 - 00;30;11;16
Eddie Gardner
But, um, I find that, uh, that when people are young, people are brought into our language, are you know, we, we have to be very creative about motivating and getting them engaged and in learning the language once they make those small, simple steps, just one to three little steps to gain a little bit of growth in a language, once they've taken them, then they will become more familiar and more comfortable and more sure of themselves about, uh, about learning a little more, taking a few more steps, you know, to learn the language and feel good and feel proud, feel like uh, like I felt, you know, and when I had that series to learn our language

00;30;14;12 - 00;30;45;05
Eddie Gardner
every word, every phrase that I was able to learn in the language I taught myself, those are words and phrases that the Indian residential school legacy couldn't take away from me. And I felt good about that. So. So that's that that's that's part of the attitude that we need to cultivate with our young people so that they can come into their own.

00;30;45;12 - 00;31;06;18
Aaron Pete
I really love that comment about looking at your lineage with a sense of pride and a sense of admiration, because I look at the things that my family lineage had to endure in order for me to be here today. My mother being born with fetal alcohol syndrome disorder as a consequence of her mother drinking, but she drank to cope with what she saw at Indian Residential School.

00;31;06;28 - 00;31;40;06
Aaron Pete
And so to see what they endured, to see how resilient and strong they were, you could look at them with judgment and say, why or how, why would you do that? But to understand that they did those things so I could be here today and so that my children could be here and grandchildren and and to see them with admiration and understand that they learned things and they survived things and they were strong and to think that you come from them, that you're connected with them, for others, it might be that their their parents or grandparents fought in World War Two or World War One.

00;31;40;06 - 00;31;56;24
Aaron Pete
And that they stood up for the rights of people to be able to be free, to be able to speak, to be able to have their own thoughts, to see your family lineage with some sense of of admiration it seems like sometimes we lack that. We feel like we're one person and our parents are over there doing their own thing.

00;31;57;03 - 00;32;06;29
Aaron Pete
And there's this sense of disconnectedness that we have with our family lineage. And then you're talking about the language and this thirst for it. I'm curious as to how that came about for you.

00;32;08;03 - 00;32;36;12
Eddie Gardner
Well, I was I was born in Hope B.C. and my that was in 1946 and when I was ten years old and 56, my dad found a job working for the Quebec North Shore, an outdoor railroad, and so he moved the family over to set sail Quebec. And that's where I learned to speak French and we lived and set sail.

00;32;36;12 - 00;33;08;28
Eddie Gardner
There was this indigenous nation there and they called him, you know, now they're in Montana before and they all spoke their language and, and when I tried to learn their language I picked a little bit of lot up here and there. And then I asked my, you know, my, my father and my mother about our language. And they only knew one or two words.

00;33;08;28 - 00;33;53;16
Eddie Gardner
And I felt pretty bad about dad. You know, we don't even know our language and we're not speaking and don't even know the name of our language. You know, when I was a little guy like that. So I grew up I grew up back east, and I went to other other nations. And some of them some of them a lot of their the people were kind of assimilated and because of the residential school and and they took away the language and we were treated like savages and that kind of thing.

00;33;55;28 - 00;34;31;06
Eddie Gardner
And but there were others who, who, uh, were able to survive that, that dark era, you know, and that we're still able to keep their language, as I traveled through, uh, through Canada, I met some of those amazing people. And then there were there were some inspirational stories that were there that was told to me about how they kept their language.

00;34;32;13 - 00;35;00;15
Eddie Gardner
There is that even closer to home, up and uh, Latin First Nation, there was an elder up there and they used to tell this everybody, you know, and at gatherings you said you did take pride, you'd say, I was an Indian every day of my life. I never missed one day said this when I was going on, I was going to residential school.

00;35;00;15 - 00;35;24;08
Eddie Gardner
I spoke Indian to myself and to, to others who were able to speak the language. And we, we, we shared their language in private. Some of the others were not able to do that. But but I did you know. And so when I when I heard that I was an Indian every day of my life, and I still speak my language, and he did.

00;35;24;27 - 00;36;00;09
Eddie Gardner
And that was so inspirational. And Dr. Sam, you delivered our our last fluent speaker. She would she would share with us that she would go to the uh, the end of the field that separated the, uh, the Indian residential school in St Mary's. And she would speak Indian to self and she would always remember the language. She, she just was not, she was determined not to allow them to take the language away from her.

00;36;00;14 - 00;36;49;29
Eddie Gardner
And so, so she survived the Indian residential school herself by continuing to speak the language and then when I like I, I, I knew there was something missing, you know, when I was growing up back East and then I finally made it back home and then in 1994 and I went to the, the cook elite and long I was there and there was, I heard some singing going on and so I went in there and there was a, there was a till I saw it, you know, she was, she was singing, singing in the language with some students of hers and it sounded so beautiful and I said wow there's they're singing in our language.

00;36;50;07 - 00;37;25;00
Eddie Gardner
And so I went to see as and so I saw it and I said, Hey, you guys are singing in our names. Wow, that's amazing. And she said, Don't you know how to do that, Eddie? I was no, I don't know, Dad. So you you need to learn that So I said, how do I do that? So she told me all about the movement of foot, you know, here to to revitalize a language, bring our language alive.

00;37;25;16 - 00;38;12;00
Eddie Gardner
And I got so thrilled and so happy about that. I, I signed up, you know, with the four classes that we had going and those four levels of the language and levels. And I took all those courses, and and then there were, there were a few linguistic courses after that that, uh, that, that I took and, uh, I finally was able to do to get a certificate called Intermediate Fluency and how Camille I thought that was quite the uh, generous to say I was intermediate.

00;38;12;00 - 00;38;59;28
Eddie Gardner
I didn't feel intermediate, but, but I kept going, I kept learning and um, my, my sister still Armitage. She was, uh, very, very well educated and, and had that, that ability to, to fundraise for, uh, getting resources to revitalize our language. And so she, she created an opportunity for, for those who attained intermediate and fluency to, um, to go up another level and then be able to get certified to teach in the schools and, and therefore get paid an adequate salary, you know, for doing so.

00;38;59;28 - 00;39;47;08
Eddie Gardner
So far as our language is being kind of in the schools, it's being tied to you have me that's being taught in the schools in our communities, which is absolutely wonderful because the young people are the ones who are going to be very strong in their language. And, and nowadays, uh, uh, there is um, uh, another program stall actually, um, whereby they work with Siyamiyateliyot and their linguist to create even more tools, you know, to, to enhance that ability for those who are more advanced in the language to take steps and grow to a greater fluency.

00;39;47;17 - 00;40;37;29
Eddie Gardner
So I'm really happy about that. And I've been participating in and um, and now, uh, now I'm a teacher in the language, you know, I teach the language, um, in our community. Um, I develop, uh, language courses online, you know, for family and so the family or our family is, is uh, growing in the language. And what I want to do is uh, is to be a uh, a teacher of the language in our community then re more intensely involved, you know, um, and continue to work with all the others who are, who are and really making our language come alive.

00;40;38;21 - 00;41;07;01
Eddie Gardner
One of the dreams we have is, is to have a radio station, you know, where all our foreign speakers can, can chat, you know, in our language on, on the radio. And so that's, uh, that's something that, uh, we're going to work towards. But there's, there's other uh, uh, initiatives we're taking. And one of them is they still don't tell them they're good medicine songs right?

00;41;07;08 - 00;41;40;04
Eddie Gardner
And those are sung in English and how come in them and we're merging you know, our, our drumming and singing plus our language with, uh, with Eagle Rock and that just really really lifts the crowd every time we sing. And because when we create these songs, those songs are steeped in our, in our uh, uh, we have stories in our school clothes stories.

00;41;40;27 - 00;42;09;07
Eddie Gardner
And so, so it, it provides a lot of fun, you know, to learn the language because people are singing in the language. And they're also also it's a cross-cultural thing and people from all backgrounds can come and and kind of get a real good taste of what it's like, you know, to their, what it, what it, what it really means, you know, to, to to speak an indigenous language.

00;42;09;18 - 00;42;54;24
Eddie Gardner
Because the words and the phrases bring so many really beautiful teachings and about who we are and where we came from. And, and some of the stories people, you know, can't relate to us. You know, they're just fairy tales or they have a maybe a an opinion about them that has changed. But when people kind of come to appreciate the and look at some of the stories that we have, we see archetypes and there and those archetypes are very powerful teachings about how we need to be, how we need to relate, you know, to to the land that that we lived in.

00;42;54;24 - 00;42;59;16
Eddie Gardner
Here for thousands of years and more. So, yeah.

00;42;59;28 - 00;43;11;11
Aaron Pete
This leads me into my question. I'm wondering, what do you you understand French, English, what is unique to you about the whole climate them language? What stands out to you?

00;43;12;03 - 00;43;35;01
Eddie Gardner
What stands out to me is, is uh, is that uh, the, every word, every word that we have in our language a carry carries, uh, carries a richness that cannot be found anywhere else.

00;43;37;07 - 00;44;08;04
Eddie Gardner
And it says, how come Elam is, uh, provides us with, uh, with a world view that is so unique and so rich and so valuable, um, that we need to treasure it. And we need to, uh, we need to cultivated it's in a it's an endangered language. You know, when I was learning, uh, French, uh, it was on TV, you know, it was on the radio, it was in the magazines.

00;44;08;08 - 00;44;36;09
Eddie Gardner
You go to the stores, everything is translated into English and French, you know, so you walk down the street and the, the, you know, the people, uh, you can speak the language in. When I was learning the language in Seattle and I made mistakes, you know, in and beginning, but I didn't take it personally, you know, people or people laughed and giggled, you know, when I said something funny, you know, and and they would correct me.

00;44;36;09 - 00;45;04;06
Eddie Gardner
And and so when I got corrected, you know, I felt better, you know, because I was, because I had so many teachers, you know, learning the language. But uh, as my sister noted, still on with it. And so gardener, she said that we need to we need to make our language a lot more visible and needs to be in print and needs to be on the radio.

00;45;04;13 - 00;45;38;29
Eddie Gardner
It needs to be and it needs to be in every street corner, you know, in Chilliwack you know, we need to have our our how come you learn how to mail them up everywhere and, and we need to motivate more of our people to, uh, to take up the language and, and cultivate that sense of responsibility. Everybody carries a little bit of responsibility to revitalize our language, to take back our language.

00;45;39;22 - 00;45;47;16
Eddie Gardner
Like I said before, land back, language back, and welcoming them back. We need do we need that? We really do.

00;45;47;26 - 00;46;07;21
Aaron Pete
I couldn't agree more I'm curious. Can you walk us through some phrases that stand out to you that are worth knowing? The challenge I see right now is that people are in the stage of learning, but it feels like, as you said, there are some people there who are eager to correct and not in the polite. Hey, just so you know, it's actually this.

00;46;07;27 - 00;46;27;04
Aaron Pete
It's more of like you're saying it wrong, stop it. You're doing it wrong. And I've seen that quite a few times when people are trying to pronounce certain words. They're curious, but they make a mistake. And it seems like sometimes there's not enough empathy for those people. Can you walk us through some terms that you think it would be useful for people to know if they're just getting started.

00;46;28;28 - 00;47;23;22
Eddie Gardner
I think that they're there. There was some some really, really intelligent thought that was given to learning the dialect. Um, of how come l.m I would come in and all around the island and because there more as speakers over there than there are over here for how come I prefer. Right. So but and even here and there, there's there's a lot of, uh, of, um, dialects, you know, Australia's way to eat and pilau, they're all different, they all carry different dialects.

00;47;24;04 - 00;48;36;29
Eddie Gardner
And so when we, when we learn a language as some, as some of the words uh, those dialects come into play. And we need to, we need to acknowledge that, that each dialect is, uh, is special. And some of the, some of the old ones who, who left the language to some of the people that the it's or which are and they say, for instance, out in Australia, so they would say chat and of a set which means we write and and so you can interchange them you know, and whenever we find whenever we find out uh how somebody pronounces or says a word or phrase we need to and it's a little bit different than

00;48;37;02 - 00;49;12;03
Eddie Gardner
than, than what you're learning, um we tell our, we tell our students that honor, honor whoever says it a little different and say that's a good where did you learn how to learn that. And and this is how we said, you know, that's just like English, right? You say tomato, tomato, I say tomato, you know, it's a little bit different, you know, so so we get we just need to, uh, and get people to, to, to accept that they're there.

00;49;12;04 - 00;49;59;06
Eddie Gardner
They're, there are several dialects so Dari in our area and, uh, and we need to respect them all. But when we, when we have a set of teachings and how we learn the language, we learned it from, from elders who came together and said, let's create these tools. Let's create up river how Halq’eméylem dialect and the ones that uh, that, that Sts'ailes and Ts'elxwéyeqw take they're all a little bit different but they're, they're, they have so much in common.

00;50;00;00 - 00;50;28;12
Eddie Gardner
And so all these tools and all the words that, that have been brought down to us you can hear them on some of the old tapes now you can hear them and some of the tapes of our teachers that have gone before us now so I absolutely yeah, I'm glad we all of my dad's sort acquired all those great teachers.

00;50;29;03 - 00;50;56;05
Eddie Gardner
You can hear their recordings now and go back to them and you can tell there's a little bit of difference in every one of them, but they're all good and of course, great because they're they were the fluent teachers of the time. And and we had such a great time learning from them. And they respected everybody who who was learning the language and they never, ever laughed at them or were too strict with them.

00;50;56;17 - 00;51;16;21
Eddie Gardner
They just kept repeating and repeating and repeating the language until they were able to capture it and and become familiar with with the different ways of saying it in our area here. So people just need to be mindful of some of the some of the changes, you know, in dialect.

00;51;16;26 - 00;51;35;13
Aaron Pete
Are there are some phrases, some words some areas that stand out to you that that you think it's worth people learning about because it's like when you learn a lot. Yeah. Means always wild strawberries every time I tell people about that, they're intrigued, they're interested. Is there something that stand out to you that mean a lot to people?

00;51;36;01 - 00;52;04;09
Eddie Gardner
Um, there's a lot of, of key phrases that, uh, that people, people say on a regular basis, especially at meetings when we're talking about the land, you know, and when we say time off to just met and looks at me and said, this is our territory. We need to take good care of everything that belongs to us. Right?

00;52;05;03 - 00;52;32;15
Eddie Gardner
And that, that needs to be on the lips of everybody, you know, our leaders, our people every day. Titleholders. We're the title holders, every title holder, just needs to be able to say that, you know, when we when we welcome people to our territory, we say, yeah, yeah, me, too. So glad you come to me. Oh, that means welcome to our unceded territory.

00;52;32;25 - 00;53;04;03
Eddie Gardner
Every title holder needs to learn that, you know, in our language so that so that when they when they say it in their language and then they read, they translated into English it carries a greater weight and significance and and awareness about, well, yeah, you know, our territory is, uh, has not been resolved yet in terms of uh, uh, land, what we call land claims today.

00;53;04;03 - 00;54;14;02
Eddie Gardner
You know, um, it all brings to the, the fundamentals of uh, of our situation. And when we look at the Pope and what the Pope said, you know, recently about repudiating you know, the doctrine of discovery and terra nullius, right? This is empty land. And then we say, uh, are some of our territory, right? And then uh, uh, saying those words said, uh, mean, mean something even more because said because this notion of, uh, of white supremacy and or this notion of assumed crown, you know, land, it's assumed it's not real as we know that this is our land, this is, this is real, this is our territory.

00;54;14;22 - 00;54;38;22
Eddie Gardner
This is not assume this is something that we've that says that we've occupied this, uh, this territory for thousands of years and, and, and people have just assumed authority over our land and, you know, so they, it does make a big difference, you know, when you say those words, you know, you know.

00;54;39;06 - 00;54;58;01
Aaron Pete
I think it's really valuable because people can start to see the depths of the language and you can start to admire things about it like you can with the French language. Or other languages. You can start to see the unique characteristics about that language. Is there anything that stands out to you in regards to how climate of them is somewhat unique from other dialects?

00;54;58;01 - 00;54;59;27
Aaron Pete
Or something it does that special?

00;55;01;02 - 00;55;37;29
Eddie Gardner
Yeah. The the the mail room is is a very special language because it it's it's steeped in the land. It's, it's really steeped in and, and and focused on our, our land and our ancestors and who looked after this territory for thousands of years and uh, all those words like harmonize that. That's the gifts from our creator. Right?

00;55;38;00 - 00;56;13;29
Eddie Gardner
And when we say, uh, we say, we say, my, there is time. So tell you, that's, uh, that's, that's a special relationship to my the earth. And other nations have uh, uh, looked at that term, all my relations, you know, "mock-tells" you know, that means all our relations, you know, in our language when so when we add uh, look at that phrase and tells what does it really mean?

00;56;13;29 - 00;56;33;16
Eddie Gardner
That means that we're related to everyone and everything here, you know, and, and then you, you think of, uh, surely right after that, and that's that life spirit. And what is life spirit mean? You know, to you, what does lady spirit mean to you? To other people. Right?

00;56;35;22 - 00;57;16;07
Eddie Gardner
And our our elder Yamilot like she said, the life spirit is in the in the rocks. It's in the trees. It's in the river. It's in you, it's in your mother. It's your grandmother, your great grandmother. It goes back thousands of years. Lake spirit will last forever. You know, it's, uh, that's, that's that's pretty. Pretty significant, right? So, yeah, we are, and we are looking to make our language grow much stronger.

00;57;16;07 - 00;57;47;11
Eddie Gardner
And what we want to do is, is all the different texts that are related to a vision, you know, for future that needs to be translated into, into how come in them and there are some words there. There are some words that, uh, that are hard to translate. Of course, you know, in our language. And then elders need to think about it, you know.

00;57;48;09 - 00;58;16;20
Eddie Gardner
And, you know, when they asked the elders, how do you translate science and living in our language and they say, what do you mean by science? And so they went on about what they meant about science and so they came, they, they, they talked about that among themselves. And then they, they came back and they said, well, to us, uh, science is us to come up.

00;58;17;14 - 00;58;52;05
Eddie Gardner
And they said, What does that mean? That means teachings of the earth. So that's, that means we're, we're, we're getting teachings from the areas we're not learning about here, which is a different world view. Right? So our, our, our language care is such a broad and unique and, and meaningful world view that that that helps guide how we live and how we think and how we feel about, about living in this part of the world.

00;58;52;19 - 00;59;17;07
Aaron Pete
That's one of the things I was thinking about is like the philosophical differences between how we speak in English versus the whole halqemeylem language. The often indigenous cultures is considered more community oriented that we're more together. Whereas with Western culture it's always referred to as individualistic individual. And so I'm just curious as to how that that relates.

00;59;17;25 - 01;00;03;02
Eddie Gardner
Yeah, that's the add and when we say we're title holders, where title title to the land is a is kind of a foreign concept in a way. But it wouldn't we say we're all title holders. That means we're collectively, you know, we we we were part of this land. Nobody can dig their way, you know, and I and Western views, it's, you know, this simple kind of thing is, you know, you have ownership and once you have ownership, then you have more power than the collective, right?

01;00;03;02 - 01;00;36;05
Eddie Gardner
Because this is private property. Stay out. Whereas whereas collectively when we we owned something communally, then the community really truly, genuinely benefits not just one person. Right? So it that collective concept is something that cultivates the importance of sharing importance of of community wellbeing and in opposed to power and control, you know, and Western thinking.

01;00;36;26 - 01;00;42;10
Aaron Pete
I love this. Would you mind telling people how they could get started if they're interested in learning more of the language?

01;00;43;10 - 01;01;23;00
Eddie Gardner
Yes, I think there is several courses now that are being offered at the University of the Fraser Valley and then we have a stylish really which is a program that that is run out of the style of research and Resource Management Center. And they are they're developing a lot of really powerful tools, booklets, uh, the volume chart that helps us get a good start in the language.

01;01;23;14 - 01;02;06;21
Eddie Gardner
Um, uh, and some of the, uh, this Stó:lō Shxweli program is a, is uh, connected with a lot of teachers who are in the schools or in the communities and they're actively, you know, out there teaching the language so they would be a rich resource. And they also have, um, they also have a library there, you know, there are several books, uh, the wisdom of our elders, you know, is, is one of them that uh, that provides a really strong and powerful foundation on, on learning the language.

01;02;06;21 - 01;02;59;26
Eddie Gardner
And that's a, it's a really rich resource. And I would, uh, yeah, I would encourage people who are interested to look at that book. Thomas, you're still young, acquire, you know, the wisdom of our elders. You know, that's a really good book yeah. And I'm teaching the language, I think, uh, there's a, uh, I I would like to, uh, you know, really, really encourage our people if they're ever in the communities, not to be afraid of the language, not to be afraid to, to learn the language, but be really curious about, about how are they the simple easy steps that you can take to begin learning the language and just have fun with it.

01;03;00;03 - 01;03;47;02
Eddie Gardner
You know, just, just enjoy it. And and then they'll grow in the language of the and all they have to do is ask, you know, just go to their chiefs and counselors that they want to learn the language, you know, and and you need to develop a language course and things will happen, you know, because, uh, if you never ask, if you're never curious you'll never know, you know, so and people just need to, to be, to relax, be comfortable, to just know that, that there are teachers out there who have a lot of patience, who have a lot of really beautiful, good tools you know, to, to facilitate and make learning the language easier, you

01;03;47;02 - 01;03;55;27
Eddie Gardner
know, so just to just have confidence in yourself that, yeah, you can, you can learn the language. Do you know.

01;03;56;12 - 01;04;14;17
Aaron Pete
You you speak so elegantly. I really appreciate your time. The last time we did this, it was like 38 degree weather. Yeah. At the Blue Heron Reserve. And so I'm glad that we can have a cooler conversation and dove into these things. Do you want to leave listeners with anything else? Any comments, any, any last thoughts?

01;04;15;06 - 01;04;58;26
Eddie Gardner
Um, yeah, I think that, uh, what, uh, what we need to learn is to, to drop our, our differences and focus on what is really important and, and that's, that's within our community as well. And external community. We have a lot of wonderful partners out there who are, who are interested in in respecting, you know, our language, our culture, our, our, our, our lands or our title.

01;04;58;26 - 01;05;32;20
Eddie Gardner
And in this age of climate change, that is becoming more and more important but, uh, when the, when people are able to pick up, uh, a phrase like, um, like double check sailor, uh, Scott to sail to see if that means we have to learn to live together in a good way. Right. That and when they, when they learn that that comes from tough.

01;05;32;24 - 01;06;09;14
Eddie Gardner
Alexa, you know, um, that's stone, you know, that this, uh, this man is his name in our, in our school three times was to Alexa and today, uh, Herb Jo, you know, he, he carries that name. So that's his ancestor so that stone was found in, in an agricultural field out by some astronauts to Mars and, uh, the people who found it and, uh, they, they gave it.

01;06;09;14 - 01;06;31;02
Eddie Gardner
Why ended up being in a, in a museum down and down in the state of Washington. And, uh, took a look at Herb Joe, and he found out he went down there and he saw as he saw his relative down there. And so you got really motivated to to call the family together, to call people together to approach the museum.

01;06;31;02 - 01;06;58;16
Eddie Gardner
And and they finally worked out a plan to bring him back, you know, to, uh, and to our, to our territory here and now. It said Building Number Ten, and my dad story um, that, that, that teaching to Alexa, um, left us. We, we need to learn to live together in a good way. Is so profound. It's so, so meaningful.

01;06;59;10 - 01;07;34;01
Eddie Gardner
Um, and, and it can be a, it's a teaching that can be applied, you know, to families in a community. Sometimes, you know, families can get so divided. It's really important for us to drop our differences and focus on what's important, you know, for the well-being of everyone instead of seeking the vision and, and, and feeling separated and, and that kind of thing by coming together you know, and doing something good for, for everyone.

01;07;34;17 - 01;07;57;24
Eddie Gardner
And in today's world, we have to learn to live together in a good way. Plans have been taken away from us. Our culture and language has been eroded. Now we need to seek out those people who come to live in our territory. We need they need to learn to live together with will move in a good way as well.

01;07;57;27 - 01;08;24;10
Eddie Gardner
And it's mutual. There's a mutual respect that needs to be there so that teaching is so powerful. It can be it can be used within our communities and it can be used between our communities and the world around us as well, so that we can come together and learn to live in a good way, in a good way that will respect our land or our culture, our waters, our fish and all for the better.

01;08;24;20 - 01;08;28;04
Eddie Gardner
Have no, no, not only ourselves, but for future generations.