Through a combination of perseverance and patience, a Lheidli T'enneh elder has earned the credentials to teach the First Nations language in School District #57 classrooms.
The B.C. College of Teachers recently issued Janet (Jeannette) Kozak, 70, a certificate of qualification to be a First Nations language teacher in the Lheidli dialect of the the Dakelh (Carrier) language.
"I also made history because I am the only Lheidli elder ever to receive a teacher's certifiicate," Kozak added.
It all began 15 years ago when she and seven other women began the training.
"Every time the money ran out, they quit," Kozak said. "But I continued...I wasn't waiting for a grant or anything like that, I never even thought of it."
Kozak, a parent of five with her her husband George, completed university studies through a program delivered in Vanderhoof by the University of British Columbia. Particularly useful was a course on linguistics.
"It really helps because it shows you how languages are put together," she said.
The real push began when she started on the teaching certificate.
"It took me nine months steady work from early in the morning up until midnight working on the curriculum in our dialect," she said.
Her mother, Mary Gouchie, 90, was a major source of knowledge because she is one of just three others, besides Kozak, who can speak the dialect.
"She is just so proud of me for receiving my certificate and I said 'mom, if it wasn't for you and the other elders, it wouldn't have been possible,'" Kozak said.
Kozak spoke Lheidli until she was six years old when she was sent away to residential school.
"When we went to residential school, we were not allowed to speak our language but they couldn't steal it out of my brain," she said.
Kozak, who has taught classes at College of New Caledonia, is now raring to share her knowledge with students at the Aboriginal Choice School.
"I think it's wonderful," she said. "This way, our language won't be lost and we'll go down in the history book - we saved the language."
