We are honoured to gather to learn on the traditional territories of the Nłeʔkepmx and Syilx peoples.
Nicola Canford has a student population where approximartely 60% identify as having Aboriginal ancestry. The majority of those who self-identify come from the Lower Nicola Band, Nooaitch Band, and Shackan Band, and are predominantly Nłeʔkepmx in heritage. Our staff has spent many years working closely with our community partners, families, and students. In that time, we have found that language and culture are key to the motivation and engagement of our clientele.
In addition to this, we see a great need to invest in the retention of the Nłeʔkepmxcin language as the elders that we have traditionally relied upon advance in years. Our current belief is that, if we are to retain the Nłeʔkepmxcin language, we need to invest more heavily in the language instruction of our young learners. We believe that the expertise and capacity that we will develop in this process will better position us to eventually establish more robust Nłeʔkepmxcin offerings in our school and district.
