Though she grew up around the language, Cynthia Jensen-Fisk never learned to speak Gitsenimx. She never even knew that learning it was an option.

“It wasn’t used very much around our house,” Jensen-Fisk said. “Probably because my dad was Swedish.”

Jensen-Fisk is now learning the language from her aunt, Barbara Harris, as part of the master-apprentice program through the First Peoples’ Cultural Council. A First Nations-run corporation, the council’s mandate is to support the revitalization of Aboriginal language, arts and culture in B.C. The council does this through documentation, cultural programming, curriculum development and programs like the master-apprentice program.