A community bookshelf in Chilliwack that was refurbished by a group of Agassiz kids turned into a project that will teach the public Halq’eméylem.
A group of Grade 7 students from Seabird Island Community School recently helped restore a Rotary Club of Chilliwack bookshelf at the Chilliwack Landing Leisure Centre.
The shelves were too deep and it needed a fresh coat of paint, said teacher and Rotarian Shane Douglas. His fellow Rotarians asked if he could help modify it, and he agreed.
“I looked at it like there was an opportunity to also do a bit more, and bring in reconciliation.”
One of the goals was to draw more children to the three-tiered, wheeled bookshelf, so he decided to bring his students into the picture and also Soowahlie artist Isadore Charters, who has been an elder in residence at Seabird Island Community School for nearly seven years.
The bookshelf was taken to the school to be modified and painted.
When Charters heard about the project and saw the bookshelf he knew it had to be repainted, but he also felt other designs needed to be added.
A Grade 7 class from Seabird Island Community School painted this Rotary Club of Chilliwack bookshelf and included hand prints, animal footprints and Halq’eméylem words with English translations. (Jenna Hauck/ Chilliwack Progress)
“We decided we’ll put some native stuff on it, native words that mean a lot to us like ‘friend,’” Charters said. “‘Friend,’ to me is you gotta reach out… we’ve gotta be friends to our neighbours. Share one another’s stories, share one another’s intelligence and knowledge.”
The Halq’eméylem word siyá:ya is painted on the bookshelf right above its English translation: friend. There’s also éyes which means ‘fun’ and tl’í:ls which is ‘love.’
Painted footprints and paw prints of bears, birds and deer are seen walking past the students’ hand prints.
“It’s important that we put our animals in there,” Charters said. “We leave a mark in our world. We always leave our mark, our tracks.”
Charters has done various other art projects with the kids including cedar basket weaving, pine needle baskets, drawing, colouring, and carving soap.
Douglas said some of his students are nervous to do art, but Charters brings out the best in each child.
“He finds their potential. He can get the best work out of all the students,” Douglas said.
Shane Douglas’s Grade 7 class at Seabird Island Community School, along with Isadore ‘Yummo’ Charters, stand by the bookshelf that was modified and repainted. (Submitted by Shane Douglas)
The kids at school don’t call him Isadore, or Mr. Charters. They call him Yummo.
“It’s my little childhood name.”
Yummo is the name that was taken away from him at the age of six. When he first went to residential school and they asked what his English name was, he didn’t know. It was his sister who came over and said his English name is Isadore.
READ MORE: Isadore Charters shares his story of residential school
His full Indigenous name is Yenmoceetza, which means to shelter people. For years he has taken young kids under his wing and taught them about art, language, legends and more.
He’ll draw pictures of animals in the classroom and then he’ll tell the kids a story about the animal.
“They like legends and that really inspires them,” Charters said. “Especially if it’s a really funny story… it really gets them going.”
A Grade 7 class from Seabird Island Community School painted this Rotary Club of Chilliwack bookshelf and included hand prints, animal footprints and Halq’eméylem words with English translations. (Jenna Hauck/ Chilliwack Progress)
That inspiration clearly came through with the bookshelf project and he said he very pleased with the end product.
“I really like the colours, it looks so good together. It’s like harmony.”
Shop teacher Matt Thomas helped modify the bookshelf, and Dianna Kay and Karla Kay provided the Halq’eméylem translation.
“The Rotary Club is also very appreciative of this,” Douglas said, adding that members of the club gave artisanal cupcakes and wrote thank-you letters to the kids and others who worked on the bookshelf.
Douglas said this project might be a small act of reconciliation, but it is needed.
“Chilliwack has a lot of good momentum going on, and just like any other place, there’s a lot more room to do reconciliation,” he said.
Charters agreed and he’s hoping people who come into the Chilliwack Landing Leisure Centre and see the Halq’eméylem words painted on the bookshelf will look up how to pronounce them.
“It never ends. It’s just a start and it’ll go a long way,” Charters said.
To learn Halq’eméylem words and hear their pronunciations, go to firstvoices.com/halqemeylem.
Shane Douglas (left), teacher at Seabird Island Community School, and Isadore Charters stand by the bookshelf that was modified and repainted by Douglas’s class. (Jenna Hauck/ Chilliwack Progress)
