Reviving a Lost Language of Canada Through Film
The loss of one language, said Wade Davis, a University of British Columbia anthropology professor, is akin to clear-cutting an "old-growth forest of the mind." The world’s complex web of myths, beliefs
and ideas — which Mr. Davis calls the "ethnosphere" — is torn, just as the loss of a species weakens the biosphere, he said.
It worked: Ms. Jones spoke nothing but English, until recently, when she began learning her lines in the country’s first Haida-language feature film, "Edge of the Knife." With an entirely Haida cast,
and a script written in a largely forgotten language, the film reflects a resurgence of indigenous art and culture taking place across Canada.
Gwaai Edenshaw said that The secrets of who we are, are wrapped up in our language,
When a teacher caught Ms. Jones learning another indigenous language from two schoolmates, Ms. Jones said, the teacher yanked out three fingernails.
Diane Brown said that The language was dying before me,
It’s also a resistance to what was imposed on us." Mr. Edenshaw was a co-writer of the script for the 1.8 million Canadian dollar ($1.3
million) film, which is set in Haida Gwaii — an archipelago of forested islands off the west coast of Canada — during the 1800s.