A Lheidli T’enneh elder who played a key role in restoring the Dakelh language and culture to north-central B.C. has died.
Edie Frederick was in a vehicle crash between a taxi and pickup truck Sunday afternoon in Prince George, according to members of the community.
News of her death was shared in social media posts from multiple individuals and organizations, including the Exploration Place Museum, where Frederick had served as a member of the board of directors and helped create the Governor General-award-winning exhibit Hodul’eh-a: A Place of Learning, a permanent exhibit showcasing the history of the Dakelh people in the region.
Frederick’s death came just days after the death of her mother, Josie Paul.
“They were matriarchs in our nation and the backbones of their families,” said musician and friend Kym Gouchie in an online post. “Our nation is in a state of shock and sadness. Lheidli T’enneh will never be the same.”
Daybreak North9:14Mourning matriarchs of the Lheidli T’enneh
Lheidli T’enneh councillor Josh Seymour discusses the legacy of Edie Frederick and Josie Paul.
“They were my aunties,” said Josh Seymour, a Lheidli T’enneh councillor and Indigenous curator at the Exploration Place. “They always taught me a lot of things without letting me know they were teaching me.”
Lheidli T’enneh chief and council closed their offices Monday for mourning and have offered support to any members of the community who need it. Meetings scheduled for the rest of the week have also been cancelled.
‘It’s more powerful … in our language’
Frederick worked tirelessly as a language holder and teacher.
Along with her late husband, Robert Frederick, she helped create a course at the University of Northern British Columbia centred around the creation of a dugout canoe.
In 2015, she and Robert were named the university’s first elders-in-residence, which she called “a great honour.”
Listen to Lheidli T’enneh elder and language teacher Edie Frederick recite the poem In Flanders Fields in the Dakelh language.
She also helped create learning resources, including an online dictionary and learning materials for the local school district, where she spent time teaching language in classrooms, and helped create children’s books in the Dakelh language — important work because, according to Seymour, there were just a handful of people in the community who are considered fluent.
She was also known for translating English songs and poems into Dakelh: Her reading of In Flanders Field was shared widely when she debuted it in 2020, and in 2015 she was responsible for a Dakelh-language version of “O Canada” sung by a choir of children at the opening ceremonies of the Canada Winter Games, a moment she said brought tears to her eyes.
In interviews, Frederick spoke about speaking Dakelh with her grandmother before being taken to residential school, where it was not allowed, and the pride she felt hearing and seeing it once again.
“It’s more powerful when we say it in our language,” she said of her translation work in an interview with CBC in 2020.
“We see little bits of reconciliation happening here and there, and I just have hope for my great-grandchildren and my grandchildren, and I want to do my part and hold up that torch.”
According to Statistics Canada, just 1,461 people in British Columbia could speak Dakelh in 2021, a nearly 25 per cent decrease from 2016.
But there have been some improvements thanks to teaching efforts. A 2022 report on the status of First Nations languages prepared by the First Peoples’ Cultural Council found that there have been increases in opportunities for young people to learn languages, including Dakelh, as well as increases in adult learners.
Seymour said Paul’s and Frederick’s passing would have a “severe impact” on efforts to restore the language, and it was now up to those they taught to carry on with their work.
“It’s more important than ever,” he said. “We have to step up our efforts.”