Where There Are Always Wild Strawberries

Abstract

"Where there are always wild strawberries" is a personal reflection on what revitalizing our Halq'emeylem language can mean in the context of a Stodo person's life and illustrates how our language, identity, and place are inextricably interconnected, reflecting an important aspect of Stodo world view. The presenta­tion draws on the author's personal life experiences using narrative style and met­aphor traditional stories of the Sto:lo people to illustrate Stodo conceptual systems. "Where there are always wild strawberries" was presented as a keynote talk at the conference, The revitalization of Aboriginal societies: Land, language, philosophy, arts on July 9, 2000.