February 2005. I became the newest member of the Saanich-CURA team. It was clear from the beginning I had my work cut out for me. Saanich is known for a never give up nor give in attitude toward revitalizing the SENĆOŦEN language and everything else for that matter... I have also known this attitude to be referred to as "Keep the Fire Burning..."' (Meaning: It's later than we think, the fire is a cinder, the time to act for our SENĆOŦEN language is now!)
Collecting priorities for project ideas was not going to be any different. Our community never really knows when the financial support is going to be available. So, when we have the opportunity to work on language we have to turn every dollar into two and create greater materials out of smaller amounts of time. In the back of your mind at all times you have to take on the task like there is not going to be a tomorrow for the SENĆOŦEN language…
When we sat down to begin, I felt it was important, as a fresh set of eyes and ears, that I facilitate the session. The Saanich group had been living with this project for well over a year at this point. Like an artist working on a painting, the closer we become the harder it is to be objective. The first logical step was to get together to set priorities. I find it is at times painful to try and put even four or five on a page. In this case, working with the Saanich group we had to stop… We had more than enough and later discovered we had too many priorities for one year.
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