Tlaksta nesaika (about us)
BC Chinook Jargon was formed by students of Jay Powell, the only known remaining person in British Columbia who learned Chinook Jargon from native elders. Jay developed a curriculum and taught Chinook Jargon at Langara College in the 1970s. Some students used it as a language credit to get into the University of British Columbia.
[A] century ago there was justifiable cause to believe that Chinook Jargon might become a regional language, even a national language of the United States or Canada.”
— Jay Powell in Chinook Jargon
Many of the people Jay influenced wanted to respond to his call to help revitalize this important language of BC history.
One of Jay’s students, Global Civic Policy Society founder Sam Sullivan, worked with him to contribute an article on Chinook Jargon to the Canadian Encyclopedia.
“[Chinook Jargon] was used widely in court testimony, newspaper advertising, missionary activity among Indigenous peoples, and everyday conversation from central British Columbia to northern California..”
— Jay Powell and Sam Sullivan, 2017
Currently, BC Chinook Jargon is running an online Chinook Jargon study group, “language nest”. For more information, please get in touch using the contact form at the bottom of this page.
Jay and Sam have also hosted several immersion weekends and developed more learning materials.