In March of 2024, 40 representatives from LENOṈET, the W̱SÁNEĆ School Board’s pre-school to grade 12 immersion program spent two weeks visiting Māori-language immersion schools in Aotearoa (New Zealand) in an initiative called LENOṈET SCUL,ÁUTW̱. 14 high school students, seven university students, and several chaperones and SENĆOŦEN language teachers participated, marking the beginning of a commitment to global relationship building, learning, and cultural revitalization.

(shown above: the  LENOṈET SCUL,ÁUTW̱ / Māori language exchange group)

For over 50 years, the W̱SÁNEĆ School Board has provided SENĆOŦEN language revitalization education to W̱SÁNEĆ in a holistic, adaptive, and ever-improving learning environment.  LENOṈET staff always dreamed of taking students overseas to connect with other leaders in language revitalization around the world, and this recent trip to Aotearoa made that dream a reality.

LENOṈET SCUL,ÁUTW̱’s journey to Aotearoa began when a connection was made by University of Victoria Professor Onowa McIvor and from this two Māori-language immersion schools visited LENOṈET SCUL,ÁUTW̱. During each visit, W̱SÁNEĆ students and the visiting Māori relatives spent the entire day sharing history and exchanging protocols and dances. At the end of the second trip, the visitors shared a dance, inviting W̱SÁNEĆ students to visit their immersion schools in Aotearoa. LENOṈET staff immediately knew they would accept the invitation. 

LENOṈET quickly got to work preparing for the trip. While team members such as MENEŦIYE, SENĆOŦEN Immersion Teacher, and long-time immersion school staff member SX̱EDŦELISIYE (Renee Sampson) ironed out logistics, the entire W̱SÁNEĆ School Board community engaged in fundraising. For nearly an entire year, students and staff fundraised through various events, including bake sales, bottle drives, car washes, poinsettia sales, and bingo nights until enough was raised to support a two-week trip.

The trip began with a week-long visit to Tauranga— a coastal city in the Bay of Plenty Region— where the group stayed in Māori cultural buildings called marae. While there, WSB had the opportunity to participate in the host’s canoe journeys, called Hoe Te Moana (“Paddle the Ocean”), alongside Māori students of the same age. Before boarding the canoes, the students worked on dry land to learn the calls and practices necessary to successfully paddle as a group. Students considered this a highlight of the trip and left inspired to hold annual LENOṈET SCUL,ÁUTW̱ canoe journeys.  

(shown above: the LENOṈET SCUL,ÁUTW̱  / Māori language exchange group)

After a week in Taranga, the group travelled to Kaitaia in the far north of Aotearoa to spend a week with elementary-level immersion school students. There, the group stayed together in one of the classrooms of the immersion school.

Aside from participating in Hoe Te Moana, highlights of the trip included digging clams on the beach using only their hands as tools, visiting and connecting with the sacred homelands of the Māori, and interacting with Māori sacred stones.

In both places,  LENOṈET SCUL,ÁUTW̱’s group experienced a warm welcome and a sense of family. In the words of SX̱EDŦELISIYE, “We have so many similarities with them regarding their being saltwater people and how they view their water and constellations, and so it was a beautiful family building experience.” SX̱EDŦELISIYE also remarked on the incredible hospitality of the hosts, sharing, “I’ve never experienced hosting in that capacity before – it really felt like they were our aunties and our grandparents, and being around the Elders there was good medicine.”

(shown above: the  LENOṈET SCUL,ÁUTW̱  / Māori language exchange group)

This experience built powerful relationships between LENOṈET SCUL,ÁUTW̱ and the Māori-immersion schools, creating a model for the future of language immersion at WSB. SX̱EDŦELISIYE said, “It was really good for our students to see their students’ work ethic and their students’ commitment to language, and where we can strengthen our programming.” She added:

It is a goal of ours to be in a place where language is not just in one domain of education but in all domains of community, leadership, and even in the political arena, like they have in Aotearoa. We are aware they have one language whereas BC has many, but they are our big sister and we want to really honour their ways and adapt them in a W̱SÁNEĆ way.

While the Māori schools’ methods may not be the exact methods for LENOṈET, they are a powerful model that can serve as inspiration. After all, says SX̱EDŦELISIYE, “everyone is in the same canoe working toward bringing language into our homes.”

Attendees were also inspired by the arts education available at the Māori schools. In Aotearoa, government funding makes it possible for the schools to offer three-year intensive arts immersions in traditional crafts such as carving and weaving.  LENOṈET hopes to one day implement similar programming to revitalize traditional W̱SÁNEĆ arts.

This successful trip to Aotearoa is just the beginning of an ongoing relationship.  LENOṈET and leaders from the Māori schools are already in talks to create a rotating cycle of visits.  LENOṈET also plans to create a similar structure with other Indigenous communities worldwide, offering immersion programs, and to take each LENOṈET senior class on an international trip to visit one of these communities. This will not only foster strong relationships that strengthen WSB’s immersion education but also instill the traditional W̱SÁNEĆ values of hospitality in WSB’s youth. 

(shown above: the W̱SÁNEĆ / Māori language exchange group)

W̱SÁNEĆ Leadership Council (WLC) celebrates this new connection made by W̱SÁNEĆ School Board’s LENOṈET SCUL,ÁUTW̱ program and looks forward to the many ways this connection will help further inspire the revitalization of W̱SÁNEĆ culture among youth.

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