WHITEHORSE, YUKON—In Whitehorse we were welcomed like family. “Filipe, it’s an honour to be hosting you guys … I’m reading your book right now,” grinned Jocelyn Barrett before passing me a cold Yukon Gold. A lawyer originally from Kuujjuaq, Que., she and her husband, John Van der Meer, live in a gorgeous log home just north of Whitehorse with a chestnut mare and a bay gelding. John’s father, Sid Van der Meer, who we met in Beaver Creek, graciously secured this extraordinary layover for us. “My dad hasn’t stopped talking about you guys since you came through,” said John Van der Meer, while he flipped the elk sausages we would have for dinner that night. With the horses in a spacious pasture filling their bellies and resting their hooves, Clara Davel, my Argentine girlfriend and support driver, and I went about exploring the city of 25,000 people — the major hub for Northern Canada.We arrived in time for the final day of the Adaka Cultural Festival. In its ninth year, the festival — whose name means “coming into the light” in the Southern Tutchone language — celebrates arts and culture of the Yukon’s 14 First Nations. Since the UN declared 2019 the year of Indigenous languages, this year’s event celebrated the eight First Nations language groups in the Yukon.“There’s a real sense of now or never when we discuss First Nations languages,” said Charlene Alexandre, the executive director of the Yukon First Nations Culture and Tourism Association. “They are endangered.”In nearly all Yukon communities, only the elders can still speak their language fluently due to the effects of residential schools. It was heartbreaking to hear stories about how children were shamed and mistreated for speaking their native tongues.“I know the weight of the Bible. They (missionaries) used to make me hold bibles with my arms spread out and if I lowered ...
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