'She is on a mission': Eileen Beaver honoured for lifelong contributions to language, education and culture

Eileen Beaver, a respected elder from Fort Smith, N.W.T., and advocate for Indigenous education and language preservation, has been recognized for her work with the Connected North program and her contributions to language revitalization, education and culture.

Connected North held a dinner banquet in her honour at the Salt River First Nation Conference Centre in Fort Smith last week.

Jennifer Corriero, the executive director of Connected North, said Beaver's role has been instrumental in shaping the growth and success of the program, especially within South Slave Divisional Education Council (SSDEC) schools.

Connected North provides live virtual learning experiences to classrooms across the North. Beaver started working with them three years ago as a content provider and eventually became their elder.

Corriero said Beaver brings cultural enrichment into the program through her work, and described her as a visionary who values the importance of students seeing the world from different perspectives and works to ensure that learning materials resonate with Indigenous students.

"Any topic we bring, she has the ability to enrich the learning through her knowledge," she said. "And for non-Indigenous content providers, she also brings a valuable perspective. She's a bridge of understanding."

Having the presence of elders in learning is vital for Connected North, and Corriero said the time and perseverance Beaver gives to the program is invaluable. It has helped strengthen their connections with various Indigenous communities across the north.

"She is on a mission to improve educational opportunities for Indigenous students in the north, and it just fits so well with what we're trying to achieve," she said. 

On top of her work with Connected North over the past three years, Corriero said it was also important to recognize the contributions Beaver made to the lives of students and teachers through her lifelong dedication to preserving the Indigenous language and culture.

She said Beaver's involvement with Connected North builds on decades of work advocating Indigenous language preservation and cultural education. A fluent speaker of Dene, Beaver can also speak some Cree.

"How much love she instills in all of us, for the land, for the language, for the culture. It's so beautiful," Corriero said. "I'm really honoured that I get to be a part of her life."

'If we lose our language, our children are going to be lost'

Beaver said despite initially hesitating to accept the recognition, she is grateful that her work is being recognized. She wants to use the platform to advocate for the continued revitalization of Indigenous languages.

Beaver said she and her husband, Henry, have dedicated their lives to promoting the importance of language and traditional knowledge by teaching younger generations about their culture.

"I strongly believe that if we lose our language, our children are going to be lost," Beaver said. "And so that's why I really feel the urgency,"

Before speaking English, Beaver said she was fluent in Dene, Michif and Cree. Because she was surrounded by Indigenous languages growing up around extended family, she could also understand Slavey and Dogrib.

But that rich history was almost lost after going through the residential school system where speaking Indigenous languages was forbidden. To reconnect with the language, Beaver said she consciously tried to think, speak and even work through her thoughts in Dene.

"What I found is the language inside of me was sleeping. I just had to use it more," she said.

This determination helped her become a fluent Dene speaker again and reinforced her commitment to ensuring future generations would not face the same struggles.

"I like planting seeds, and I like people taking those ideas and making them grow," she said. "You're seeing the ideas growing. And it becomes not my idea, but it becomes the community,"

This can be seen through the vast work Beaver has accomplished as a mentor, like Dene Quest, a language-based video game that teaches the player Dene by gradually increasing the use of the language as players progress.

The idea for the game came from a seed she planted with the game creator, Kyle Napier. The game is designed to engage youth in a fun, interactive way, integrating traditional knowledge with modern technology.

Eileen and Henry also recently attended a screening in Yellowknife of Inkwo for When the Starving Return, a short film by Amanda Strong based on the writing of Richard Van Camp that both Eileen and Henry worked on as elders and consultants.

Beaver also dreams of establishing a Dene language centre in Fort Smith to serve as a hub for language revitalization. She envisions a place where new and fluent speakers can feel safe and welcome to learn or expand on their language skills regardless of their age.

"I think that if we use the technology to benefit, to encourage and to start making our language come alive. I think that would be a great dream. It is my dream," she said.