Reviving a Lost Language of Canada Through Film<br />The loss of one language, said Wade Davis, a University of British Columbia anthropology professor, is akin to clear-cutting an "old-growth forest of the mind." The world’s complex web of myths, beliefs<br />and ideas — which Mr. Davis calls the "ethnosphere" — is torn, just as the loss of a species weakens the biosphere, he said.<br />It worked: Ms. Jones spoke nothing but English, until recently, when she began learning her lines in the country’s first Haida-language feature film, "Edge of the Knife." With an entirely Haida cast,<br />and a script written in a largely forgotten language, the film reflects a resurgence of indigenous art and culture taking place across Canada.<br />Gwaai Edenshaw said that The secrets of who we are, are wrapped up in our language,<br />When a teacher caught Ms. Jones learning another indigenous language from two schoolmates, Ms. Jones said, the teacher yanked out three fingernails.<br />Diane Brown said that The language was dying before me,<br />It’s also a resistance to what was imposed on us." Mr. Edenshaw was a co-writer of the script for the 1.8 million Canadian dollar ($1.3<br />million) film, which is set in Haida Gwaii — an archipelago of forested islands off the west coast of Canada — during the 1800s.
