Chris O’Connor is a learning program developer at the Royal BC Museum?which has hosted the storytelling series for the past three years?inviting people from the community to tell their stories.
“Museums are often about stories and the objects that are in the museum,” said O’Connor.
“But they’re also about the people that visit the museum, and the stories that they have, and the museum is a safe place to exchange those ideas and those stories, and to build our collective understanding. Kind of like if you were at a party, and you’re in the kitchen, and someone says ‘have I ever told you about the time that…’Those kind of stories are really powerful.”
Indigenous storytelling is included in the series.
Jacqueline Jim teaches first-grade Sencoten immersion at Lauwelnew Tribal School in Brentwood Bay.
Jim will be part of the audience at the Indigenous storytelling series.
“I will be there to listen to other Indigenous storytellers tell creation stories, transformation stories, stories that originate in this area, in their Indigenous language,” said Jim.
She’s pleased to see the museum hosting this event.
“I’ve been involved with Indigenous language revitalization for the last six years. It is a group effort, we’re all still learning,” added Jim.”Many of the people that are teaching in our program and are mentors have learned from first-language speakers that are no longer with us.”
Many of the stories that will be told have been passed down for thousands of years.
“So we’ll hear some stories in Sencoten, Hul’q’umi’num’ and hopefully some other Indigenous languages from around the world,” he said
“One thing that we like to do in the Learning Department is really expand what it means to engage with the museum,” says O’Connor.
Veronica Cooper
