SilverBear Consulting

SilverBear Consulting has now Associated with SMARTwest to provide the award winning 4Di (4 Dimensions Inventory), Smarter Meetings training and associated services.

Our primary focus is educational institutions, especially those with a high percentage of First Nations/Aboriginal students

We are working with the W̱SÁNEĆ School Board, specifically the Saanich Adult Education Centre to compose a working dictionary of the SENĆOŦEN language.  Involved in the project are the SȾÁSENs TŦE SENĆOŦEN language apprentices, FirstVoices, SilverBear Consulting, a couple of Linguistics Doctoral Students and a linguist.

SilverBear Consulting has worked in conjunction with the SENĆOŦEN Language Apprentices and LÁU,WELṈEW̱ High School to create a First Language website for the W̱SÁNEĆ people at http://saanichtalk.ca.  We have developed forum areas to support the development of language and cultural competency within the W̱SÁNEĆ communities and the site now has over 40 members.

Most of the website is for members only but there is an expanding public area where people can go to learn about the language and culture of the W̱SÁNEĆ people.  Currently the Linguistics 159 group that meets on Wednesday evenings is posting class notes on the site.

W̱SÁNEĆ communities are located on the South East part of Vancouver Island on the Saanich Peninsula.  They include Tsartlip, Tsawout, Tseycum, and Paquachin.  Traditional territories also included a parts of the Gulf and San Juan Islands that are not within SBC's expertise to describe in more detail.  SENĆOŦEN is part of the Straits Salish language group.

We envision the time when the entire website will be created in the SENĆOŦEN Language.