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<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;background:white"><b><span style="font-family:"Univers LT Pro 55",sans-serif">June 25, 2021<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;background:white"><b><span style="font-family:"Univers LT Pro 55",sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center;background:white">
<b><span style="font-family:"Univers LT Pro 55",sans-serif">Royal BC Museum publishes new book about
<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center;background:white">
<b><span style="font-family:"Univers LT Pro 55",sans-serif">the life of a Cowichan woman<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center;background:white">
<b><span style="font-family:"Univers LT Pro 55",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p style="background:white"><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Univers LT Pro 55",sans-serif">VICTORIA, BC</span></b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Univers LT Pro 55",sans-serif">—The Royal BC Museum has published
<i>What Was Said to Me: The Life of Sti’tum’atul’wut, a Cowichan Woman</i>, by </span>
<span style="font-family:"Univers LT Pro 55",sans-serif">linguist </span><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Univers LT Pro 55",sans-serif">Ruby Peter, in collaboration with Helene Demers.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background:white"><i><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Univers LT Pro 55",sans-serif">What Was Said to Me</span></i><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Univers LT Pro 55",sans-serif"> blends memoir, oral history and ethno-autobiography
into a narrative of resistance and resilience, spanning seven decades in the life of an advocate for Indigenous language preservation.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"Univers LT Pro 55",sans-serif">“This first-person oral history is the first of its kind published by the Royal BC Museum,” says Mischelle vanThiel, Vice President of Inclusion and Community
Engagement at the Royal BC Museum. “It is a remarkable narrative about a remarkable person who dedicated her life to maintaining and sharing her language.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"Univers LT Pro 55",sans-serif">“<i>What Was Said to Me</i> is a beautiful and generous gift our Aunty, Sti’tum’atul’wut, has shared with us,” says Samaya Jardey, Director of Language
and Cultural Affairs, Squamish Nation. “It is rich with teachings from beginning to end. It is an example of the love she had for the people.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal"><i><span style="font-family:"Univers LT Pro 55",sans-serif">What Was Said to Me</span></i><span style="font-family:"Univers LT Pro 55",sans-serif"> documents a period of profound social change through the lens
of Sti’tum’atul’wut—also known as Dr. Ruby Peter—a Cowichan elder who made it her life’s work to share and safeguard Hul’q’umi’num’, the language of her people.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"Univers LT Pro 55",sans-serif">Sti’tum’atul’wut mentored hundreds of students and teachers and helped thousands of people to develop a basic knowledge of the Hul’q’umi’num’ language.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"Univers LT Pro 55",sans-serif">She contributed to dictionaries and grammars, and helped assemble a valuable corpus of stories, sound and video files, with more than 10,000 pages of texts
from Hul’q’umi’num’ speakers. Sti’tum’atul’wut was the associate editor of <i>The Cowichan Dictionary</i>.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"Univers LT Pro 55",sans-serif">In 1997, Vancouver Island University anthropologist Helene Demers recorded Sti’tum’atul’wut’s life stories over nine sessions. She prepared the transcripts
for publication in close collaboration with Sti’tum’atul’wut’ and her family.</span>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"Univers LT Pro 55",sans-serif">Although Sti’tum’atul’wut passed away on January 8, 2021, just a few months before her book rolled off the press, she consulted closely on every stage of
editing and image collection. Royalties from the book now go to Sti’tum’atul’wut’s family.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal"><i><span style="font-family:"Univers LT Pro 55",sans-serif">What Was Said to Me</span></i><span style="font-family:"Univers LT Pro 55",sans-serif"> retails for $24.95 as a trade paperback and $11.99 as an ebook.
The 224-page book is available through local bookshops, the Royal Museum Shop and online at
</span><a href="https://publications.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/"><span style="font-family:"Univers LT Pro 55",sans-serif">rbcm.ca</span></a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="font-family:"Univers LT Pro 55",sans-serif">/books</span></span><span style="font-family:"Univers LT Pro 55",sans-serif">.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center;line-height:normal">
<span style="font-family:"Univers LT Pro 55",sans-serif">-30-<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"Univers LT Pro 55",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal"><b><span style="font-family:"Univers LT Pro 45 Light",sans-serif">About the Royal BC Museum:
</span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family:"Univers LT Pro 45 Light",sans-serif">The Royal BC Museum explores the province’s human history and natural history, advances new knowledge and understanding of BC, and provides a dynamic forum for discussion
and a place for reflection. The museum and archives celebrate culture and history, telling the stories of BC in ways that enlighten, stimulate and inspire. Located in Victoria on the traditional territory of the Lekwungen (Songhees and Xwsepsum Nations), we
are a hub of community connections in BC–onsite, offsite and online–taking pride in our collective histories.
</span><span style="font-family:"Univers LT Pro 45 Light",sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal"><b><span style="font-family:"Univers LT Pro 45 Light",sans-serif">About the Royal BC Museum’s Publishing department:
</span></b><span style="font-family:"Univers LT Pro 45 Light",sans-serif">Since the first publication in 1891, the Royal BC Museum has released hundreds of works on diverse subjects, bringing the human and natural history of our province to life in exciting,
innovative and personal ways.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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