Emma's Story

Hello, my name is Emma and this is my sister Bernadette. I am an elder of the Carrier First Nation in north Central British Columbia. I was born and raised in Stella Village on the west end of Fraser Lake. Before I retired, I was a school teacher and a teacher of the Carrier language. I belong to the Luksilyoo clan and our clan crest is the caribou. My father belongs to the Lhtsumusyoo clan, which has the grouse as its clan crest. Ours is a matrilineal society, and we inherit our clan and our name from our mothers.

We speak the Carrier language which is part of the Athabaskan language group. Each village in our territory speaks a slightly different dialect of the language. Our customs and traditions also vary from village to village. The Athabaskan language is spoken up and down the western side of North America, from Alaska down to California and Arizona.

No one really knows how long our people have been living in this place. We’ve been here forever, I guess. We have our own Carrier names for all the rivers and lakes in our territory.