Not Extinct: Keeping the Sinixt Way, Second Edition

This second edition of Not Extinct invites readers to engage with the stories of the Sinixt təmxʷúlaʔxʷ through lively oral storytelling, original artwork, written discussion, and reflection. Three new stories and many updates touch on critical issues such as Indian Residential Schools, Traditional Ecological Knowledge, Sinixt cosmology, salmon reintroduction, Mountain Caribou, Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, and Sinixt recognition and the contemporary Treaty process. Following our work with the Sinixt Dialect, sn-səlxcín, through the T’kikstn Language Revitalization project, we’ve also added and updated Sinixt words in the text.

Accompanying Teacher Resource Guide

Marilyn James was the Spokesperson for the Sinixt Nation in the Canadian portion of her people’s traditional territory for over 25 years.  She continues her work as the Smum iem Matriarch and as an elder upholding responsibilities of Sinixt protocols and laws in the Sinixt təmxʷúlaʔxʷ.  She holds a Masters of Education from Simon Fraser University and has developed aboriginal curriculum currently being used in four BC School Districts and on the provincial web platform.  Marilyn is an accomplished Storyteller in the Sinixt tradition and has told stories to a wide variety of audiences of all ages in schools, at public gatherings and festivals. She continues to unearth traditional stories and her written work has been published in books and anthologies.  She is an ardent advocate for human responsibilities toward land and water.  She is a mother of three and has eight grandchildren.

Taress Alexis is a Sinixt mother of two young children who has worked as an Aboriginal Education Support Worker and Teaching Consultant in three BC School Districts where she delivered culturally appropriate materials to school-aged children using Storytelling and crafts. She has also been an active Storyteller at the Kootenay Storytelling Festival since 2006 and works with community members in other contexts to enhance cultural sensitivity towards the First Nations Community.  She is currently working on expanding her repertoire of original and traditional Sinixt stories for children and general audiences as well as writing children’s books.  She currently works for School District 51 in the Grand Forks area.

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